What was life really like for Medieval peasants? Renowned as the epitome of poverty, they appear as stock images performing hard manual labour in the margins of illustrated manuscripts. With the squalor they faced memorably lampooned by Monty Python, among others, it has always been assumed that the ramshackle hovels they called home have long since decayed. Not so. A recent programme of radiocarbon dating has revealed that thousands of their homes still stand in the Midlands and Wales. They are shedding new light on a peasant’s lot.

When ploughing revealed traces of a ring ditch near the Great Dorset Cursus, it appeared to be just another satellite structure speckling the environs of this monumental earthwork. Excavation revealed a fascinating set of burials and tantalising traces of a macabre Bronze Age tradition of displaying the deceased. Are drill holes in the bones traces of an attempt to peg decaying corpses together?

Regeneration of Southampton’s former French Quarter provided the opportunity for the largest ever examination of the city’s historic core. The results tell a story of boom and bust in a vibrant port town, as armies, merchants and artisans came and went.

Finally, excavations in Cumbria have unearthed Papcastle Roman fort’s bathhouse. Intended to allow Rome’s soldiers to enjoy the trappings of Classical civilisation in the frontier zone, by the early 3rd century AD the heating system was choked with dead goats. What does this mean for military hygiene, and why did a body suffering multiple pathologies end up in the ruins?