On the 10th February, under a cloak of secrecy, the remarkable artefacts in the Staffordshire Hoard were reunited for the first time since they were scattered by a plough strike. This helped specialists studying the vast Anglo-Saxon jigsaw puzzle to match up fragments that once adorned the same items. It is now known that decorations were stripped from far more weapons than previously suspected. Could the hoard comprise the spoils of multiple battles?

The level of violence needed to persuade Mesolithic groups operating in Britain to join the Neolithic club remains a source of spirited debate. Were the hapless hunter gatherers slaughtered by invading Continental farmers, converted by groups of colonists, or seduced by the brave new world flourishing across the Channel? We catch up with the latest thoughts on the origins of a lifestyle that laid the foundations for modern Britain.

The drive to modernise was also behind recently discovered trenches at Gosport. As losses mounted in the First World War, the doctrines that had defeated Napoleon were belatedly rejected in favour of the combined infantry, tank, and air assaults that underpin modern warfare. We discover how practice trenches aided this transformation.

Extensive excavations beside the River Frome in Bristol have laid bare how fluctuating religious and industrial fortunes created an ever-shifting backdrop against which residents’ lives were played out.

Finally, we have brought you a bumper issue of CA this month. The extra pages provide a taste of the options available for this year’s digging season. The full listings are at: http://www.archaeology.co.uk/digs