The young man pictured on our cover was 16 or 17 when he died, and was buried in the shadow of a great Bronze Age barrow on Salisbury Plain. He belonged to an Anglo-Saxon community whose grave goods tell of a strong martial connection. It is rather fitting then, that he and his warrior brethren were discovered as part of Operation Beowulf, an initiative by Wessex Archaeology and Operation Nightingale, the Ministry of Defence project that harnesses archaeological fieldwork to aid the recovery of injured personnel; see p.28 for the inside story.

Meanwhile, at Cliffs End Farm on the Isle of Thanet, another intriguing cemetery has been found. The buried include a Bronze Age woman, arm extended with index finger pointing, and two lambs in her lap. Not only is this site radically revising our perceptions of prehistoric mortuary practices, but detailed skeletal analysis is also providing surprising insights into the origins and diversity of the population.

Thereafter, we visit the sublime landscape of North Wales’ slate industry, so integral to the culture and history of the region. It is now being proposed as a World Heritage Site, but given slate extraction is a living industry, how will UNESCO respond?

Other highlights include a look at the vital work being undertaken by CITiZAN, a newly launched community project that seeks to record as many heritage sites as possible along England’s at-risk coastline and tidal estuaries. Finally, this is my last CA before Matthew Symonds returns as editor. It’s been a wonderful 13 months, and I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading the magazine as much as I’ve enjoyed editing it.

Nadia Durrani