Monty Python’s pithy question ‘What have the Romans everdone for us?’ cuts to the heart of the pros and cons of conquest.Debate about how Britons fared under Roman rule weighs thebalance between exploitation and opportunity, but rarely straysinto the arena of overseas travel. There is little sign in ancienttexts that Britons enthusiastically seized their chance to see the(Roman) world, but does archaeology tell a different story? We go in searchof the Britons abroad.

The famous Stonehenge bluestones are notoriously well travelled. A linkbetween these monoliths and Pembrokeshire has been suspected for almosta century, but recent excavations at two outcrops in the Preseli hills have revealedprehistoric quarry works. The geologies match, but radiocarbon dates suggest alag-time of 400 years between extraction and erection in Wiltshire. Where werethe bluestones in the interim?

Mucking has recently undergone a journey of a different kind. For decades manyof the findings from this legendary excavation campaign remained hidden away inarchived records. Now, as the final volumes of the site-report approach publication,we salute both the original diggers and the team bringing their work to fruition.

Ensuring that the vestiges of Yorkshire’s alum industry did notdisappear without record required a band of archaeologists toabseil down sea cliffs. Working against time and tide, they haveteased out the secrets of a dirty and dangerous industry.

Matt Symonds