Between 1974 and 1981 a remarkable campaign of excavations in Dublin exposed a swathe of the Viking town. From an archaeological perspective the conditions were perfect, with waterlogged layers preserving the vestiges of hundreds of houses and thousands of artefacts. But this was also a race against the clock, with public demonstrations buying more time for the archaeologists to investigate the site before construction work swept it away. Now full publication of the results is revealing a cultural melting pot, where Norse runes were used alongside Ogham and Latin.

The power of writing is well demonstrated by the surviving eye-witness accounts of Roman Britain. Letters and documents sketch out the rhythm of daily life, but just how widespread was literacy? An artefact introduced after the Conquest gives a sense of who was writing and how they might express their pride in this skill: the humble inkwell.

In the Middle Ages, masses of goods arrived in eastern Britain from the Continent, with commodities shipped via the North Sea to bypass the perils and discomforts of travelling inland. We assess the mark left on coastal communities by the rise of trade across what – until the First World War – was known as the German Ocean.

The 1914-1918 conflict brought soldiers from many nations to Britain. Among them were Australians, New Zealanders, and Canadians, some of whom were sent to Larkhill, Wiltshire, for training. Recent excavations have revealed how a practice battlefield prepared them for combat above and below ground on the Western Front.

Matt Symonds