This month marks 40 years since Wessex Archaeology was founded. Milestone birthdays are often a time of reflection as well as celebration, and in this issue we are exploring four of Wessex Archaeology’s recent projects to shed light on widely contrasting aspects of commercial archaeology.

At New Covent Garden Market, Battersea, detailed osteological analysis of human remains recovered from a Victorian graveyard is shedding vivid light on a community faced with rapid urbanisation and grinding poverty.

A rather earlier population is under the spotlight at Datchet, near Windsor, where investigations in a gravel quarry have yielded not only the monumental remains of a 5,500-year-old causewayed enclosure, but a wealth of evidence for early Neolithic feasting and funerary practices.

From rural Berkshire to the bustling heart of Sheffield, we next visit the location of a long-demolished medieval castle – when redevelopment of the site offered the rare chance to excavate, what traces would be brought to light once more?

Leaving the land altogether, we plunge into the world of marine archaeology to learn more about how a Second World War ship’s bell was recovered from the bottom of the North Sea and carefully conserved for public display.

Finally, this month’s ‘In Focus’ complements this smorgasbord of commercial digs, highlighting a fascinating research project by intrepid University of Newcastle archaeologists who are descending on ropes to record a 3rd-century quarry wall, documenting eroding Roman inscriptions linked to the maintenance of Hadrian’s Wall.