Reaching the zenith
In the second part of our series on Napoleon’s rise and fall, Graham Goodlad analyses his extraordinary run of military successes in the decade between 1800 and 1810.
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The keys to victory: Supplying the armies of the British Civil Wars (1639-1653)
The great military encounters of the British Civil Wars have been well documented. But, as David Flintham reveals, issues beyond the battlefield would also prove crucial.
Germany’s ‘Little Dunkirk’: Operation Hannibal, January-May 1945
The Kriegsmarine’s last major military undertaking was the evacuation of more than a million German troops and civilians trapped around the Baltic, as David Porter explains.
From Samarkand to Sutton Hoo: Exploring the impact of the Silk Roads on early medieval Britain and Ireland
A new exhibition running at the British Museum explores the vast network of cultural and commercial connections that spanned Europe, Africa, and Asia in AD 500-1000. Carly Hilts visited to learn how diverse ideas, materials, and people filtered along these routes to the British Isles.
Secrets of the Dorset marsh: Excavating Bronze Age remains and one of Britain’s oldest wooden tools
Over the last two years, excavations on marshland near Poole Harbour have revealed evidence of unusual seasonal activity dating to the Bronze Age – including one of the oldest and most complete wooden tools ever found in Britain. Carly Hilts spoke to Greg Chuter and Ed Treasure to find out more.
Archaeology and climate change
The CHERISH Project resulted from a joint Welsh and Irish application to the European Union’s Interreg fund, the purpose of which is to bring member nations together to share innovative and sustainable solutions to regional development challenges. In this case, the challenge was climate change and its impact on the heritage sites and landscapes along the Irish Sea coast and beneath its waters. The project was conceived and led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and Chris Catling, the Commission’s Secretary, now reports on its methods and outcomes.
Seeking a Scottish source: Updating the story of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone
In CA 415, we reported on new scientific analysis suggesting that the origins of the Stonehenge Altar Stone lay hundreds of miles from Salisbury Plain, in the Orcadian Basin of north-east Scotland. The story has already moved on, however, with recently published research narrowing the search further, ruling out Orkney itself as a potential source. Rob Ixer, Richard Bevins, and Nick Pearce bring us up to date.
The piety of Ramesses III: Personal religion in ancient Egypt
Diana Liesegang shows us a lesser-known side to the great warrior king of the Twentieth Dynasty.
From fragment to scene: The reliefs from the funerary complex of Mentuhotep II
Maarten Praet is on a mission to track down and document the few surviving painted fragments that once adorned the innovative Middle Kingdom temple at Deir el-Bahri.
The Shasu and Egypt
Sean Rigby explores textual evidence to identify ancient Egypt’s enigmatic neighbour.
Hilary Wilson on… Egypt and what to see in 1912
In our last issue, Hilary described what it was like to visit Egypt just before the First World War, based on a 1911-1912 tourist guide by A O Lamplough. Now she uses archive photos to illustrate how the monuments have changed since Lamplough’s book was published.
The American Petrie: George Reisner
Julian Heath pays tribute to one the world’s greatest Egyptologists.
Ani’s life after death – 1: Hymn to Ra and Osiris
Andrew Fulton begins a new series exploring specific vignettes from Ani’s Book of the Dead.
The Egyptian collection in Marseille
Simone Petacchi visits the galleries of the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology (MAM), which houses the second largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in France.
Scraps of memory: Illuminating the imaginative worlds of Sutton House’s 17th-century schoolgirls
A handful of tiny paper items discovered at Sutton House in Hackney offer a unique insight into the interests of the girls who were educated there in the 17th century. Carly Hilts spoke to Nathalie Cohen, Isabella Rosner, Kate Simpson, and Abigail Winslow to find out more.
Norfolk’s earliest stone churches: Constructing a timeline of ancient religious buildings
Peter Wade-Martins has visited all 649 of Norfolk’s surviving medieval churches to study the stone types used in their construction. As a result, he has identified the use of conglomerate – along with grey quartzite, millstone grit, and tile, much of it reused from ruinous Roman buildings – as important indicators of the churches constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries, before the ready availability of limestone. Chris Catling reports.
Making a splash: The Big Bronze Age Boat Build at Stanwick Lakes
A recent experimental archaeology project has seen three Bronze Age-style logboats constructed and launched at Stanwick Lakes in Northamptonshire. Carly Hilts visited the project’s grand finale to learn more about the excavated evidence that had fed into the design of the dug-outs, and the rich heritage of the site itself.
Antiquarian or archaeologist? Illustrating the influence of Edmund Tyrrell Artis
In the early part of the 19th century, there began a gradual move away from antiquarian ways of simply describing archaeological features and sites towards a more analytical approach of enquiry into the past. Stephen Upex takes up the story of Edmund Artis, one of the pioneers of this progress who, he argues, should be considered among the founding figures of modern British archaeology.
Buried at Bodicote: Investigating unusual inhumations at an Iron Age farmstead in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds
Recent excavations at Bodicote, just south of Banbury, have revealed the remains of an Iron Age farmstead where ten storage pits had been repurposed as graves. This was not an uncommon practice for the period – but other aspects of the inhumations were rather more unusual, as Rebecca Trow, Milena Grzybowska, Roger Doonan, and Robin Holgate report.
Pioneering spirit: Exploring the archaeology and history of The Glenlivet whisky
Two hundred years ago, George Smith was granted the first licence to distil whisky legally in the Glenlivet area of Speyside, in the Scottish Highlands. Now archaeological fieldwork by the National Trust for Scotland, in partnership with The Glenlivet, has shed new light on how the whisky-making process was industrialised in the 19th century, as Derek Alexander and Daniel Rhodes report.
Seeking the Silk Roads: An extraordinary story of the power of connections
The Silk Road has long been seen as a conduit for exotic goods travelling both east and west. But taking a wider perspective reveals how extraordinary objects and ideas were moving much more widely, as Sue Brunning and Luk Yu-ping told Matthew Symonds.
Valeria’s hall of fame: Secrets from an imperial forum
Once home to Celtiberians, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors, the ancient city of Valeria is now the venue for an archaeological project focusing on investigating the imperial Roman forum. Catalina Urquijo and Dionisio Urbina share their surprising discoveries.
Pachacamac: Seeking the origins of an Inca cult centre
Pilgrims once flocked from across the Inca Empire to Pachacamac. But just how ancient and rigorously planned was the layout of the cult complex that attracted them? Krzysztof Makowski reveals the remarkable results of recent excavations at the site
Qarn al-Harf: Exploring a Bronze Age refuge
Around 2000 BC, a successful and prosperous Bronze Age culture in Southeast Arabia suddenly collapsed. Traditions and settlements that had developed over centuries disappeared, apart from in one small enclave towards the north of their former territory. Derek Kennet told Matthew Symonds how attempts to hold on to the past ushered in a new era.
Lodi and Arcola: making the myth
Graham Goodlad analyses the clashes that made Napoleon’s name as a soldier of genius.
Napoleon: Rise of a military colossus
In our special two-part feature in this issue, Graham Goodlad explores, first, the part played by Napoleon’s generalship in his progress from unknown artillery officer to ruler of France. Then he analyses in depth two battles Napoleon fought in his 1796-1797 Italian campaign.
Napoleon by numbers
Infographics: Calum Henderson
Hidden figures
The use of ‘native levies’ has long been a feature of foreign wars – but their employment and their sacrifice reached a peak during the British colonial era. Stephen Roberts uncovers a forgotten story.
Thunder in the East: Armoured warfare in South-East Asia and the Pacific, 1937-1945
From Burma to Iwo Jima, armoured fighting vehicles played a key role in some of World War II’s most challenging environments. Our military technology expert David Porter takes notes.
The last of the Romans
Flavius Aetius is little known today, unlike his nemesis Attila the Hun. But, says Tim Newark, it was the Roman general who triumphed over his notorious adversary in a battle that decided the fate of the Roman Empire.
Churchill and the scientists: Thinking outside the box
In the last part of our series marking the 150th birthday of Winston Churchill, Taylor Downing examines his relationships with some of the brilliant mavericks who contributed to final victory during World War II.
Unearthing ancient Tweeddale: ‘Merlin’s Grave’ and other lost stories
On the banks of the Tweed in the Scottish Borders is the reputed site of Merlin’s Grave, the embedded remnant of a legend long associated with the nearby village of Drumelzier. Dr Ronan Toolis explains how a community archaeology project revealed why this tale became rooted to this part of Tweeddale.
How to restore a manor: Breathing life back into a Grade II*-listed Norfolk building
In 2014, archaeologist Warwick Rodwell and art restorer Diane Gibbs bought the Grade II*-listed manor house in Northwold, Norfolk, after it had been neglected for 60 years. With water pouring in and roofs, ceilings, and floors collapsing, they set about rehabilitating the house, and much has been learned in the process about the construction of the manor, the families who lived in it, and its place in the history of the parish, as Chris Catling reports.
Roman replicas: Recreating the Hallaton Helmet
The Hallaton Helmet, an ornately decorated piece of Roman cavalry equipment discovered in rural Leicestershire in 2000, is undeniably an important artefact – but how do you interpret its now-fragmentary imagery for museum visitors? Helen Sharp describes an initiative that created two contrasting reproductions using traditional and cutting-edge techniques.
Nine millennia of life on the banks of the ‘goodly Barow’: Archaeological excavations on the N25 New Ross Bypass in south-east Ireland
Excavations associated with a major road scheme in Co. Wexford and Kilkenny identified more than 35 previously undocumented archaeological sites spanning 9,000 years. James Eogan, Senior Archaeologist at Transport Infrastructure Ireland, reports.
A home for hunter-gatherers? Reconstructing ‘Britain’s oldest house’ at the Yorkshire Museum
A recent experimental archaeology project has seen the construction of a replica of one of Star Carr’s 11,000-year-old structures in York’s Museum Gardens. Carly Hilts visited the build and spoke to Professor Nicky Milner, Dr Jess Bates, and Dr Adam Parker to learn more.