Enheduanna, high priestess at the ancient city of Ur, is thought to be the world’s first named author. She was a poetic innovator, but she was not alone in Mesopotamian history as a prominent or a literate woman, as Lucia Marchini learns from Sidney Babcock.
Ancient human DNA is revolutionising our ability to detect human migration that occurred hundreds of years ago. Joscha Gretzinger and Stephan Schiffels explain how these advances have transformed our understanding of the past.
Newly published research centred on ancient DNA, which is revolutionising our understanding of early medieval mobility and the genetic changes it brought in its wake, forms the focus of this special issue of Current Archaeology. Duncan Sayer discusses some of the key themes that we will cover this month, and how the project came together.
Was the arrival of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ in England a limited elite takeover, an invasion force, or a mass movement of migrants? Perceptions of the immediate post-Roman period have shifted and evolved over the centuries. John Hines places the new genetic data explored in this issue in the context of research history.
By combining excavated evidence from early medieval burials with genetic information, we can gain powerful insights into patterns of population movement, and ideas of identity and integration. Duncan Sayer explains more.
The study of ancient DNA is a potent recent addition to the archaeological arsenal, with the power to illuminate (and eliminate) family relationships between excavated individuals. Duncan Sayer, Dominic Powlesland, and Allison Stewart explore some of the most-intriguing recent revelations from the early medieval period.
The previous articles in this issue have focused primarily on ancient DNA – but what can isotopic analysis add to this picture? Sam Leggett explores how this technique can complement genetic analysis, and how it illuminates the experiences of people living centuries earlier.
Following this issue’s explorations of genetic data, cemetery and skeletal evidence, and isotope analysis, Joanna Story reflects on the significance of the research, and its place within the bigger picture of understanding the early Middle Ages.
An exhibition at the Musée Saint-Raymond explores the Roman cult of Mithras. Gillis Kersting visited to find out more about this enigmatic religion.
Recent debate about women’s roles in the Ice Age raises questions about how much can be said about everyday lives in this era. Elle Clifford and Paul Bahn examine the evidence for who did what in the Palaeolithic.
Barbara Gai recounts the discovery of the Embalming Cache KV54 and its astonishing contents.
Numerous ancient stone circles are known in Japan, but how and why were these monuments built? Simon Kaner examines what these enigmatic structures can tell us about a key period of Japanese prehistory.
The city of Narbonne in southern France has opened a brand new archaeological museum. Roger Wilson is our guide.
It has long been assumed that Amazonia was always sparsely inhabited by humans. Now LiDAR survey in Bolivia has revealed the stunning scale of settlements that lay concealed beneath dense tropical vegetation. Heiko Prümers told Matthew Symonds why it is time to rethink the nature of life in this region.
Richard Hodges has been visiting Sexten, where the alpine scenery still bears the traces of fighting in the First World War.
Chris Peers, author of a new minute-by-minute study of the fighting on 22 January 1879, analyses the extraordinary endurance of the mission-station garrison.
In an extract from a new book, John Medhurst traces the history of the submarine in warfare, from the earliest experiments to the First World War.
Graham Goodlad assesses the career of Britain’s best-known and most controversial general of the Second World War.
Graham Goodlad analyses Montgomery’s epic clash with Rommel’s forces, which signalled the end for Nazi Germany’s ambitions in the Middle East.
It was one of the greatest disasters in Spain’s history, yet it came within hours of success. Here, Geoffrey Parker, co-author of a major new history, draws on unseen archives and vital new evidence from Armada shipwrecks to explain what really happened in 1588.
John Lock resumes his occasional series on the ‘Butterfly Effect’ by examining another event that might have had unforeseen consequences. This time, he turns his attention to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the dramatic Cold War stand-off that led the world to the brink of disaster.
Hungary’s devastating defeat by the armies of Suleiman the Magnificent signalled the country’s demise as a unified independent kingdom. Andrew Southam describes the action.
When it was completed in 1209, medieval London Bridge was the only fixed crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames (until Fulham Bridge was built in 1729). Remarkably, it was also home to some 500 people – equivalent to the population of a small medieval town. In London Bridge and its Houses, Dorian Gerhold has scoured the archives of Bridge House – the medieval charity that managed the bridge – to find out more about the community that lived on this extraordinary structure, as Chris Catling reports.
Twenty-five years ago, a cargo of millions of pieces of Lego was washed overboard during a storm off Land’s End. To this day, tiny pieces of plastic are still being found on Cornish beaches. Joe Flatman reports on a project working to document these finds.
When HMS Northumberland sank off the Kent coast in 1703, the wreck remained lost for almost three centuries – until erosion of the sandbank shielding its remains brought the ship to light once more. Daniel Pascoe told Carly Hilts how archaeologists are now racing against time and tide to record as much of the site as possible before it deteriorates.
The recent rediscovery of a series of rock samples collected during the Victorian period has allowed new analysis of some of the stones of Stonehenge. Rob Ixer, Richard Bevins, Nick Pearce, and David Dawson explain more.
Alderley Edge’s rich mineral resources have attracted the attention of miners as far back as the Bronze Age. Now, though, recent investigations have revealed traces of rather more modern activity, as Carly Hilts reports.
Ancient Egypt has provided endless inspiration for artists and designers, whether ancient or modern. Benjamin Hinson and Anna Ferrari, curators of a new exhibition on Egypt’s artistic legacy, investigate this cultural phenomenon, its links to politics and power, and how contemporary Egyptian artists have made ancient imagery their own.
When Jean-Luc Champerret explored the Lascaux caves soon after their rediscovery, he saw not paintings but ancient writing. With the publication of his extraordinarily imaginative interpretation, Simon Coppock revisits the caves and their elusive, poetic markings.
The Bronze Age kingdoms of China have long been overshadowed by the Qin, who replaced them with a unified empire. Fan Jeremy Zhang explores the spectacular discoveries that have been helping two of them, the Zeng and Chu, rise from obscurity.
Sculpted scenes of the youthful Mithras slaying a bull have been found across the Roman Empire, offering an image of a god that is unlike other deities in the Roman pantheon. Margaux Bekas and Pascal Capus take us into the heart of this enigmatic cult.
Historian Janina Ramirez tells Diana Bentley about her latest work delving into stories of celebrated archaeological discoveries and the people behind them, and of the medieval women all-too-often overlooked by history.
Over the last three years, the WallCAP community project has carried out illuminating archaeological fieldwork at more than 15 sites on and around Hadrian’s Wall. With the initiative now drawing to a close, Rob Collins and Jane Harrison explore some of its key findings.
Dylan Bickerstaffe investigates the discovery and documentation of Tomb KV36 and assesses what we now know about “The Lion of the Battlefield”.
Dulverton House began life as part of a medieval priory, and has since seen centuries of adaptations and amendments. What traces of its historic fabric have survived to the present day? Recent archaeological investigations ahead of planned refurbishment works have revealed many of the structure’s secrets once more, as Chiz Harward reports.
How can digital tools help to engage people in an area’s archaeological heritage? Dr Rebecca Rennell and Dr Emily Gal from the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) explain how cutting-edge technology is illuminating South Uist’s rich archaeological heritage, and outline some of the research and community co-production that went into creating their new augmented-reality app and multimedia exhibition.