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The hunt for Hyde Abbey: piecing together the layout of a royal monastery in Winchester

Built c.1110 on the outskirts of medieval Winchester, Hyde Abbey was an important religious centre, housing the burial place of Alfred the Great and his wife and son. For the last five years, community excavations within the area of the long-demolished monastery’s cloisters have been shedding light on the complex’s layout – and this summer, Carly Hilts visited the dig to find out more about their latest findings.

Below At Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, ‘Capability’ Brown used an enlarged version of a bridge dam to mark the changes in level between two bodies of water. To the visitor crossing the bridge, it looks as if the water flows naturally from one side to the other, whereas the flow from one to the other is controlled by a sluice gate. below right The conduits and sluices that were integral to 18th century dams are prone to silting and are difficult to repair, so many dams of that period have since been modified to incorporate an open spillway, lined with stone. A by pass channel, or leat, could also be used to divert water from the lake to the river on the downstream side of the dam.

Looking at lakes as ornaments in the landscape

For a visitor to a late 18th-century country seat, the most striking feature of the landscape, apart from the house, would have been the lake. For that reason, it is all the more surprising these bodies of water have had such little attention from garden historians and archaeologists. Perhaps that is because it is assumed that they are natural, and that the house site was chosen to overlook the water, whereas the opposite is usually the case, as Chris Catling now reports.

ABOVE The 2.5m long early Bronze Age log coffin was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Sheffield, then brought to the York Archaeological Trust for analysis and conservation.

Buried in the Bronze Age: unearthing a rare log coffin in Lincolnshire

The discovery of 4,000-year-old log coffin and the remains of its occupant in Tetney, Lincolnshire, along with an equally rare stone axe buried with it, has brought together archaeologists from across the field in a massive effort not only to excavate and preserve the wood before it can disintegrate, but also to examine every avenue of evidence that this unique burial can provide. Hugh Willmott, Tim Allen, and Ian Panter report on their ongoing efforts.

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Taking a new look at life and death in Giza: how the pyramids built Egypt

The ancient Egyptian necropolis at Giza is one of the most celebrated archaeological sites in the world. Although the iconic pyramids dominating the plateau continue to excite awe and curiosity, these royal tombs are only one aspect of an extraordinary site. A new book reveals how the rich and poor, and the living and dead, rubbed shoulders at Giza, as Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass told CWA's Matthew Symonds.

The Spartans

Ancient historian Paul Rahe, whose monumental history of Sparta is just out, analyses the origins of the feared Spartan hoplite phalanx.

OPPOSITE Gunning for the generals. Churchill was a pretty ruthless purger not always with good reason.

Churchill versus the men of 1940

Nigel Jones explored the vexed relationship between President Lincoln and General McClellan in the first year of the American Civil War last issue. This time, he takes a look at Prime Minister Churchill’s relationship with the British generals in WWII.

Opposite This aerial view of the Gorseddau quarry shows how much infrastructure was needed to extract, work, and transport the stone. The stepped quarry at the centre is flanked on either side by a series of working platforms where slate blocks were turned into roofing slates. The four terraces to the left are connected by inclined planes, down which the worked slate was carried on rails on wedge shaped carriages. Waste stone was taken by tramway along each terrace to be tipped off the edge, creating the characteristic lobe shapes fanning out from the terraces.

Appreciating the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales

On 28 July, UNESCO added the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales to its list of World Heritage sites, which currently number 1,154. Chris Catling reports on the reasons for this inscription and marvels at the human ingenuity that has left us with a remarkable landscape combining natural and man-made features – fully worthy of being included in the top tier of all heritage sites in the world.

Above The Long Man of Wilmington hill figure in East Sussex. Today, the giant is outlined using white painted concrete blocks, and it is known to have been picked out in bricks during the late 19th century, but do its origins lie in the Tudor period?

The Long Man of Wilmington

The origins of the imposing East Sussex hill figure known as the Long Man of Wilmington have long posed a mystery for archaeologists. Rodney Castleden discusses recent research suggesting a Tudor date for the monument – and a possible political message.

BELOW The project team assembles beside Trench A after the final day of digging. This area contained monumental building remains thought to represent some of the most important structures in the extra mural area.

Birdoswald: exploring a Roman town on Hadrian’s Wall

Birdoswald is one of the most-excavated Roman forts on Hadrian’s Wall, but the area beyond the fort walls has been investigated in much less detail. Following the launch of a new four-year project to explore its remains, Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts visited the excavation to hear the latest news from Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott.

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Nefertiti

The wife of the ‘heretic’ king Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti is today one of the most iconic of all ancient Egyptians, thanks to her painted bust revealed to the world in 1923. Aidan Dodson charts the career of this remarkable queen, a hard-headed pragmatist who became a forgotten – and possibly murdered – king.

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Excavating a Phoenician shipwreck off the coast of Gozo, Malta

The Phoenicians occupied the coast of the Levant for over 1,000 years, but knowledge of their trade network and practices remains elusive. In 2007, an ancient wreck containing a large cache of ceramic containers was discovered off Malta. This ship proved to be one of only a handful of known Phoenician vessels. Since 2014, further exploration of the site has yielded some very exciting results. Project Director Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods reveal some of its mysteries, and the challenges of excavating a shipwreck 110m below sea level.

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Megalithic Malta

There is much we don’t know about the people who lived in Neolithic Malta, but they left their mark on the islands through vast temples and tombs. Luc Amkreutz and Sharon Sultana explore what these impressive structures and the figurines found in them can tell us about a vanished civilisation.

OPPOSITE Polychrome wall mosaic showing a harbour and ship, found in the garden of Palazzo Rospigliosi Pallavicini in 1876, during construction work on Rome’s Via Nazionale. Late 2nd / early 3rd century

Rome’s hidden mosaics

With small tiles of marble and glass, Roman mosaicists created intricate mythological images, realistic scenes from nature, and other complex compositions to decorate the floors and walls of tombs, sanctuaries, and homes. Dalu Jones explores some mosaic masterpieces normally hidden in stores in Rome’s museums.

LEFT The golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun, brought to light by Howard Carter and his team in 1922, quickly becoming perhaps the most famous of all archaeological finds.

Egyptology: obelisks and ambitions

Flinders Petrie is called the father of Egyptian archaeology; well, he was assisted on all of his excavations by his wife Hilda, who has never really achieved the due recognition that she deserves.

Right A modern piatto di pompa with St Francis in front of a cross. Size: 31cm in diameter

St Francis of Assisi: a tale of two plates

In September 1224, St Francis of Assisi had a vision in which an angel marked him with the wounds of Christ. As Norman Hammond explains, this was a popular scene on plates for pilgrims, but sometimes these plates could offer up a more unusual image.

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Spinning Salamis

Soon after the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC came another famous battle as allied Greek city-states fought to resist the invading armies of the Persian Empire. The Greek victory at Salamis 2,500 years ago was mythologised by Athenian playwrights and others, monumentalising their city’s role in saving all that was good and Greek. David Stuttard guides us through the drama.