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Road to the past: exploring the prehistoric heart of Galloway

The construction of a new bypass on the A75 near Dunragit has uncovered a wealth of archaeological finds, illuminating around 8,000 years of human activity within a rich and complex historic landscape on the south-west coast of Scotland. With the project’s findings now published in full, Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts surveys some of the key discoveries.

Iona’s archetype? A concrete replica of the Cross of St John speaks

The Isle of Iona, located off the south-western coast of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, has been described by the poet Robert Crawford (b. 1959) as a place where ‘spirit, imagination, and physical exertion mingle’. Iona’s assemblage of early medieval carved stones and grave slabs constitute a special part of the island’s magic, forming a collection of early medieval art for which there are few parallels in the rest of Europe. The importance of one cross in particular – the 8th-century Cross of St John – has only recently been realised, in part because of a study of its concrete replica, as Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reveals.

Made of stone: seeking the dawn of technology

In this dizzying digital era, it can be startling to remember that our love affair with technology began millions of years ago with someone banging two stones together. But it is increasingly apparent that desiring tools with which to shape our world is not just a human trait. As Tomos Proffitt and Alastair Key told Current World Archaeology's Matthew Symonds, we were not – and are not – alone.

Left Nero, in the form of a marble statue created within a few years of him becoming emperor in AD 54. His hairstyle differed from that of previous emperors, and according to the ancient authors so too did his general approach to the role. It is illuminating to compare and contrast their hostile accounts with objects created

Nero: monster or maligned?

It would be fair to say that Nero’s reputation survives him. But could it be that this notorious imperial bad boy has been unfairly condemned by history? While the charge sheet levelled against him by the ancient historians is truly horrifying, archaeology paints a more nuanced picture, as Thorsten Opper told Current World Archaeology's Matthew Symonds.

Cloggs Cave: a temporary hunting camp or secluded retreat and source of magical supplies?

How do we interpret archaeological sites? Excavations conducted 50 years ago at Cloggs Cave, in south-eastern Australia, revealed what seemed to be a temporary hunting camp. Fresh research, though, points to this cavity having been used as a secluded place of magic and danger, accessed only by a few powerful individuals. Russell Mullett and Bruno David told Current World Archaeology's Matthew Symonds what has changed.

OPPOSITE Andrew Gardner’s photo of Lincoln and McClellan meeting in the General’s campaign tent near the Antietam battlefield in October 1862 is famous. It is posed, of course, but the body language still looks distinctly awkward.

Firing the Generals: Lincoln v McClellan

President Abraham Lincoln and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have such iconic status as the victorious leaders of their countries in the American Civil War and World War II respectively that they often seem beyond criticism. Yet, at the height of the conflicts, they both risked all by firing their leading generals. Although Lincoln had no previous military knowledge or experience, whereas Churchill had fought in battles and witnessed war both as a soldier and war correspondent, they acted with similar decision and despatch when their generals seemed either incompetent or not to be fighting with the aggressive spirit they demanded.  In the first of two articles, Nigel Jones describes Lincoln’s long search for a war-winning general, and his feud with the ultra-cautious General George B McClellan.

Reimagining the past: experiments in construction at Butser Ancient Farm

Butser Ancient Farm is an experimental archaeology centre nestled in the Hampshire South Downs. Its staff specialise in exploring the past by engaging with ancient tools and building techniques, and we reported on the unveiling of their latest creation, a reconstructed Neolithic house, in CA 375. Now Butser archaeologist Claire Walton takes us behind the scenes to describe the research that went into its design – and the ups and downs of the construction process.

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A golden anniversary: marking 50 years of the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit

Before development-led archaeology was enshrined in law, many archaeological features were destroyed by construction projects without being documented – so, in the 1970s, a number of ‘rescue’ groups were set up to help record these remains before they were lost forever. The Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit marks its 50th anniversary this year, and Brian Philp guides us through some of its trials and triumphs to-date.

Northampton’s chequered history: uncovering Britain’s first medieval chess workshop

Excavation in Northampton town centre has revealed the remains of a 12th-century bone-working workshop that yielded not only antler offcuts and other echoes of industry, but a number of high-quality chess pieces that had been discarded at different stages of their manufacture. With a monograph describing the finds in more detail having just been published, Rob Atkins tells us more about this unprecedented discovery.

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Interpreting Dover Castle’s great tower: Angevin innovation, or a medieval white elephant?

Dover’s massive castle, rising in tiers above the harbour to the crest of the hill above the town, looks like the very model of a medieval fortification – but, as a new book reveals, it has some very odd features indeed. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports on the efforts of English Heritage and Historic England, as well as castle specialists and medieval historians, to explain this extraordinary monument.

Last supper in Pompeii

The Romans’ passion for fine dining is well known – now a mouth-watering new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum shows how the production, distribution and consumption for food and wine coloured every aspect of Roman life, as its curator Paul Roberts explains

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Picasso: echoes of Iberia

From myths of the Minotaur to Cycladic sculpture, the influence of the ancient world on Picasso is well known. But a less familiar part of the artist’s relationship with the distant past is his fruitful engagement with the art of ancient Iberia, as Cécile Godefroy and Hélène Le Meaux explain.

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The theatre of feasting

Wining and dining has long been part of diplomacy. Fine objects from the table tell stories of power, partnerships, and protocol, but also of poisoning, as a new exhibition explores. Geraldine Fabrikant reports.

OPPOSITE William Pars, Ruins of the temple of Apollo at Didyma, from the north east¸ October 1764. Pen and grey and black ink, watercolour, with gum arabic and some body colour. Size: 299 x

In search of ancient Ionia

William Pars’s poetic images of the ruins he encountered on an expedition to Ionia and Athens helped shape the taste for Greek styles in 18th-century Britain. Louise Stewart takes us on a journey to Ionia through the eyes of this young artist.

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Secrets of the Galloway Hoard

With a large amount of gold and Anglo-Saxon objects otherwise unseen in Scotland, the Viking Age hoard discovered in Galloway in 2014 is unusual in a number of ways. What do we know so far about this complex hoard? And what more might its contents tell us? As the Galloway Hoard goes on display in a new exhibition and research continues, Martin Goldberg explores the answers, and the new questions, the enigmatic assemblage offers up.

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Nero: the people’s princeps?

Roman literature gives us an overwhelmingly negative view of Nero, but was there any good to this matricidal ruler? As a new exhibition on the emperor opens at the British Museum, Minerva's Editor Lucia Marchini speaks to curators Thorsten Opper and Francesca Bologna to find out more about how and why this figure, popular with the people, came to be known as an enemy of the Senate and the state.

OPPOSITE Overlooking the remains of an Anarchy period smithy excavated by Headland Archaeology. Once a vital asset to Cheveley’s 12th century villagers, today its outline is preserved through foundation trenches and post holes.

Iron in the time of Anarchy: investigating a smithy site forged in 12th-century civil war

When Headland Archaeology excavated a site in Cheveley, Cambridgeshire, there was every expectation that the medieval village would yield archaeological remains. What was found far exceeded the team’s anticipation, though, as they unearthed the remains of a 12th-century smithy surrounded by both the objects and waste material that it had produced. It was the site’s date, and that of its abandonment, which proved the most compelling part of the story, however, suggesting a connection to a dark period in the history of the Fens. Julie Franklin reveals more.

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‘Who will deliver me from this turbulent priest?’ How two Henrys failed to erase the memory of Thomas Becket

The story of Thomas Becket’s murder in AD 1170 still resonates after 850 years, despite the attempts of Henry VIII to eradicate all memory of the man that Henry II reportedly called ‘this turbulent priest’. Henry VIII called for the destruction of his shrine and the defacing of prayer books referring to his martyrdom. Even so, the Becket cult refused to die, and the British Museum has brought together an array of pilgrim badges and reliquaries, medals, paintings, and stained glass to show us why so many people in medieval Europe flocked to his Canterbury shrine. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.

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Nero’s Britain: rebellion, reconstruction, and a revised reputation

The Roman emperor Nero has long been reviled as a notorious tyrant, prone to lavish and often murderous excesses, who headed a chaotic regime that saw Britain erupt into open insurrection led by the rebel queen Boudica. A new exhibition at the British Museum presents a more nuanced picture, however, and Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts spoke to the curator, Thorsten Opper, to find out more about what Nero’s reign had meant for Roman Britain.

Opposite Works to install a 317km gas pipeline in south Wales have offered archaeologists the opportunity to carry out one of the longest excavations in Wales one of their most significant discoveries was a previously unknown Neolithic henge at Vaynor Farm in Carmarthenshire. Its remains can be seen in the foreground, while the pipeline corridor stretches away into the distance.

Carmarthenshire’s missing monument: how one of the biggest excavations in Wales uncovered a long-lost henge

The installation of the South Wales Gas Pipeline allowed archaeologists to investigate a 317km corridor stretching from the Pembrokeshire Coast to Gloucestershire. Their finds have illuminated more than 10,000 years of human history, including the previously unknown remains of Britain’s most south-westerly Neolithic henge. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.