Charles Williams and the Corinth Roman Painting Project
In the second – and final – part of his interview, Richard Hodges talks to Charles K Williams about the remarkable Roman frescoes he discovered in Corinth.
Europe
A dog and a dagger
Archaeologists from Swedish National Historical Museums have uncovered an unusual and remarkably well-preserved dog burial believed to date to c.5,000 years ago at a site in Logsjömossen, near Järna, south-west of Stockholm. Excavations revealed the remains of a large male…
Earliest evidence of fire-making
Archaeologists have revealed that humans were making fire 350,000 years earlier than previously known. Opportunistic use of wildfire, usually created by lightning strikes, is likely to have developed over a million years ago, but – until now – the earliest…
Submerged stone structures
A collection of undersea constructions dating to the end of the Mesolithic period has been discovered off the coast of France near Île de Sein, Brittany. A total of 11 submerged structures were identified through analysis of a LiDAR survey…
An unusual Viking Age burial
An intriguing woman’s grave has been discovered in Bjugn, in Trøndelag County, Norway. Researchers were alerted to the burial by a metal-detectorist who came across an oval brooch of a style typical for the Viking Age and the centuries before.…
CWA news in brief
A changing Rome Maria Barosso is an unsung heroine in Rome’s archaeological story. An extraordinary new exhibition in the Museo Centrale Montemartini provides a flavour of her work as a functionary in the Direzione Generale Antichità e Belle Arti. Born…
Retreading old trails
A comprehensive road system underpinned the exceptional degree of mobility and trade that characterised the Roman Empire, and much of the modern road system in Europe and the Mediterranean region is built on top of Roman constructions. Roman roads are also among the earliest relics of antiquity to be studied and mapped.
Phaselis: A city and the sea
The ruins of ancient Phaselis occupy a striking setting on the Mediterranean shore. Matthew Symonds visited to find out more.
Communicating classical antiquity: The making of a Museum of Ancient Art
Aarhus offers a fascinating example of how university museums can reflect research agendas, as Vinnie Nørskov and Rubina Raja explain.
Semiyarka: a special steppe site
Archaeologists are exploring a unique Bronze Age settlement in the heart of Kazakhstan’s grasslands.
109 Roman mounts: Excavating a military horse cemetery
Investigating the environs of a Roman fort at Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, in south-west Germany, has revealed the remains of a remarkable number of cavalry horses. Sarah Roth explains what these can teach us about a key instrument of Roman power.
War on Film – Nuremberg
Taylor Downing reviews the latest film and television releases.
In Brief
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.
Archaeo-anthropology of Conflicts in France: from the earlier Middle Ages to the Second World War
REVIEW BY NICHOLAS SAUNDERS The past 25 years have seen a revolution in our understanding of war (especially modern war), due partly to the shift from a solely military-history approach to an interdisciplinary one incorporating archaeology, anthropology, and scientific-technological advances.…
Those Who Are About to Die: a day in the life of a Roman gladiator
REVIEW BY MARC DeSANTIS Romans were hypocritical about gladiators. Typically slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war, they were seen by the upper crust as sitting squarely among the dregs of society. Yet they were admired, ogled, and cheered across the…
The White Lady: the story of two key British secret service networks behind German lines
REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING Helen Fry has specialised in fascinating and revealing histories of wartime intelligence and espionage, especially of the role of women in these activities. Women in Intelligence, The Walls Have Ears, and Spymaster are a few of…
MHM 150 Letters – January
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
MHM 150 Competition
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.
Clare Mulley
The MHM award-winning author, historian, and broadcaster on overlooked stories and person-sized doorways to the past.
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions, with Ben Goodlad.
Medieval spears recovered from Lake Lednica
Four well-preserved spears have been discovered during underwater investigations in Lake Lednica, west-central Poland. These discoveries are the latest additions to what may be the largest collection of European early medieval weaponry discovered at single site, comprising almost 300 military…
Roman soldiers found in mass grave in Croatia
In 2011, excavations at the site of the Roman-period city of Mursa (modern-day Osijek) in Croatia came across an ancient water well containing the complete skeletons of seven individuals. The results of analysis recently published in the journal PLOS One…
B-17 bomber found in the Baltic Sea
A B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that crashed into the Baltic Sea in 1943 has been located by marine archaeologists more than 80 years after it was lost. The project was led by Dr Piotr Bojakowski from Texas A&M University, in…
New findings from Culloden battlefield
Archaeological research at the site of the Battle of Culloden, near Inverness, has uncovered new material from the conflict. The discoveries were made by a team led by Derek Alexander from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and Professor Tony…
A database of Swedish warships
More than 1,000 historic Swedish warships lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea have been recorded in a new public database known as the ‘War Log’. The database was created as part of The Forgotten Fleet – Sweden’s Blue…
War Classics – On the Psychology of Military Incompetence
Nick Spenceley reconsiders On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman Dixon.
Life blood: Britain’s war-winning medical innovation.
One of the greatest contributions to Britain’s WWII success was made not by frontline troops, but by the transfusion pioneers who supported them on the battlefield. John Beales reports.
Berlin, year zero : The Iron Curtain falls – Part 4: a divided city
In the latest part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing reveals how tensions mounted in Germany’s ruined capital.
Verdun by numbers
10 months. Duration of the battle: lasting from 21st February until 18 December 1916. Verdun was the longest conflict of the First World War.
Verdun: the longest battle
In our special feature for this issue, Graham Goodlad traces first the military career of Philippe Pétain, the French marshal later disgraced for his collaboration with Nazi Germany, and then looks at the battle of Verdun to understand how France’s eventual victory was achieved at such terrible human cost.
The Mill on the Meuse
In the second part of our special feature, Graham Goodlad examines the epic French defence of the fortress of Verdun in the longest battle of World War I.
Spitfire at 90
The maiden flight of the world’s most famous fighter took place 90 years ago this spring. Stephen Roberts reveals how it helped to win the war.
Cremation in the Early Middle Ages: death, fire, and identity in north-west Europe
REVIEW BY SAM LEGGETT This volume reads as a ‘Who’s Who’ of early medieval cremation research, with most of the top historians, funerary-, and bio-archaeologists assembled. Williams and Lippok have been truly innovative here with how they have assembled the…
From Coast to Fen: archaeology in a dynamic landscape, the archaeology of the Triton Knoll Electrical System, Lincolnshire
REVIEW BY JONATHAN LAST Cable routes and similar projects are a challenge to archaeologists because their narrow footprints are not necessarily representative of the broad landscapes they pass through. Yet they often offer glimpses into areas little touched by other…
The Neolithic in Jersey
REVIEW BY KK This book synthesises what is currently known about the Neolithic in Jersey, highlighting the fact that while our knowledge for some areas of the island and for some phases of the Neolithic is fairly extensive, for other…
The Story of English Banknotes
REVIEW BY KK This is a nice short book on the history of the English banknote, and is rather timely, with the era of the banknote seemingly coming to an end as online transactions and credit card payments become ubiquitous.…