Excavations in central Cambridge have uncovered traces of one of the medieval town’s many religious communities, including remains of the friary itself, and of the people who were buried in its bounds. Craig Cessford reports.
Rare early 16th-century wall paintings have been uncovered – for the first time in almost 300 years – in the loft space of the First Court building at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Restoration work to the 15th-century building revealed three crowned…
• Warham Camp: exploring an Iron Age enigma in Norfolk
• Tracing Sarmatian cavalry in Britain
• Resurrecting Imber’s ‘ghost village’
• Religion and royalty at medieval Ferns
• Making sense of the Knaresborough Hoard
• An ancient jigsaw puzzle: reconstructing a Roman arm guard
Last summer, excavations at Warham Camp – a monumental Iron Age enclosure in north Norfolk – revealed intriguing clues to the site’s date and purpose. Carly Hilts visited the project and spoke to Andy Hutcheson to find out more.
Roman histories attest that thousands of Sarmatian warriors – renowned horse-riders from the Caucasus – were resettled in Britain after their defeat by Marcus Aurelius in AD 175, but vanishingly few archaeological traces of their presence here have been found. Now scientific analysis of a skeleton found during the excavation of a Roman farmstead in Cambridgeshire has produced what is thought to be the first genetic evidence of an individual from that region. Carly Hilts reports.
REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER EVANS Thoroughly researched and well-written, this is simply a very good read, one informed by its author’s long experience of archaeological fieldwork. In it, Mackay tracks down the route of Boudica and her rebel followers, as well…
The third and final season of excavation at Rendlesham, the East Anglian royal settlement near Sutton Hoo, has revealed the foundations of at least three new structures, including a possible pre-Christian temple or cult house, as well as illuminating the…
In the past, most analyses of human remains have examined specific, discrete aspects of osteological data such as health, trauma, and migration. In an attempt to provide a more holistic approach to the analysis of cemeteries, researchers at the University…
Excavations by the Caistor Roman Project outside the walls of Venta Icenorum are revealing the impact on local Iron Age communities of the development of a Roman regional capital. This summer, Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Giles Emery to find out more.
This month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column pays tribute to the late Tony Rook, who died on 11 September 2023 at the age of 91. Tony and his wife Merle Rook (who died in 2012) jointly founded the Welwyn Archaeological Society (WAS),…
Some of the most famous photographs of the1939 excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship burial were taken by two women, Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff (see CA 374). This October, part of Mercie’s personal collection relating to the dig was…
This is a Roman tortoise or turtle figurine that was recently found by a metal-detectorist near Wickham Skeith in Suffolk. Cast in copper-alloy, it has a flat base with no evidence of having once had a fixing, suggesting that it…
When a team from Oxford Archaeology and RPS Consulting were called in to evaluate a brownfield site at King’s Hedges, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, they did not expect to come across much as the site had already seen…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
Earlier this year Archaeological Research Services Ltd excavated a Roman farmstead west of Milton, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, providing new insights into rural domestic life and adding to the picture of affluence in this area of Roman Britain.…
REVIEW BY AB A hive of bees, ‘nine pair of bedde stockes’ (bed socks), ‘my worst petticoat’, and the famous Sutton Hoo treasure: these are just some of the objects left to friends, relatives, and institutions by Britain’s women over…
A new exhibition running at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge explores the wealth of human stories that have been brought to light in the surrounding region, through excavations old and new. Carly Hilts visited the displays with curator Dr Jody Joy to learn more.
Excavations at Conington, Cambridgeshire, uncovered the remains of a young woman who, unusually, had been laid face-down in her early medieval grave. What can this burial tell us about her life and death, and how she may have been perceived by her community? Carly Hilts reports.
Aseries of 25 Mesolithic pits have been discovered in Linmere, near Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire. This is the highest number of pits from this period ever found at a single site in England, making this one of the largest Mesolithic…
REVIEW BY NATALIE BUTLER John Davies and David Waterhouse take the reader on an absorbing journey into Norfolk’s past. Exploring Norfolk’s Deep History Coast is carefully researched and beautifully presented. It offers a whole and knowledgeable guide to the rich…
Colchester was the first capital of Roman Britain, and excavations within the town frequently uncover evidence of this chapter of its past. Colchester Castle, built over the ancient temple of Claudius, is currently home to an exhibition exploring one aspect of Roman life (and, for many unlucky participants, death): the gladiatorial games. Glynn Davis is our guide.
For almost 30 years, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) has been uncovering diverse archaeological features and finds at one of the UK’s largest sand- and gravel-extraction sites. Excavations have illuminated a landscape of prehistoric settlements, field systems, and monuments, located just three miles east of St Ives in Cambridgeshire. Matthew Brudenell, Charles Barker, Jonathan Tabor, and Chris Wakefield report on the latest discoveries.
A facial reconstruction of the early medieval teenager who was laid to rest in a bed burial in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, has been carried out by forensic artist Hew Morrison for a new exhibition, ‘Beneath Our Feet: archaeology of the Cambridge…
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH Due to current climate change, the coastline of north-western Europe is in a state of flux, resulting in the slow but inevitable inundation of the sea. This change in coastline is clearly witnessed by the ongoing disappearance…
A cipher belonging to an ally of Oliver Cromwell early in the English Civil War has gone on display for the first time. The document, dating from the 1640s and rediscovered only last year, is being featured as part of…
REVIEW BY JENNIFER FOSTER This most useful, extensive analysis concerns Iron Age inhumed bones in eastern England. The burial types start in the late Bronze Age, with most people buried in settlements: ‘normal’ pit/ditch, crouched, and north–south orientated; disarticulated bones;…
Join in this July with the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology! The theme for 2023 is ‘Archaeology and Creativity’, which will be explored online and in-person across the programme. Ceri Pennington has put together a selection of this year’s regional highlights.
Excavations in the winter of 2021 at Framlingham Road in Laxfield, Suffolk, have revealed a palimpsest of prehistoric settlement activity, including an enigmatic Bronze Age burnt mound. Bronze Age burnt mounds have long been puzzling archaeological features. As they are…
Such objects were used to play a variety of medieval board games known as ‘tables’, some of which resembled modern-day backgammon.
This Roman finger ring with an engraved intaglio was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Chelmsford in Essex and was recently declared treasure. This style of intaglio is known as a Henig Type II and dates to c.AD 125-175. The band…
Review by Bryony Coles The blurb on the back of this book gives an uncommonly accurate description of its contents: ‘a popular science book that tells the story of one of the most important, but least known major archaeological sites…
An exhibition running at Sutton Hoo tells the story of nearby Rendlesham, an early medieval elite settlement whose remains have been brought to light just four miles from the famous burial ground. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
This year is the 380th anniversary of the Siege of King’s Lynn, an important but often overlooked engagement during the Civil War. David Flintham presents the latest findings of a community archaeology project exploring the town’s fortifications.
There are, according to the heritage body Historic England, at least 37,000 shipwrecks strewn along the country’s coastline – a legacy of more than 6,000 years of maritime trade, exploration and warfare. Such a torturous proliferation offers a poignant reminder…
This summer offers a wealth of opportunities to get involved in fieldwork in the UK and Ireland. Ceri Pennington has put together some regional highlights for 2023, but see www.the-past.com/digs for even more archaeological experiences.
A new exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery features artefacts recovered from the wreck of the Gloucester, which sank off Norfolk in 1682. Carly Hilts visited and spoke to curators Professor Claire Jowitt and Dr Francesca Vanke to find out more.