New details of Stoke Mandeville’s Roman busts
The sculptures could be representations of a family group from inside a Roman mausoleum.
South East
The search for Shackleton’s ship
The excellent state of preservation of the ship meant that once this wreck was located it was easy to identify, with its name still visible.
Roman Britain Quiz
Julius Caesar raided Britain in 55 and 54 BC. But which emperor began the Roman conquest in earnest in AD 43?
Paintings of Catholic saints returned to Chastleton House following conservation work
A fourth portrait – St Ambrose of Milan – has been missing since the early 20th century.
Iron Age coin database launched online
The Celtic Coin Index is more technologically advanced than its predecessors.
Exhibitions, events, and heritage from home in Spring and Summer 2022
There are lots of great heritage-related opportunities to get out and about this spring, with conferences to attend, exhibitions to visit, and excavations to sign up for. Or, if you’d prefer, there are still many archaeology-, history-, and heritage-related resources and activities to enjoy at home, whether you’re looking for a virtual tour of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a podcast about transatlantic shipwrecks, or online games designed for children. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
Excavating Berkshire
One of Berkshire’s oddities is that it is often forgotten that perhaps its most famous historic site is in the county at all – that of Windsor Castle. Such is the nature of this historic royal fortress, palace, and showpiece that the county fades away around it.
UK museum news: Roman helmet goes on display and exhibition explores Tutankhamun’s childhood
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Back to the future: visiting Time Team’s first new digs in a decade
The popular archaeology series Time Team has returned with its first new episodes in a decade. Felix Rowe took Current Archaeology behind the scenes at two very different excavations, investigating Iron Age Cornwall and Roman Oxfordshire.
Bronze Age mound found under ‘lost’ Oxford college
'No intact original human burials have been found but they are thought to be represented by the disarticulated skeletal remains.'
Industrial-scale Roman silver extraction in Kent
The team also found the remains of a high-status, middle-aged woman who had been laid to rest in a lead-lined coffin.
The Shaping of the English Landscape: an atlas of archaeology from the Bronze Age to Domesday Book
Review by Andrew Tibbs. As a collection of maps covering almost every imaginable aspect of landscape-usage, from the Bronze Age to the early medieval period, this book covers many types of ancient landscape-use, including settlement, foodways, belief, mobility, defence, and…
CWA 112 Crossword – March 2022
Crossword from Current World Archaeology issue of March 2022.
CWA 112 Letters – March
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions.
HMS Victory marks a century in Portsmouth harbour
This year sees the beginning of the next stage of conservation. This work will include the removal of rotting planks and their replacement with new oak, repairs to the ship’s structural framework, and a full re-rigging.
In Memoriam: Dr Neil Faulkner
As all who worked with him here would agree, he was not just a man of extraordinary and wide-ranging intellectual and professional ability, but also a hugely generous, thoughtful, and kind collaborator and colleague...
MUSEUM REVIEW – Royal Logistic Corps Museum
A visit is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in finding out how the British Army has been sustained over the last six centuries.
Soldiers: great stories of war and peace
Soldiers is a personal selection of stories about war by a leading military historian following a lifetime spent studying the subject. It is not a heavyweight tome, but a fun-to-read book – if one can use such a term in…
Historic items from legendary warship go on display at Chatham
The remains of the ship were discovered in 1979 by local fishermen and she was designated a Historic Wreck in 1980.
Exhibitions, events, activities, and heritage from home in 2022
There are many wonderful archaeological, historical, and heritage-related events on offer over the coming months, whether you’re looking for exhibitions and conferences or an opportunity to get your hands dirty at a real excavation. Or if you’d prefer to get your archaeology fix at home, there are still plenty of ways to experience the past from your sofa, ranging from virtual tours of museums and heritage sites to online learning resources and educational games. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the best options available.
Peasant Perceptions of Landscape: Ewelme hundred, south Oxfordshire, 500-1650
Review by Susan Oosthuizen. This study of 14 south Oxfordshire parishes covers the lowland valleys of both the Thame and Thames, typified by nucleated settlements and open fields, and the uplands of the Chiltern Hills, characterised by dispersed farms and…
The Long Distance Walkers Association
Active travel, as it is known, is set to become even more popular as people rediscover the riches of the UK’s natural and cultural heritage.
Bronze Age burial mound discovered beneath former Oxford college
A fragment of skull and part of a human jawbone were also uncovered.
English Channel Quiz
France and England were once connected by land. River crossings aside, when would it last have been possible to walk between the two?
Finds tray – Seal of Matilda de Cornhill
Seal matrices are inscribed, flat-bottomed metal items used to make impressions on wax to create ‘seals’ – marks of authentication commonly appended to medieval documents. They are made, typically, of lead or copper-alloy and, more rarely, of precious metal. This…
Unearthing an ‘idol’
Prehistoric anthropomorphic items made of wood represent rare finds in British archaeology.
Research underway to find best materials for conserving HMS Victory
Specially designed tests will assess a range of paints, caulking, glues, and metal fastenings.
Roman roadside life and death near Aylesbury
Around ten percent of the excavated individuals were missing skulls, with many clearly decapitations, evidenced by visible cut marks and placement of the head between the legs.
Rare Romano-British carving revealed
The substantial figure, measuring 67cm in height, was discovered in July 2021 in Buckinghamshire, southern England
Mitigating heritage loss at Seaford Head
An Iron Age hill fort and multiperiod site under threat from coastal erosion at Seaford Head in East Sussex is being investigated as part of a new initiative tackling the wider problem of heritage loss. The project, funded by Historic…
Rare Roman carving found in Buckinghamshire
The anthropomorphic figure, which is 67cm tall and 18cm wide, was found in an excellent state of preservation due the ditch being water-logged
Academic mass production
Every paper has to say something new. In the mass production of vehicle components, difference is defect. In the mass production of academic papers, difference is a requirement.
MHM Letters January 2022
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Museum review – The Night Hunters: The Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces at War
REVIEWING THE BEST MILITARY HISTORY EXHIBITIONS
WITH Graham Goodlad.
War Classics: History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century
What is immediately striking reading Oman is the depth of his scholarship... These are works of exceptional length and detail.
The wartime art of Laura Knight
Laura Knight was blessed with some of the essential qualities of any great artist: a broadness of outlook and a fascination with the riches of ordinary life. A new exhibition of her work at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes…