In View
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles.
South West
The UK Paranormal Society
Paranormal phenomena (meaning those that can’t be explained by science) tend to be associated with old buildings. What self-respecting historical house lacks a story of somebody whose death in sudden and often tragic circumstances has left a restless spirit wandering…
Repeopling La Manche: new perspectives on Neanderthal archaeology and landscapes from La Cotte de St Brelade
REVIEW BY FRANCIS WENBAN-SMITH This volume presents an interim report on the current research into Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal occupation on Jersey and in its vicinity, centred on re-investigation of La Cotte de St Brelade rock-shelter and its distinctive mammoth bone…
Iron Age ‘warrior woman’ identified on the Isles of Scilly
The recent re-analysis of an unusual Iron Age burial from the Isles of Scilly – which contained grave goods typical of both men and women from this period – has shown that its occupant was biologically female. Discovered on the…
Rare Neolithic axe-sharpening stone discovered in Dorset
A stone used by Neolithic people to sharpen stone axes, known as a ‘polissoir’, has been discovered in the Valley of Stones near Portesham in Dorset. Previously, most polissoirs in England had only been discovered buried in chambered tombs, placed…
CA 402 Letters – August
Your thoughts on issues raised by CA.
Pirates: Explore beneath the surface
A new exhibition running at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth takes a deep dive into how perceptions of piracy have evolved since the 17th century, and the reality behind romanticised accounts of their activities. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
Stonehenge: a brief history
REVIEW BY ROB IXER After a slight temporal dip, we are back riding up on to a crest of the sine curve called ‘popular Stonehenge book publication’ (sadly, for a sun-orientated temple, this appears out of phase with the solar…
Villas, Sanctuaries, and Settlement in the Romano-British Countryside
REVIEW BY NEIL HOLBROOK Did all the buildings in the Roman countryside that we call ‘villas’ perform the same function? Were they mostly nicely appointed homes of people who had done well at farming, or country residences of the well-to-do…
The Drowning of a Cornish Prehistoric Landscape: Tradition, deposition, and social responses to sea level rise
REVIEW BY JACQUELINE A NOWAKOWSKI Mount’s Bay, west Cornwall, hosts a major drowned landscape. This attractive and well-produced monograph successfully integrates results of the excavation of a Bronze Age enclosure barrow, east of Penzance in the littoral zone, with excellent…
Bronze Age barrow cemetery discovered in Salisbury
Recent excavations by Cotswold Archaeology in Harnham, along Netherhampton Road on the western edge of Salisbury, have uncovered a large barrow cemetery, consisting of at least 20 burial mounds. While several Bronze Age barrow cemeteries have been identified in the…
One and all: Discovering the distinctiveness of Cornish buildings
The Cornish Buildings Group recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Dedicated to preserving and improving Cornwall’s built heritage, the Group has marked its half-century by publishing a short history of its achievements and a volume of conference proceedings that address the question: what defines Cornish buildings? Among the factors that contribute to Cornwall’s architectural distinctiveness are the county’s geology and building stones, as well as particular building types and the designs of architects who devoted much of their career to the county, as Chris Catling reports.
Uncovering the origins of Exeter Cathedral
Recent excavations within the cloister of Exeter Cathedral have unearthed significant structures and artefacts spanning the Roman, medieval, and post-medieval periods, including traces of a legionary fortress. The project has been carried out by AC Archaeology, led by Simon Hughes…
Plague DNA identified in Bronze Age remains
The bacteria that caused the Justinian Plague in the 6th century AD and the Black Death in the 14th century AD – Yersinia pestis – has recently been identified in three individuals from two Bronze Age sites in Britain. While…
Archaeology, Economy, and Society: England from the fifth to the fifteenth century (2nd edition)
Review by John Blair On the whole, classics are better left unrevised. New material unbalances a familiar format, and the less it feels like the same book the less one sees the point. But there are exceptions, of which this…
Centuries of settlement uncovered in Oxfordshire
Ongoing excavations on the grounds of the Besselsleigh estate in south-west Oxfordshire are revealing a rich palimpsest of settlement activity spanning the Roman period through to the modern day, bringing to life a once-thriving place that had been forgotten over…
The latest from the past: Re-excavating Boles Barrow
Over the course of a very rainy week this past March, Wessex Archaeology and volunteers from Operation Nightingale, led by DIO archaeologist Richard Osgood, carried out a small-scale excavation of Boles Barrow (also known as Bowl’s Barrow), a Neolithic long…
Deep impact: Can social value save archaeology from extinction?
As CIfA’s code of conduct states, ‘fuller understanding of the past provided by archaeology is part of society’s common heritage and it should be available to everyone’. So, how can we make sure that archaeology is accessible to as many people as possible? Lisa Westcott Wilkins considers the future of our field.
Museum news: Stonehenge on screen and seven sites added to the UK’s Tentative List
The latest on exhibitions, acquisitions, and key decisions.
Beyond the sea
Humans in the late Palaeolithic lived mainly on the coastline at a time when sea levels were up to 100m lower than they are today, meaning much of the archaeology of this period now lies below the waves.
Domesday pottery location excavated in Gloucestershire
Investigations by Cotswold Archaeology revealed finds spanning the Mesolithic through to the modern period, with the majority of the remains relating to a medieval farmstead with associated enclosures and trackways
Bronze Age and Roman occupation found near Newquay
Fragments of Trevisker ware pottery, with slightly different styles perhaps reflecting the different phases of the site, were found throughout each of the four roundhouses.
CA 398 Letters – April
Your views on issues raised in Current Archaeology.
First residue analysis of a medieval stone cresset conducted
As most cressets from Britain do not have any evidence of residue on them, it had previously been thought that they may have been used to hold ceramic lamps
50 Finds from Somerset: objects from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
Review by KK In the latest addition to the 50 Finds series from the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), Laura Burnett, the Finds Liaison Officer for Somerset, takes us on a tour of the county through some of the most important…
Current Archaeology 397
• Druce Farm Roman villa: a community dig in the heart of Dorset
• Exploring evidence for gladiators in York and Cirencester
• Searching for the ‘Band of Brothers’ at Aldbourne
• Cosmati at Canterbury Cathedral? the history of a medieval mosaic
• The story of the All Saints ‘anchoress’
Hunt begins for submarine buried beneath Dartmouth park
Launched in 1917, she saw a brief period of service during the final year of the war, and was responsible for sinking the German U-B
This week: Churchill’s US arsenal
He is, without doubt, the most quoted prime minister in British history. But even by his own standards, the speech that Winston Churchill made on 5 March 1946 stands out. Addressing an audience in Fulton, Missouri, he warned that an…
Stand ‘Easy’: searching for the ‘Band of Brothers’ at Aldbourne
Before the celebrated US paratroopers known as ‘Easy’ Company were deployed on D-Day, they were based at Aldbourne in Wiltshire. What have recent excavations revealed about their camp? Richard Osgood reports.
Druce Farm Roman villa: celebrating a community dig in the heart of Dorset
Roman villas are rarely excavated these days, because we already ‘know about them’. Yet when a villa is excavated – in part or as a whole – what we find defies what we think we know. The report on Druce Farm Roman villa, excavated between 2012 and 2018 by volunteer members of the East Dorset Antiquarian Society, has been published in quick time and in exemplary form. As Chris Catling discovers, it makes us think again about what defines a villa.
Down the Bright Stream: the prehistory of Woodcock Corner and the Tregurra Valley, Cornwall
Review by Jacqueline A Nowakowski A late Neolithic decorated slate disc adorns the front cover of this substantial and well-illustrated publication. Down the Bright Stream presents full technical reports on excavations (2009-2015) in Tregurra Valley by Cornwall Archaeological Unit. Key…
The Rise and Decline of Druce Farm Roman Villa (60-650 CE): excavations 2012-2018
Review by Simon Esmonde Cleary The excavations at Druce Farm in Dorset were carried out by local volunteers between 2012 and 2018, along with geophysical, drone, and laser surveys of the environs. The full publication of the results only four…
CA 396 Letters – February
Your views on issues raised in CA.
Bronze Age gold-working toolkit revealed
The team found that the modified stone cobbles had been used with a percussive action – either as stationary anvils or hammers – and that some preserved traces of gold contemporary with their use.
Tennyson, Chaucer, and ‘problematic’ poets
The treatment of Tennyson and Chaucer stands as a warning to us all not to adopt similarly reductive techniques in our interpretations of history, heritage, and archaeology.
This week: the year in review
It has been a year of non-stop turbulence in the news – from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the continuing upheaval of Covid-19, and from record-breaking heatwaves to the return of rampant inflation. These seismic events have provided us with…