Bronze Age spearhead found near Cirencester
Previous investigations have uncovered traces of human activity spanning the Neolithic to Roman periods.
South West
Stone circle discovered inside Cornwall henge
This represents a rare find for the area: the only other known Cornish henge monument with a stone circle is Stripple Stones on Bodmin Moor.
Cissbury Ring: Neolithic flint-mines in the digital age
Seventy years after John Pull’s excavations at Cissbury Ring transformed our understanding of Neolithic flint-mining, an innovative new interpretive trail has been launched at the West Sussex landmark. Carly Hilts visited the site with James Brown and James Sainsbury to find out more.
Jubilee listings and haunted homes
Woodchester Mansion is considered to be one of the UK’s most haunted buildings, and people pay large sums to spend the night in the freezing cold mansion with their ghost-detecting cameras and radar equipment.
Bronze Age spearhead unearthed among other prehistoric finds in Gloucestershire
Six Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age timer-posted roundhouses and an array of animal bone and pottery fragments were also uncovered.
Thousands of possible prehistoric pits found near Stonehenge
Among the larger features excavated in the course of the investigations, the team found a 10,000-year-old pit that had been dug into the chalk bedrock, perhaps to catch game such as aurochs.
Finds tray – Roman owl figurine
This copper-alloy owl figurine was found last year by a metal-detectorist on cultivated land in the Cotswolds, and it dates to the Roman period, when owls were associated with the goddess Minerva. The 6.8cm-tall bird is perched on a round,…
Fragments of the Bronze Age
Review by Chris Griffiths. Those with an interest in Bronze Age metalwork will know that the literature tends to focus on the question of why metal objects were destroyed and buried: were they deliberately broken for recycling, to serve a…
New analysis of Blick Mead’s Mesolithic landscape
Excavations at the site have revealed traces of a significant Mesolithic ‘home base’, including evidence of extensive flint-tool manufacturing and major feasting events.
This week: Mapping the cosmos
These days, we take it for granted that we carry the world – and the cosmos – in our pockets. Powerful smart phones and ever-more-sophisticated technology mean that we can summon up highly detailed maps both of the earth and the heavens above with just a few taps of the screen. It was not always like this, of course.
CWA 113 Crossword – May 2022
Across 7 Phoenician city state destroyed by Rome in 146 BC (8) 9 Light cavalryman originating in Hungary in the 15th century (6) 10 Sailing vessel developed in Macau in the 16th century (6) 11 Germanic people who invaded Italy…
Writing archaeology
Neil went on to propose using what R G Collingwood called ‘the historical imagination’ by blending data and interpretation to ‘tell the story’. He was convinced that this ‘must be done if archaeology is to be interesting and worthwhile’.
Military History events, exhibitions, and galleries in summer 2022
A round-up of some of the best military history events and exhibitions to check out in 2022, including a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.
University partners with Tank Museum to preserve historic vehicles
Many of the tanks on display and in storage are examples of British engineering heritage.
Mosaics in Roman Britain
Review by Stephen R Cosh. Anthony Beeson has been among those at the forefront of mosaic research in Britain for many years, particularly on mythological subjects. This little book is very much a personal journey and summarises his own research…
News in brief: Prehistoric Heathlands and Holcombe Moor
Prehistoric heathlands Plans to expand fragments of Neolithic heathland on Brownsea Island in Dorset (below) have been announced by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust as part of a project to restore the island’s habitat. England’s south coast was…
Current Archaeology 386
• Time Team returns: the show’s first new digs in a decade
• Excavating a prisoner of war camp in Shropshire
• Exploring the legacy of a Roman monument
• Trimontium’s Roman tragedy
• Tracing religious remains at Maryport Roman fort (available 13 April on The Past)
Finds tray – medieval lion figurine
This small lion figurine, which probably dates to c.AD 1300-1500, was found last year by a metal-detectorist on cultivated land near St Teath in Cornwall. The 6.8cm-high animal, which is made from copper-alloy and weighs 173g, was most likely cast…
Weighing up the evidence: did Bronze Age Britons use gold as currency?
‘While gold would still have had an intrinsic value and probably could have been used for trading in any number of circumstances, it most likely wasn’t a generally recognised form of currency.’
Finds tray – Roman vessel mount
This copper-alloy Roman vessel mount, produced sometime between AD 43 and AD 410, was found last year by a metal-detectorist on farmland near St Ives, Cornwall. The c.4.5cm-tall mount, most likely for a tripod, may once have supported some kind…
This week: Time Team
Last year, we could barely contain our excitement at news that Time Team, the much-loved archaeology series that became a long-running Sunday-afternoon TV favourite, was planning to pick up its trowel again after a near-decade-long hiatus.
The World of Stonehenge
Review by HB. This accessible and richly informative book, produced to accompany the World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum (CA 384), treats Stonehenge as a ‘gateway’ into the interconnected worlds of British, Irish, and European prehistory. Wooden poles…
News in brief: Roman burials and digital archaeology
Burials near Whitminster villa Ten human burials have been uncovered at a development site near Stroud in Gloucester (below), which Cotswold Archaeology is investigating ahead of the construction of new training pitches for Forest Green Rovers FC. Excavations at the…
Was Stonehenge a solar calendar?
Recent geochemical research has found that most of the sarsen stones come from the same geographical area
Time Team: the love affair continues
So, what’s different about this incarnation of Team Time? Besides the charm and expertise of several new cast members, these episodes wholly embrace the countless scientific advances in dating and scanning that have occurred over the last decade.
Time Team returns – when and where to watch the new episodes
The programme kicks off this weekend with an extended three-part extravaganza covering Time Team’s excavation of an Iron Age settlement in Cornwall.
Human burials unearthed in Gloucestershire
It appears that, in one burial, the skull of the deceased was positioned between their legs.
Adrift: the curious tale of the Lego lost at sea
I’d wager that every one of us has beachcombed at some point in our lives. Collecting intriguing, eye-catching, and occasionally useful objects from the foreshore of beaches, lakes, and rivers is an instinctual behaviour likely as old as our earliest…
This week: Britain and Brittany
Boris Johnson is not, of course, the first political leader to take a dim view of the free movement of people and goods between Britain and the Continent. More than 2,000 years earlier, Julius Caesar ordered the destruction of ships…
‘Hippy’ archaeologists
The ‘hippy generation’ prefers to tell archaeological narratives that paint our ancestors as egalitarian, caring for weaker members of society and welcoming migrants for the new skills and ideas.
Bretons and Britons: exploring prehistoric Britain’s French connection
The fact that Britain and Brittany have similar names is more than coincidental. The two places have enmeshed histories, as Barry Cunliffe discusses in his latest book, Bretons and Britons. Chris Catling reports on the periods in prehistory when the people of the two cultures facing each other across the Channel were particularly close.
Friary floor tiles revealed in Gloucester
The latest discovery – an extensive floor surface made up of glazed green and white tiles – is thought to represent the northern part of the friary’s cloister.
Current Archaeology 384
• Exploring the world of Stonehenge
• Symbolism in Shakespeare’s schoolroom
• Quarrying clues: Neolithic stone extraction
• Britain’s most elusive Roman sculptures (out 9 February)
• Deciphering the DNA of the Amesbury Archer and the Companion
Excavation at Melksham reveals evidence of Iron Age, Roman, and medieval activity
The team found Iron Age and Roman settlement phases with rubbish pits, postholes, and boundary ditches.
Solar Power at Stonehenge
The people of Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe explored their connection to the sun in a range of ways, from monumental stone circles to small gold discs. As a new exhibition opens at the British Museum, Lucia Marchini speaks to Jennifer Wexler to find out more about the ideas that linked them.
The world of Stonehenge: placing a famous monument in context
A new exhibition at the British Museum explores the landscape that Stonehenge emerged from, and the social, cultural, and technological transformations it witnessed. Neil Wilkin and Jennifer Wexler told CA more.