Cover Story
Features
Planes over Port Meadow: revealing a First World War Home Front aerodrome A century after the site was dismantled, can the ephemeral remains of Oxford’s tented First World War flying training aerodrome be rediscovered? The Wolvercote WWI Aerodrome Memorial Project, a community… 
Pandemics and public health: cleansing Bath’s ‘Great Unwashed’ Excavations in Bath have revealed the remains of one of the earliest Victorian wash houses. Constructed during a time of revolutionary social reform and seismic shifts in attitudes towards poverty… 
Glass roots: examining the archaeology of glassmaking in England Today, glass is a commodity so ubiquitous and cheap that we take it for granted, but it wasn’t always so. A new book by David Dungworth traces the rise of… 
Mega-henges: the evolution of Mount Pleasant’s monuments It was long thought that huge and complex monuments like Mount Pleasant in Dorset had developed over many centuries – but new dating evidence suggests that the diverse elements of… 
New thoughts on the Boxford ‘Triumphs of Pelops and Bellerophon’ mosaic The vibrant late 4th-century mosaic discovered in Boxford, Berkshire, has been hailed as one of the most important discoveries of its kind. Anthony Beeson explores the latest thinking on the… News
Britain’s first 5th-century mosaic identified? New dating evidence from Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire may have identified Britain’s first-known 5th-century mosaic, researchers have announced. Founded in the 2nd century and reaching its zenith 200 years… 
Parsing the properties of Egyptian purple pigments PHOTOS: Gates et al., International Journal of Ceramic Engineering and Science. Between 30 BC and the 3rd century AD, during which period Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire,… 
Contextualising Bronze Age burials on the Isle of Man Recent assessment of a unique burial assemblage from the Isle of Man has helped illuminate a rare type of funerary practice also found in parts of Wales and northern England.… 
Updates to the definition of Treasure The definition of what is considered ‘Treasure’ is to be revised by the Government, to broaden its parameters and provide increased protection for archaeological finds made in England and Wales.… 
Searching for the people of Doggerland Around 8,150 years ago, a sudden shift in the seabed created the Storegga tsunami in the North Sea. With all known evidence pointing towards this event greatly affecting, but not… 
Roman villa revealed near Wrexham The remains of a Roman villa have been revealed near Rossett, Wrexham. It is the first site of its kind to be found in north-east Wales, adding to our knowledge… 
A new chronology for Glastonbury Lake Village A new robust set of radiocarbon dates from the Glastonbury Lake Village in Somerset has allowed researchers to establish a more-precise chronology for how the site was used during the… Views
Mapping the coast edge: Flimston Bay, Pembrokeshire The Picture Desk Flimston is a baseline study site for the EU-funded Ireland–Wales CHERISH project (2017-2023), which is studying climate change and eroding coastal heritage in Ireland and Wales. 
The Art Deco Society UK Groups Was it by coincidence that the formation of the Art Deco Society UK (ADSUK) in 2019 coincided with the publication of Art Deco Britain: buildings of the interwar years by… 
Towards a National Collection Comment Christopher Catling employs joined-up thinking in his regular column on the eccentricities of the heritage world 
Excavating the CA archive: Yorkshire 2 Comment From Captain Cook's Cottage to Romans in the East Riding: Joe Flatman explores half a century of reports from Yorkshire 
Finds tray – Roman bowl Objects This is an imported Roman bowl, made of copper-alloy, found in Wingham, Kent. The metal-detectorist who discovered the bowl left it in situ and reported it to the local Finds… Reviews
The Archaeology of East Oxford – Archeox: the development of a community Think of the archaeology of Oxford and thoughts will inevitably turn to the historic city centre. In the suburbs, however, there is a heritage every bit as rich and distinct.… 
Impinging on the Past: a rescue excavation at Fladbury, Worcestershire, 1967 The report on this significant site is most welcome. While earlier and later prehistoric features were present, as well as a small Roman cemetery, the chief interest lies with the… 
Living on the Edge of Empire: the objects and people of Hadrian’s Wall Do we need another book on Hadrian’s Wall? The answer in this case is a resounding ‘yes’. The authors curate the magnificent collections derived from several centuries of research, excavation,… 
Offa’s Dyke Journal, Volume 1 The archaeological societies founded in the 19th century embraced all aspects of the discipline, and from about the beginning of the 20th century societies came to be formed. In recent… 
A Biography of Power: research and excavations at the Iron Age oppidum of Bagendon, Gloucestershire (1979-2017) Bagendon has long been the poor relation of British late Iron Age oppida, lurking on the distribution’s western fringe. Its extensive, intermittent ramparts have long been known, but only in… 
Nazi Prisons in the British Isles: political prisoners during the German Occupation of Jersey and Guernsey 1940-1945 This is a welcome addition to the literature on confinement, a topic that has developed from a little-studied phenomenon into one of most vibrant areas within the subdiscipline of Conflict… 
From the editor
Fifteen thousand years ago, nomadic hunter-gatherers set up camp at Les Varines, Jersey. Their existence was no hand-tomouth search for subsistence, though: they also had time to engrave enigmatic patterns on fragments of stone. Our cover story explores recent analysis of these fascinating finds, hailed as the earliest art yet identified in the British Isles.
Prehistoric pioneers also feature in our article exploring evidence for Neanderthals in Britain. What can modern archaeological research and scientific advances tell us about their lives and experiences within these shores?
Neanderthals left fewer archaeological footprints in Britain than on the Continent, and elusive clues form the focus of our next feature, too. Keith Marischal, East Lothian, is an imposing baronial house – but one whose appearance is largely the result of relatively recent remodelling. How far is it possible to reconstruct its 16th- and 17th-century glory?
This latter period also witnessed the beginnings of Britain as a major sea power, heralding prosperity and exploration, but also the exploitation of enslaved peoples. We survey evidence from shipwrecks and standing remains to reflect on Britain’s colonial past.
Our last feature delves into domestic gardens, where many of us have been spending much more time during lockdown. Have you uncovered anything while digging at home? Some of the garden discoveries recently announced by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, including a Tudor hoard, have been spellbinding, as we explore this month.
