Cover Story
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. Features
A tale of two temples: tracing religious remains at Maryport Roman fort The Roman fort at Maryport is best known for the collection of altars, dedicated to the god Jupiter, that were found buried in a series of large pits just outside… 
The triumphal arch: exploring the legacy of a Roman monument Dismissed by one distinguished architectural writer as a regrettable example of Roman pomposity, ‘typical of the rather pretentious magnificence of the [Roman] Empire’, the ‘triumphal arch’ (more correctly the ‘honorary… 
New light on Trimontium: building a museum against the odds The recent renovation of Trimontium Museum in Melrose has given archaeologists the opportunity to re-examine the enduring mystery of what happened at the nearby Roman fortress of the same name… 
Happy campers? Investigating the experiences of prisoners of war near Oswestry What was life like for German prisoners of war who were interned in England during the Second World War? Wessex Archaeology’s recent excavation of a camp outside Oswestry in Shropshire… News
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. 
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… 
Iron Age coin database launched online The Celtic Coin Index is more technologically advanced than its predecessors. 
UK museum news: Roman helmet goes on display and exhibition explores Tutankhamun’s childhood The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions. 
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.' 
Pictish symbol stone unearthed near Aberlemno Archaeologists also found three pieces of late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art bearing cup marks and spiral designs 
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. 
London’s largest area of Roman mosaic for over 50 years IMAGE: © MOLA/Andy Chopping. The largest section of Roman mosaic to be found in London for over half a century has been uncovered in Southwark. The floor panels, which have… 
Was Stonehenge a solar calendar? Recent geochemical research has found that most of the sarsen stones come from the same geographical area Views
Go digging! What's on While many volunteer excavations were mothballed during COVID-19 restrictions, this summer has plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in fieldwork. Carly Hilts and Emilie Clowry have put together… 
Exhibitions, events, and heritage from home in Spring and Summer 2022 Museum, Places, What's on 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… 
Finds tray – Roman vessel mount Objects 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… 
Excavating Berkshire Comment, Places 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… 
Feminine power: the divine to the demonic Museum, What's on The British Museum recently held a preview of their next exhibition, which is set to explore perceptions and depictions of women in mythology throughout history, across the globe. Carly Hilts… UK museum news: Roman helmet goes on display and exhibition explores Tutankhamun’s childhood Museum, News, What's on The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions. 
Victorian vents and Roman roads Comment Inventive Vents has a clever way of engaging younger people with scatological anecdotes, in the style of Horrible Histories. Thus we are told that the innocuously named Carting Lane was… 
A landscape through time The Picture Desk Last year, Historic England archaeologists used ground-penetrating radar to confirm the remains of Tudor and Jacobean formal gardens at Belhus Park in Thurrock, Essex, the site of a manor built… 
Friends of Repton Parish Church Groups The letter from Mark Horton in CA 382, about the work of the Friends of Repton Parish Church, prompted us to take a closer look at this society, which Mark… Reviews
Go digging! While many volunteer excavations were mothballed during COVID-19 restrictions, this summer has plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in fieldwork. Carly Hilts and Emilie Clowry have put together… 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… Feminine power: the divine to the demonic The British Museum recently held a preview of their next exhibition, which is set to explore perceptions and depictions of women in mythology throughout history, across the globe. Carly Hilts… 
Evensong: people, discoveries and reflections on the church in England Review by Christopher Catling. Reading this book reminds me of the University of London’s Warburg Institute Library, which has a unique classification system designed by the library’s founder, Aby Warburg… UK museum news: Roman helmet goes on display and exhibition explores Tutankhamun’s childhood The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions. 
The Mesolithic in Britain: landscape and society in times of change Review by George Nash. The concept of a ‘Mesolithic’, a Middle Stone Age, has been with us since the early 1930s, and many thousands of sites dating to this period… 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… 
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… 
The Great British Dig: history in your back garden Review by CH. Those of us who enjoy relaxing of an evening with an episode or two of an archaeological TV show have been spoiled in recent years, with such… 
The Archaeology of Merseyside in 20 Digs Review by AB. Archaeological investigations have been taking place in Merseyside, in north-west England, since the 19th century, shedding light on the many communities who have inhabited the area over… 
From the editor
It’s amazing to think that it was almost ten years ago that we reported (in CA 274) that Time Team was drawing to a close. Over two decades of digging, the popular programme had revolutionised archaeological television and was, for many, a key influence and inspiration for their own archaeological journeys (including yours truly, who grew up watching the show and worked as a researcher on Series 18 – ten points if you can spot me dressed as a Roman!). Now, though, the Team has reunited to film two new excavations: one exploring an Iron Age fogou in Cornwall, the other a Roman villa in Oxfordshire. Our cover feature takes you behind the scenes.
We next travel to the outskirts of Oswestry, to examine the remains of a camp that housed captured German servicemen during the Second World War. Wessex Archaeology’s excavations have given vivid insights into what life was like within the compound – apparently, relatively comfortable, although signs of escalating tensions between prisoners and camp staff could also be seen.
Moving from ephemeral outlines of buildings to monumental architecture, our third feature traces the evolution of the triumphal arch, and its lasting legacy.
Such arches were, of course, a Roman invention, and our final two articles discuss different aspects of Roman Britain. At Maryport, just south of Hadrian’s Wall, the remains of two temples first uncovered in the 19th century have been reinvestigated in detail. What can they tell us about cult activity on the Roman frontier? Meanwhile, in the Scottish Borders, intriguing research is emerging from Trimontium, a Roman fort with a remarkably turbulent past.
