Cover Story
Warham Camp: Investigating an Iron Age enigma Last summer, excavations at Warham Camp – a monumental Iron Age enclosure in north Norfolk – revealed intriguing clues to the site’s date and purpose. Carly Hilts visited the project and spoke to Andy Hutcheson to find out more. Features
St Aidan’s settlement: Finding evidence of medieval Ferns In the year AD 580, St Aidan crossed the Irish Sea from St Davids in Pembrokeshire (where he had been studying as St David’s favourite pupil) to Rosslare in County… 
From the Caucasus to Cambridgeshire: Retracing the story of Offord Cluny’s ‘Sarmatian’ burial Roman histories attest that thousands of Sarmatian warriors – renowned horse-riders from the Caucasus – were resettled in Britain after their defeat by Marcus Aurelius in AD 175, but vanishingly… 
Pieces of the past: Making sense of the Knaresborough Hoard Found in the 19th century, the Knaresborough Hoard is one of the largest and most unusual late Roman metalwork hoards known from Britain – but until recently its contents had… 
Resurrecting Imber: Exploring relics of a requisitioned village When the Salisbury Plain village of Imber was taken over by the War Department in 1943, its inhabitants all departed, never to return. What has recent archaeological work revealed about… 
An ancient jigsaw puzzle: Reconstructing a Roman arm guard from Trimontium Fort in the Scottish Borders A piece of armour that would have been worn by a legionary stationed on Rome’s northern frontier almost 2,000 years ago has been painstakingly pieced back together. Bethan Bryan, Fraser… News
Finding the lost monastery of Deer After almost 15 years of searching, the lost monastery of Deer may have finally been found, only 80m from the ruins of Deer Abbey in Aberdeenshire. The search began in… 
A new chronology for Dinas Powys The hillfort of Dinas Powys, located about 9km south-west of Cardiff, was first excavated by Leslie Alcock in the 1950s. While the excavation and its subsequent report were pioneering for… 
Medieval moated farm discovered in Tewkesbury Work by Cotswold Archaeology has revealed the evolution of a farmstead known as Cowfield Farm, from its medieval origins to its redevelopment in the 18th century. When the centuries-old brick… 
Science Notes: Investigating race and mortality during the Black Death A reconstruction of London c.1400 by Amédée Forestier. Image: Museum of London Past studies of medieval populations have often glossed over any heterogeneity that probably existed in that period, often… 
Bronze Age barrows and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered in Hampshire Excavations this past summer have revealed the remains of three Bronze Age barrows, as well as a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery in New Alresford, Hampshire. Led by PCA Winchester and the… 
Anglo-Saxon cemetery revealed in Lincolnshire Another Anglo-Saxon cemetery associated with Bronze Age monuments was recently uncovered by Wessex Archaeology in Lincolnshire. The discovery was made during excavations in advance of the National Grid’s ambitious new… 
Mesolithic fish trap found in the Severn Estuary A research team from the University of Reading, led by Professor Martin Bell, has been working for the last 33 years to record eroding Mesolithic archaeology from the seabed of… 
World news: From burials in the Arctic to Beavers at Bilzingsleben Burials in the Arctic? A recent re-evaluation of the Tainiaro site in Finnish Lapland, c.80km south of the Arctic Circle, suggests that it could be one of the most northernly… Views
Conserving the Scottish crown jewels – Edinburgh Castle The Picture Desk The Honours of Scotland recently underwent the most significant conservation in their centuries-long history, helping preserve them for generations to come. The Crown, Sceptre, and Sword of State represent the… 
Current Archaeology’s February Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home What's on There are many brilliant archaeological events on offer over the next few months, including new exhibitions, conferences, and lectures. If you would prefer to get your history and heritage fix… 
Excavating the CA archive Comment Joe Flatman explores over half a century of reports from the past. 
Current Archaeology Live! 2024 What's on In partnership with: Current Archaeology Live! 2024 is almost here, but it is not too late to book your place. The conference, held in partnership with University College London’s Institute… 
Sherds CA 408 Comment Christopher Catling, Contributing Editor for CA, delves into the eccentricities of the heritage world. 
The Pole Society Groups The Pole Society is the delightful invention of a group of satirists who have taken to the internet to poke fun at Tripadvisor by championing the merits of a new… 
Becoming Roman – Silchester, a town of change Museum, What's on A new exhibition exploring Silchester, an important Roman town in Hampshire, and the long-running excavations that have brought its remains to light once more, will open later this month. Michael… 
Finds Tray – Roman brooch Objects This is a Roman brooch made of copper alloy and dating to c.AD 60-100. It was recently found by a metal-detectorist on cultivated land near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and has… Reviews
Current Archaeology’s February Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home There are many brilliant archaeological events on offer over the next few months, including new exhibitions, conferences, and lectures. If you would prefer to get your history and heritage fix… Current Archaeology Live! 2024 In partnership with: Current Archaeology Live! 2024 is almost here, but it is not too late to book your place. The conference, held in partnership with University College London’s Institute… Becoming Roman – Silchester, a town of change A new exhibition exploring Silchester, an important Roman town in Hampshire, and the long-running excavations that have brought its remains to light once more, will open later this month. Michael… 
Road to the Manor: Excavations at Graven Hill, Oxfordshire, 2015-2016 REVIEW BY JACQUELINE PITT This monograph successfully compiles the results of a series of excavations into a comprehensive chronology of a former MOD site south of Bicester. Evidence for prehistoric… 
London’s Waterfront and Its World, 1666-1800 REVIEW BY KK With additional contributions by I M Betts, Lyn Blackmore, Julian Bowsher, Jacqui Pearce, and Alan Pipe, this latest book on London by John Schofield and Stephen Freeth… 
English Orchards: A landscape history REVIEW BY AB Until the mid-20th century, England was covered with orchards. But these quintessential features of the historic landscape did not simply spring into being: the story of England’s… 
Echolands: A journey in search of Boudica REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER EVANS Thoroughly researched and well-written, this is simply a very good read, one informed by its author’s long experience of archaeological fieldwork. In it, Mackay tracks down… 
From the editor
Our cover story features Warham Camp, a hillfort that is ‘normal for Norfolk’ (as a Norwich girl, I’m allowed to say that!) inasmuch as it is built on flat ground, but its ramparts and ditches are no less impressive than those of its loftier counterparts. What has a recent excavation revealed about its purpose?
Warham Camp is an Iron Age monument with a Roman aftermath – and our next feature also explores the impact of empire in East Anglia. At Offord Cluny in Cambridgeshire, an isolated rural burial tells the story of a child who crossed continental Europe c.1,800 years ago, and of the man that he became. His remains represent the first genetic link to enigmatic cavalrymen known to have settled in 2nd-century Britain, but who left few archaeological traces of their presence.
The above is a story of westward migration, and we next head further west still, to Ferns in County Wexford. This was once a seat of royal power and an influential Augustinian monastery, but what has recently published research found out about the site’s early history?
We close with two Roman puzzles, the first being the Knaresborough Hoard from North Yorkshire. Found in the 1860s, it is one of the largest and most unusual late Roman metalwork hoards known in Britain, but until recently little was known about its contents or where it was found.
Finally, we learn how expert conservation work has reconstructed a rare mid-2nd-century arm guard from Trimontium Fort in the Scottish Borders.
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