Cover Story
Legion: Tracing the impact – and the experiences – of the Roman army in Britain A major new exhibition at the British Museum shows what life was like for the men, women, and children associated with the Roman military machine – and those they encountered through campaign and conquest. Carly Hilts visited to learn more. Features
Frame of reference: Rare wooden funerary finds from Roman London Excavations in central London have revealed the remains of a c.2,000 year-old cemetery, where waterlogged soil conditions have preserved an extraordinary array of wooden finds, including coffins and what may… 
Preserving the past: Highlighting the Welsh heritage sector’s rich history and uncertain future In last month’s ‘Sherds’ column, Chris Catling described the threat to the future of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), so we asked him… 
Piety and plague: Exploring evidence for life and death in Cambridge’s Augustinian friary Excavations in central Cambridge have uncovered traces of one of the medieval town’s many religious communities, including remains of the friary itself, and of the people who were buried in… 
Family ties: Examining ideas of kinship in the early Bronze Age New analysis of two Bronze Age burials discovered more than a century – and over 300 miles – apart has raised intriguing questions about prehistoric ideas of family relationships, highlighting… News
Bronze Age burnt mounds discovered in Annan Recently published research by GUARD Archaeology reports on the discovery of a pair of Bronze Age burnt mounds at Hallmeadow in Annan, 24km south-east of Dumfries. They were first identified… 
World news: From rare tomb in Naples to baboons in ancient Egypt Rare tomb found in Naples A rare underground funerary chamber was recently found during excavations in advance of the laying of a water pipeline in northern Naples, Italy. Measuring 3m… 
Record year for Treasure cases Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum The latest Annual Report from the Portable Antiquities Scheme reveals that, in 2022, 53,490 finds were recorded by the initiative, including 1,378… 
Conserving mining sites in the Tamar Valley For the past two years, Cotswold Archaeology – led by their Senior Heritage Consultant Clive Meaton – have been working with the Tamara Landscape Partnership to survey a series of… 
Tudor paintings revealed at Christ’s College, Cambridge Rare early 16th-century wall paintings have been uncovered – for the first time in almost 300 years – in the loft space of the First Court building at Christ’s College,… 
Science Notes: Identifying chromosomal conditions in the archaeological record In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we examine a recent paper that has developed a new method to identify ‘aneuploidies’ – conditions characterised by an atypical number of chromosomes – among… 
Early medieval cemetery uncovered on Fonmon Castle estate A large cemetery dating to the 6th-7th centuries has been discovered on the Fonmon Castle estate – a fortified castle just to the north-west of Cardiff Airport. The project, led… 
New evidence of women’s mobility during the Conversion Period Recent discoveries of exceptionally well-furnished 7th-century female burials – such as those from Trumpington (CA 343) and from Harpole (CA 395) – have drawn increasing attention to a phenomenon associated… Views
Current Archaeology’s March 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… 
Gloucestershire Comment The Cotswolds these days have a reputation as a playground of the rich and famous. The Roman occupation of this area certainly had its social high society too. 
Access & Navigating Nature Comment Much that is done in the name of access is admirable: lectures are now broadcast to the world; collections can be searched online; journals and academic papers can be read… 
Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: clockwork treasures from China’s Forbidden City Museum, What's on London’s Science Museum is currently home to more than 20 examples of intricately ornate timepieces loaned from the Palace Museum in Beijing. Carly Hilts visited to find out more. 
Finds Tray: Fibula brooch Objects This copper-alloy fibula brooch was found by a metal detectorist in 2019, near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and recently appeared as a star find in the Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report… 
Medieval boat graffiti – Isle of Luing The Picture Desk Image: Chris Whitmore On the outer walls of an old parish church, on the small island of Luing in the Inner Hebrides, are carvings of longships that are thought to… 
Historic Houses Groups Formerly known as the Historic Houses Association (HHA), Historic Houses has just marked its 50th anniversary, having been formed in 1973. A year after its foundation, a campaigning exhibition at… Reviews
Current Archaeology’s March 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… Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: clockwork treasures from China’s Forbidden City London’s Science Museum is currently home to more than 20 examples of intricately ornate timepieces loaned from the Palace Museum in Beijing. Carly Hilts visited to find out more. 
X Marks the Spot: The story of archaeology in eight extraordinary discoveries REVIEW BY AMARA THORNTON Popular histories of archaeology have been published, in one form or another, for centuries. These narratives, at least those produced for European and American readers, frequently… 
Prehistoric Sussex REVIEW BY AB In the 1990s, archaeologists excavating in West Sussex made a remarkable discovery: human remains belonging to ancient humans who lived around half a million years ago. These… 
Excavations on Wether Hill, Ingram, Northumberland 1994-2015 REVIEW BY CHRIS JONES This important book is the product of 11 seasons of careful fieldwork by members of the Northumberland Archaeological Group. The book is structured around the five… 
Eilean Donan Castle: Exploring a Highland icon, archaeological research excavations 2009-2017 REVIEW BY DEREK ALEXANDER Eilean Donan Castle is indeed a Scottish icon, featuring on many calendars and in movies – Highlander for one. You can’t fail to notice it if… 
Making Flour the German Way in Roman Britain: Distribution, use, and deposition of imported lava quernstones and millstones REVIEW BY ROB IXER Broken fragmentary Niedermendig (Banfield convincingly suggests that Mayen is the better term) lava is commonly recorded, but seemingly in passing, from Roman (and later) sites. This… 
Life in Early Medieval Wales REVIEW BY HOWARD WILLIAMS A truly stupendous achievement of synthesis and evaluation, Life in Early Medieval Wales is a first for Welsh archaeology. Nancy Edwards’ concise prose draws on the… 
From the editor
At its peak, the Roman army acted as a military, naval, and police force to about a quarter of the population of the Earth. Our cover feature explores its impact on the inhabitants of Britain – and what life was like for the soldiers and their families who were posted here.
If you’ll allow me a moment of nostalgia, our next feature brings a personal pang, as it describes the demolition of a place that hosted one of my first forays into journalism. While working on The Cambridge Student, I spent countless Wednesdays on the New Museums Site – and on our final day in the office in 2009, my co-editor and I took a marker pen and wrote our names on the back of one of the newsroom ceiling tiles (rather earnestly adding C P Scott’s dictum ‘comment is free, but facts are sacred’) before slipping it back into place. With youthful hubris we assumed that ‘our’ tile would watch over other student journalists long after we had graduated. Now, however, that building has been swept away – and fascinating relics of Cambridge’s medieval Augustinian friary have been revealed underneath.
In order fully to understand the past, we need a vibrant, robust heritage sector. Our third feature focuses on such work in Wales, highlighting some of the key sites investigated by the Royal Commission.
Our penultimate piece takes us to Roman London, where a waterlogged cemetery has yielded rare evidence of coffins and a funerary ‘bed’. We then end by examining two strikingly similar Bronze Age burials found more than a century and over 300 miles apart.
