Cover Story
The Burpham Big Dig: Transforming the story of two Sussex villages A recent series of excavations across Burpham and Wepham in West Sussex has revealed new – and sometimes surprising – insights into their origins and evolution. James Sainsbury reports. Features
Defence to domesticity: Exploring the evolution of Irish castles Marking the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, 2027 has been designated the Year of the Normans. Events to mark the millennium are planned all over Europe,… 
The Wemyss Caves: Tracing 40 years of conservation, community, and discovery The caves at East Wemyss are home to traces of human activity spanning prehistory to the present day, including important Pictish carvings. In recent decades some of these interactions have… 
Beyond conquerors and kings: Encountering ordinary people in the Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is perhaps the most recognisable piece of early medieval art – and, almost 1,000 years after the brutal events that it depicts, rather friendlier relations between England… 
Statements in stone: Investigating Neolithic architecture at the Ness of Brodgar The Ness of Brodgar in Orkney is home to an unprecedented complex of 5,000-year-old buildings. Ongoing analysis is illuminating their form and function, as Carly Hilts reports. News
Barton burial reveals complex picture of the Norman Conquest New research into a man buried at St Peter’s in Barton-upon-Humber almost 1,000 years ago has shed new light on the complexity of society in Britain during the Norman Conquest.… 
Highlights from the CARD Fund – and announcement of a new fund: Community radiocarbon-dating fund delivers further results The Community Archaeology Radiocarbon Dating (CARD) Fund, which helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds, has opened applications for its 2026 funding cycle. Kimberley Teale discusses key findings… 
Insights from above Last month we shared images from Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, highlighting how recent drought conditions have revealed the outlines of long-buried archaeological remains. Features both familiar and newly identified have also… 
Excavations at Buckler’s Hard reveal 18th-century slipway A second excavation season at Buckler’s Hard, a private ship- building hub on the River Beaulieu, 12 miles (20km) south of Southampton in the New Forest, has fully revealed the… 
No stone unturned: recent finds at Arthur’s Stone When we last reported from Arthur’s Stone in 2023 (CA 404), it was thought of as an isolated Neolithic monumental site overlooking the Golden Valley in Herefordshire. Now, the Universities… 
Further finds at Huttons Ambo This season’s excavation at Huttons Ambo in North Yorkshire has uncovered new details about the small village’s medieval past, including potentially one of the most high-status buildings yet found on… 
Sketches of the past found at Dunstable’s Priory House Restoration work at the Priory House in Dunstable – a Grade II-listed building that was originally part of the grounds of Dunstable Priory, founded by Henry I in 1132 –… 
Bronze Age settlement revealed in Erskine A once-thriving Bronze Age settlement has been revealed during excavations in Erksine, Renfrewshire. The discovery was made by a team from GUARD Archaeology, who excavated two large fields in Northbar,… 
Science Notes – Counting sheep: assessing the impact of sheep-pox throughout history The sheep-pox virus (SPPV; Capripoxvirus sheeppox) is in the same family as the variola virus, which causes smallpox in humans. It is a highly contagious disease among sheep, causing the… 
World news Community-created field systems in Colombia? In the wetlands of La Mojana in northern Colombia is a vast (more than 500,000ha or 1,900 square miles) field system of canals and ridges,… Views
Excavating the CA archive: Monasteries of the high medieval period – Part 2 Comment Continuing last month’s exploration of high medieval monasticism, this month I will visit sites across the country, both well known and less well known, that reflect the profound impact the… 
Finds Tray: Bronze Age button Objects This Bronze Age button comes from a hoard of three copper-alloy items that also included two axe heads. One of the axe heads was noticed by a farm worker in… 
Current Archaeology’s October Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home What's on There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If… 
CA 440 Letters – October Letters Defending the Demetae I enjoyed the fascinating feature on the wonderful Halberton Roman villa in CA 438. By a happy coincidence, the day before, I had visited Carmarthenshire Museum, which… 
The Bayeux Tapestry Comment The Bayeux Tapestry has gone on display at the British Museum at last, despite the fears of some conservators that transporting it to London would cause irreparable damage. In the… 
Pit of puzzlement The Picture Desk This unusual burial was recently found by archaeologists from Highland Archaeology Services, working in advance of the expansion of a quarry at Evelix, near Dornoch, in Sutherland. Before it was… 
The Grayling Society Groups In the world of fly fishing, trout dominate the headlines, but in the past grayling were considered to be the equal of trout for sporting appeal – hence Izaac Walton’s… Reviews
Current Archaeology’s October Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If… 
The Bayeux Tapestry Britain has been overcome by Bayeux Tapestry fever (as has CA: see our feature on here and more in Sherds on here) with the famous embroidery returning to British soil… 
Stonehenge: the story of an icon This Stonehenge paperback will sell, probably deservedly, very well. Its text gives a suitable level of detail, while also reflecting current mainstream (and therefore English Heritage) views, and hence is… 
Broxy Kennels Fort, Souterrain and Surrounding Landscape, Perth It is a much-cited refrain that the only way to understand Scottish hillforts properly will be to excavate them fully, reliant as we have been, for the most part, on… 
Unearthed: rediscovered poetry from ancient times to the Middle Ages In this absorbing book, Nicholas Bateman draws together 70 poems spanning 35 centuries, all of which had become lost before being rediscovered by archaeologists or archivists. Ranging from epic texts… 
Making and Meaning in the Bronze and Iron Ages: chronology, landscapes, and societies across Europe This book brings together papers from MetalAges2024 – Chronological Methods and their Correlation in the Metal Ages, which was held in Florence in 2024, co-organised by the UISPP Scientific Commission… 
The Iron Age and Gallo-Roman Periods in Jersey This is the most recent addition to the Jersey Heritage Research Series (see CA 434 for a review of The Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in Jersey and CA 431 for… 
From the editor
This month’s cover article explores the findings of a recent community project that has rewritten the history of two West Sussex villages, Burpham and Wepham. The former’s name refers to a burh that was thought to have been founded under Alfred the Great – but the excavation’s findings have added fascinating new details to our understanding of the origins and evolution of these defences.
Thanks to the research described above, the promontory fort at Burpham can now be linked to two significant periods of medieval conflict – and our second feature continues this theme, examining perhaps the most famous battle to take place on English soil (and its most famous depiction). Having recently visited the British Museum’s spectacular new Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, here we examine what the images preserved in this iconic embroidery can tell us, not about kings and conquerors, but about the experiences of ordinary men and women in 11th century England.
Hastening north from the battlefield of Hastings, we then report on a very different fight: the tireless efforts of a local community who have been striving for the last 40 years to protect, preserve, and promote the unique collection of archaeological remains (including a significant series of Pictish carvings) in the sea caves at East Wemyss, Fife.
Our penultimate article returns to a Norman theme, examining the evolution of castles in Ireland after the Anglo- Norman invasion of 1169, and we close with another exploration of monumental architecture, touring the unique Neolithic structures at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney.
CARLY
