Cover Story
La Tène: A place of memory When La Tène was discovered more than 150 years ago, the site gave its name to the second half of the Iron Age across much of Europe, and objects of La Tène type are often equated with the Celts. But… Features
Indiana Jones and the nature of archaeology: Fact and fiction in early 20th century fieldwork The release of the latest Indiana Jones film presents an opportunity to reflect on how archaeology has been depicted in the franchise. Hélène Maloigne investigates the realities of archaeological fieldwork… 
Liman Tepe: A bridge between worlds For over 30 years a pioneering project has investigated the prehistory of the Izmir region of Turkey. What has it discovered? Vasıf Şahoğlu told Matthew Symonds an epic tale of… News
Unique medieval Christian art in Sudan Archaeologists working at Old Dongola in Sudan have stumbled across a set of unusual 13th-century Christian wall paintings. 
Tracing the origins of the Benin Bronzes A recent study has used geochemical analysis to compare brass manillas traded with West Africa in the 16th-19th centuries with the materials used to make the famous Benin Bronzes, in… 
Religious sites in Bolivia Archaeological surveys in the Carangas region of highland Bolivia have identified a previously unrecognised concentration of religious sites built by the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the area, including one site with… 
World’s earliest known saddle found in China? A recent study has determined that a leather saddle found in north-western China may be the oldest surviving example currently known. Exactly when horse-riding and the use of saddles began… 
Palaeolithic portable art A rare example of Upper Palaeolithic portable art has been found at an open-air site in south-eastern France. Bellegarde, located between Nîmes and Arles, was discovered in 2015 by Inrap… 
World news in brief: Bronze sword from Bavaria, AI identifies new Nasca lines and new human remains found in Pompeii A round-up of some of the latest archaeological discoveries from across the globe. 
Fusion diets in the early colonial Caribbean Analysis of pottery from the Caribbean island of Isla de Mona, part of the Puerto Rican archipelago, is shedding new light on food and drink practices on the island at… 
Roman body armour undergoes analysis In 2018, a rusty lump of more than 400 fragments of iron was discovered in Germany at Kalkriese, the site of the Varus Battle, where a catastrophic defeat was inflicted… Views
CWA #120 crossword, and answers to crossword #119 Competitions Across 7 Small pieces of stone used in mosaics (8) 9 Son of Genghis Khan who sacked Kyiv in 1240 (6) 10 ___ Mountains, possible early Palaeolithic site in California… 
A not-so-dense idea Comment Rubina Raja and Søren M Sindbæk on low-density urbanism at ancient sites 
Forum: Comments and conundrums Letters Your observations, your objections, and your opinions on CWA. 
A matter of health Comment In 1950, Peter Williams-Hunt published a paper in Antiquity entitled ‘Irregular earthworks in eastern Siam: a review’. A former RAF pilot, he had pored over wartime aerial photos taken of… 
Great Zimbabwe’s water system The Picture Desk In the south-eastern margins of the Zimbabwe plateau sit the ruins of southern Africa’s first major city, Great Zimbabwe. The city was established as the capital of the Karanga kingdom… 
St George’s Hill, Damoulianata, Kefalonia Travel Last summer, one day stands out. While on holiday on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, I persuaded three friends to spend a morning investigating a castle that has intrigued me.… 
Sicily: An isle of myth Travel The impressive ancient temples, villas, and theatres of Sicily understandably attract the attention of many visitors, but looking beyond the monuments to their spectacular natural surroundings and the stories they… 
Gold bracteate Objects What is it? This gold pendant, known to specialists as a bracteate, is 5cm in diameter and comes from a Danish hoard dated to the 6th century AD – the… 
Celebrated crafts and cross-cultural connections Comment Buried in lead The excellent Museum of Antiquities in Rouen, Normandy, has mounted a special exhibition called Le Plomb et l’homme (Lead and Man; open until 5 March 2024) devoted… Reviews
China’s hidden century A new exhibition at the British Museum explores an important period of cultural change in China’s history. Amy Brunskill visited to find out more. St George’s Hill, Damoulianata, Kefalonia Last summer, one day stands out. While on holiday on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, I persuaded three friends to spend a morning investigating a castle that has intrigued me.… Sicily: An isle of myth The impressive ancient temples, villas, and theatres of Sicily understandably attract the attention of many visitors, but looking beyond the monuments to their spectacular natural surroundings and the stories they… 
The Museum of the Wood Age REVIEW BY ROLAND ENNOS Given the preponderance of stone, bronze, and iron artefacts found at archaeological sites, and their usefulness in enabling archaeologists to date their finds, it has perhaps… 
Europe’s Lost Frontiers – Volume 1 : Context and Methodology REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH Due to current climate change, the coastline of north-western Europe is in a state of flux, resulting in the slow but inevitable inundation of the sea. This… 
The World of the Ancient Silk Road REVIEW BY TIM WILLIAMS This book is a collection of papers that focus on themes of human migration, communication, and cross-cultural exchange along the Silk Roads, from the 3rd millennium… 
From the editor
Fishermen were landing some extraordinary catches in mid-19th century Switzerland. The discovery of prehistoric sites submerged in European lakes prompted a surge in angling for antiquities. In 1857, this fishing for finds led to some telltale timbers being spotted in a small bay on Lake Neuchâtel. The bay was called La Tène, and the finds from it were so significant that the site went on to lend its name to the second half of the European Iron Age. For all its fame, La Tène has remained something of an enigma. Our cover feature explores what the finds tell us about the nature of Iron Age activity there.
For many years, the prehistory of the Aegean coastline in Turkey was also soundly enigmatic. In the north, Troy provided a single dot on the map, but elsewhere the focus was squarely on the great Classical-era cities. That changed in the 1990s, when a project was set up to investigate the Anatolian coast. In the decades that followed, numerous sites have been examined, especially the remarkable city of Liman Tepe. We take a look at what has been discovered.
The Indiana Jones films are another long-running feature of the archaeological landscape, searing their take on the discipline on to the popular
imagination. But just how accurate an evocation of archaeology in the era is it? Comparing Indy’s world with that of the trailblazing excavations run by the Woolleys and Sheikh Hamoudi in Turkey and Iraq proves instructive.
Robert Guiscard – aka ‘Robert the Weasel’ – was another larger-than-life character. Back in the 11th century, he acquired a fearsome reputation, successfully sacking Rome and then setting his sights on the Byzantine Empire, before expiring in a bay on Kefalonia. A careful survey of the landscape may have pinpointed what would have been Robert’s next target.
The landscape had a major impact on ancient life in Sicily, too. The rich mythology inspired by the remarkable surroundings offers a fascinating
glimpse of how the Greek and Roman inhabitants viewed their world.
