Cover Story
The lost world of Sanxingdui: Fabulous finds from a forgotten civilisation Sanxingdui has produced a wealth of startling Bronze Age artefacts. Many of these treasures were deliberately smashed or burnt before being buried, raising questions about what they were used for and how they met their end, as Tianlong Jiao and… Features
Built to last: Extraordinary ancient architecture at Kalambo Falls In 2019, excavations at Kalambo Falls in Zambia produced a range of wooden objects. These included structural elements that have been dated using cutting-edge technology to an almost unbelievably ancient… 
Deciphering the decipherers: Young Versus Champollion The rivalry between Young and Champollion in the race to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs is legendary. But what motivated these two scholars, and what qualities did they bring to the endeavour?… 
People power: Understanding the making of Myanmar Examining artefacts from Myanmar reveals how a tale of power, wealth, people, and the rise and fall of empires played out over centuries, as Alexandra Green told Matthew Symonds. News
Rediscovering a forgotten power centre Archaeological investigations at a site in the Norwegian countryside have uncovered evidence of a rich history stretching back thousands of years. Amy Brunskill spoke to Jes Martens and Christian Løchsen… 
Making money in 18th-century America Analysis of paper money produced by Benjamin Franklin is shedding new light on the monetary history of Colonial-era America. 
Religious rituals in ancient Arabia Recent research at two mustatils (prehistoric rectangular open-air structures found across northern Arabia) is uncovering new information about the ritual practices that may have been taking place in the region… 
Life on an Alaskan lakeshore Excavations at a site in Alaska have uncovered an ancestral Alutiiq house frozen in time by a fire 3,000 years ago, complete with rarely preserved woven grass mats on the… 
A meteoric discovery A team of researchers have confirmed that a Bronze Age arrowhead found 150 years ago in Switzerland was made of iron from a meteorite – but not the meteorite they… 
Christian tattoo in medieval Sudan Archaeologists have uncovered a rare example of a religious tattoo in a burial near the medieval monastic site of Ghazali, in northern Sudan. The tattooed individual, whose skin was unusually… 
Reading the Herculaneum scrolls Efforts to decipher the Herculaneum scrolls have reached an important turning point. The charred scroll was scanned to create a high-resolution 3D model that makes it possible to see the… Views
CWA #122 crossword, and answers to crossword #121 Competitions Across 6 Homo ___, early human species, the name meaning ‘handy man’ (7)8 Undeciphered script found on tablets in Crete (6,1)10 Earliest epoch of the Tertiary period (10)11 Recess in… 
Forum: Comments and conundrums Letters Newgrange and Michael O’Kelly Re: ‘Clare Tuffy and Newgrange’, CWA 117 I had the privilege of working with Professor O’Kelly at Newgrange in 1969. The restoration was just starting, and… 
Revisiting research and challenging conclusions Comment We all enjoy stories about new discoveries, and it is these that tend to grab the news headlines, but there is another kind of story that gets far less coverage:… 
The Golden Age of the Kingdom of Georgia Travel The Caucasus is a region where nations have often found themselves sandwiched between competing great powers. Christoph Baumer examines the political intrigues and military struggles that led to the rise… 
In praise of Tating Ware (and high-definition archaeology) Travel Fifty years ago, I received a life-changing letter. David Peacock, my tutor at Southampton University, offered me a doctoral scholarship to study the imported Frankish pottery from Hamwic, the 7th-… 
Footprints in stone The Picture Desk Analysis of human and animal footprints carved into rock faces in Namibia has revealed that they contain a wealth of hidden details. Engravings of human and animal tracks are found… 
Affluent hunters Comment Ever since the redoubtable Madeleine Colani explored the wonderful karst country of Hoa Binh Province, west of Hanoi in northern Vietnam, a century ago, the hunter-gatherers of Southeast Asia have… 
Neolithic necklace Objects What is it? This impressive necklace from a Neolithic child burial is composed of over 2,500 beads, made from three varieties of stones, four types of mollusc shells, and –… Reviews
The Year 1000 It is often thought that AD 900-1100 was a time when nothing much happened in the area that is today the Netherlands; many overviews of Dutch history have a tendency… The Golden Age of the Kingdom of Georgia The Caucasus is a region where nations have often found themselves sandwiched between competing great powers. Christoph Baumer examines the political intrigues and military struggles that led to the rise… In praise of Tating Ware (and high-definition archaeology) Fifty years ago, I received a life-changing letter. David Peacock, my tutor at Southampton University, offered me a doctoral scholarship to study the imported Frankish pottery from Hamwic, the 7th-… 
Life and Afterlife in Ancient China REVIEW BY BRYAN SITCH This authoritative work by one of the UK’s leading sinologists explores the early history and archaeology of China through 12 tombs and discoveries, some already well… 
Megaliths of the World: Volume I REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH The burial monumentality associated with the Neolithic is very much a global phenomenon. This desire to bury the dead in an artificial cave covered with an… 
In Search of Ancient Tsunamis: A Researcher’s Travels, Tools, and Techniques REVIEW BY GINA L BARNES As an archaeologist, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book – a personalised adventure into the science of detecting tsunami deposits in the sedimentary record. This… 
Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK Let’s do some biblical archaeology. Nazareth is not well known. Bethlehem, where the Bible tells us that Jesus was born, has a magnificent basilica; Jerusalem has… 
From the editor
The finds from Sanxingdui are sensational. In 1986, two pits were discovered by chance within this ancient city. The contents proved to be simultaneously stunning and shocking. While the contents included a wealth of sumptuous sculptures, their style was without any obvious parallel in China, or anywhere else. It seemed that the Bronze Age inhabitants of Sanxingdui developed a unique view of the world, and then immortalised it in metalwork. Now, six more pits have been examined, with results that are every bit as electrifying. In our cover feature, we learn the latest news about a spellbinding lost civilisation.
Forgotten wonders have also been unearthed at Kalambo Falls, Zambia. Digging in 2019 revealed a wealth of wooden objects, including elements of an ingenious wooden structure. Cutting-edge dating reveals that this was assembled in an almost unbelievably early era. The results of this revolutionary research force us to rethink the capabilities of early humans.
The country of Myanmar is an altogether more recent creation. It has only existed as a single political entity since 1948, and incorporates a territory that is phenomenally rich in natural resources. This advantage once made the region a cradle for mighty kingdoms and empires. As these great powers waxed and waned, so too their tales can be read in the remarkable artefacts produced in the region.
Reading was also at the heart of the rivalry between Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion as they raced to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. Their competition and, at times, collaboration was destined to change Egyptology forever. In the 250th anniversary year of Young’s birth, we go in search of the personalities behind an extraordinary breakthrough.
Our travel section follows in Richard Hodges’ footsteps as he sought the source of an enigmatic and intriguing form of early medieval pottery: Tating Ware. Meanwhile, Christoph Baumer introduces us to the Golden Age of the Kingdom of Georgia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.