Cover Story
Surveying Falerii Novi: Rethinking the development of a Roman town Surveying an ancient town in Italy has presented fresh insights into a key moment for Roman urbanism. Matthew Symonds spoke to Martin Millett about what can be learnt from studying an entire townscape. Features
Hawai‘i: Maritime journeys and an island kingdom The ocean is integral to the story of Hawai‘i. It carried the first Polynesian settlers to the archipelago, and linked an island chain spanning 2,400km. In the 18th and 19th… 
In the heart of the Sahara: Rock art of Wadi Djerat A narrow wadi in Algeria contains a remarkable concentration of rock art. Christoph Baumer reveals how these images offer a glimpse of a changing world, as a land of lakes… News
Re-examining the Hjortspring boat A century ago, an Iron Age boat was found in Denmark. Now it is revealing new secrets. Amy Brunskill spoke to Mikael Fauvelle to find out more. 
Africa’s oldest cremation Archaeological investigations by an international team of researchers have unearthed the earliest evidence for intentional human cremation in Africa. Around 9,500 years ago, a community of hunter-gatherers gathered more than… 
Early Neolithic Cultural exchange Archaeological work at Eilsleben, in northern Germany, has uncovered unexpected evidence of connections between the early farmers living at this site and the pre-existing hunter-gatherer communities of the region. Eilsleben… 
Zapotec tomb unearthed in Mexico A spectacular tomb associated with the ancient Zapotec civilisation has been uncovered on Cerro de la Cantera, in San Pablo Huitzo, Oaxaca, south-western Mexico. The burial was brought to the… 
Basilica built by father of Western architecture A basilica built by the pioneering Roman architect Vitruvius has been rediscovered in the city of Fano, in the Le Marche region of Italy. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was born in… 
Earliest poison arrows? Analysis of quartz arrowheads from South Africa reveals that they may represent the earliest use of poison arrows in hunting. Researchers from Sweden and South Africa carried out gas chromatography–mass… 
Exploring ancient graffiti The walls of Pompeii are littered with messages left behind by the city’s inhabitants two millennia ago. Recent research is shedding new light on one of the richest concentrations of… Views
A Mediterranean Valley redux Travel My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that… 
Discovering Denmark: From prehistoric burials to Viking Age power architecture and beyond Travel Denmark is home to many archaeological marvels, including both renowned sites and world-class museums. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja are our guides to the wealth of heritage that… 
CWA 136 crossword, and answers to crossword #135 Competitions Across 7 Mercian king who ruled from AD 657 to 674 (8)8 Extinct language of Anatolia (6)10 US state containing the Grimes Point archaeological site (6)11 Roman name for York… 
Pestilence and population shifts Comment The discovery of a mass grave in the Jordanian city of Jerash (ancient Gerasa) has provided evidence of the impact on the population of the Justinian Plague. A newly published… 
Urbicide: killing the city Comment The narrative about the rise and fall of civilisations and their infrastructures is still omnipresent in scholarship about past cities. It is a story that sells well. 
Art for the ages The Picture Desk The Lower Pecos Canyonlands, in south-west Texas and northern Mexico, are home to an extensive collection of rock paintings in what is known as the Pecos River style. These multicoloured… 
Building community: Göbeklitepe, Taş Tepeler, and life 12,000 years ago Museum, What's on An exhibition at the James Simon Gallery – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin explores the art and architecture of the first settled cultures in south-eastern Turkey. 
A world of discoveries Comment The 6th Shanghai Archaeological Forum has just drawn to a close, and it is time to reflect on its many highlights. This year, the field trip was scheduled on the… 
Bearded Viking figurine Objects This Viking Age figurine depicts… a man with a shrewd expression. What is it? This Viking Age figurine, which is just c.40mm tall, depicts the head and torso of a… Reviews
A Mediterranean Valley redux My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that… Discovering Denmark: From prehistoric burials to Viking Age power architecture and beyond Denmark is home to many archaeological marvels, including both renowned sites and world-class museums. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja are our guides to the wealth of heritage that… Building community: Göbeklitepe, Taş Tepeler, and life 12,000 years ago An exhibition at the James Simon Gallery – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin explores the art and architecture of the first settled cultures in south-eastern Turkey. 
The Diver of Paestum: Youth, Eros, and the Sea in Ancient Greece On 3 June 1968, Italian archaeologists digging the ancient city of Paestum made an extraordinary discovery. They had unearthed a tomb fashioned from slabs of travertine, containing the bones of… 
Colonial Intrigues and My Dismissal as Director of Antiquities: A Memoir of Cyprus in the 1930s ‘Journeys, like artists, are born and not made ’, Lawrence Durrell begins his encomium to Cyprus, Bitter Lemons. For millennia, this Mediterranean island was a staging post to the Middle… 
Making Art in the Ice Age: The Story of How Our Ancestors Made Images In 2024, Paul Bahn and Elle Clifford published Living in the Ice Age, adapting their 2022 publication Everyday Life in the Ice Age for a younger audience. In my review… 
The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks Most maritime archaeologists spend their careers trying to tease out what happened before a ship sank by asking questions like who was on board, when was it built, where was… 
From the editor
There can be a certain familiarity to Roman towns. During the heyday of the Empire, such settlements were essential for administering conquered territory. By then, there was also a standard range of public buildings that towns might be expected to contain, including a forum, temples, baths, and so on. But what about the formative era of Roman urbanism in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC? Recent survey work at Falerii Novi, an ancient town about 44km north of Rome, has shed fascinating light on its development. The results show the importance of local influences as Roman urbanism took shape.
It is the impact of a capricious environment that is in evidence among the remarkable rock art of Wadi Djerat, in the Sahara Desert. Despite modern perceptions of this as an arid and inhospitable expanse, it was once home to lakes, rivers, and grass savannah. Some of the humans who witnessed this world created images of the animals roaming these lands. As the climate grew drier, so too the imagery evolved, presenting an evocative glimpse of a changing world.
Change was certainly under way in Hawai‘i in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was an era when the archipelago was unified into a single kingdom by the Hawaiian king Kamehameha I, while growing numbers of Western explorers arrived on its shores. Both Kamehameha I and his son appreciated that sovereignty in this new age would depend on establishing overseas alliances, prompting some remarkable maritime journeys.
In our travel section, Richard Hodges revisits the Biferno valley, Italy, where he excavated in the 1970s, and introduces the archaeology of a classic Mediterranean valley. Meanwhile, dipping into the heritage of Denmark reveals a wealth of sites to enjoy.
Finally, I offer a warm welcome to Manuel Fernández-Götz, who will be joining Rubina Raja in the popular column examining ancient urbanism. We’re delighted to have him as a regular contributor.
MATT SYMONDS
You must be logged in to post a comment.