Archaeology and the silver screen
As far as I am aware, The Dig is a first. I mean a film where the whole thing revolves around an archaeological dig that really happened? This is the only one, right?
Early Medieval
Forgotten faith? Tracing early Christianity in western Britain and Ireland
It used to be said that Christianity in Roman Britain was a short-lived phenomenon that sputtered out in the 5th century, needing the missionary efforts of St Columba, St Ninian, and St Augustine of Canterbury to revive it in the later 6th century. But there is now an increasing body of evidence that the religion continued to thrive as a force for learning, culture, and social organisation in the western parts of England and Wales, with links to Brittany and Ireland. Chris Catling goes in search of the latest thinking.
Digging into databases
Arguably, one of the biggest challenges that continually faces archaeology is accessibility. While that can be interpreted in several different ways, what I’m going to concentrate on in this month’s ‘Science Notes’ is access to data. With the advent of…
Northamptonshire’s largest Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered
A large Anglo-Saxon cemetery has recently been discovered at Overstone in Northamptonshire. With 154 interments, it is the largest burial ground from this period ever found in the county. The 15ha site was excavated by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA)…
The Dig: ‘poetic licence aside’
This is no high-octane adventure romp, but a slow, almost meditative period piece that focuses more on the people involved in the investigation and on the looming threat of the Second World War than it does on the astonishing artefacts that were recovered from Suffolk’s sandy soil.
The Conan Stone, Dingwall Museum, Highlands
Since the stone’s removal from the site it has undergone conservation, including the creation of a 3D model in order to bring its carvings into sharper relief.
A Riveting Tale
Netflix has just released The Dig, a major film about the Sutton Hoo excavation. Lindsay Fulcher unearths the story of how Basil Brown uncovered the splendid Anglo-Saxon ship burial and illuminated the so-called ‘Dark Ages’.
The First Kingdom: Britain in the Age of Arthur
‘The past lies in fragments… one might just as well try to reconstruct the idea of a tree from its leaves, or an ocean wave from a dripping tap.’ So writes Max Adams, author of The First Kingdom, a wide-ranging…
World News: Norway, Indonesia, Spain
Viking ship burial in Norway A Viking ship burial was recently discovered at Gjellestad, Norway, during a ground-penetrating radar survey. It is now being excavated by the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The ship is just one part of…
The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings
There has been much debate about what to call the people of medieval Scandinavia now known widely as ‘Vikings’. The term stems from the Old Norse vikingr, used to describe someone who went on seafaring expeditions, but this was not…
Impinging on the Past: a rescue excavation at Fladbury, Worcestershire, 1967
The report on this significant site is most welcome. While earlier and later prehistoric features were present, as well as a small Roman cemetery, the chief interest lies with the mid-Saxon oven/grain-dryer complex. This feature was clearly explored most determinedly,…
Offa’s Dyke Journal, Volume 1
The archaeological societies founded in the 19th century embraced all aspects of the discipline, and from about the beginning of the 20th century societies came to be formed. In recent years, they have been joined by more-specialist societies and journals.…
Glass roots: examining the archaeology of glassmaking in England
Today, glass is a commodity so ubiquitous and cheap that we take it for granted, but it wasn’t always so. A new book by David Dungworth traces the rise of glass from small-scale manufacturing in the medieval period to the major industrial production of the 20th century. Chris Catling reports.
The king’s new clothes
Researchers had moved the best textiles, including the ‘Eagle Silk’ and a pillow with birds, deemed more fitting for a king, over to Cnut’s shrine, where they are displayed with his remains under a glass lid.
Anglo-Saxon burials revealed
‘We had expected to find some kind of Anglo-Saxon burial, but what we found exceeded all our expectations and provides new insights into this stretch of the Thames in the decades after the collapse of the Roman administration in Britain.’
Judicial facial mutilation in Anglo-Saxon England?
Anglo-Saxon law codes speak of facial mutilation as a punishment for certain crimes, but until recently no archaeological evidence had been found for it in England. Now the skull of a young woman discovered in Oakridge, Basingstoke, has been identified…
Warlord discovery throws new light on Anglo-Saxon history
He lay undisturbed on a hilltop for centuries. Now, the uncovered remains of an Anglo-Saxon warlord may change historians’ understanding of Britain’s ancient history.
Delving into Viking DNA
A large study, led by researchers from the University of Copenhagen, has mapped the DNA of the Viking world. The results (recently published in Nature: https:// doi.org) paint a complex picture of population movement across Europe during this period. Over…
Ipswich’s medieval population investigated
In 2012, an extensive excavation was carried out in the Stoke Quay area of Ipswich by Oxford Archaeology and Pre-Construct Archaeology. Covering an area of 1.2ha, the project was a major undertaking and made finds spanning the early medieval period…
Anglo-Saxon ‘warrior’ burial uncovered
The grave of a 6th-century man – a possible warrior – has been uncovered on a hilltop near Marlow, overlooking the Thames Valley. Its location within the borderlands of prominent neighbouring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms – at different times Wessex, Kent, and…
Excavating the CA Archive: Sutton Hoo revisited
Joe Flatman re-examines half a century of reports on one of the spiritual homes of British archaeology
The Herefordshire Viking Hoard: unpicking the story of a stolen treasure
Last year, four men were jailed for stealing and selling one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in western Britain. To date, only a few of its contents have been recovered. What can these objects, and the landscape in which they were buried, tell us about the area’s early medieval history? Tim Hoverd, Peter Reavill, Judy Stevenson, and Gareth Williams report.
The Chew Valley hoard: unpicking the largest coin hoard of the post-Conquest period
The discovery of over 2,500 silver pennies from the reigns of Harold II and William I has the potential to shed vivid new light on whether the immediate aftermath of the Norman Conquest was a time of upheaval or continuity. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts found out more from Michael Lewis, Pippa Pearce, and Gareth Williams.
Anglo-Saxon cemetery found in Lincolnshire
The investigation uncovered 24 burials, all dating to between the late 5th and mid-6th centuries AD, and almost all of the individuals were buried with elaborate grave goods
Denmark’s Viking fortresses: a Tuscan challenge
Richard Hodges explores the Viking fortresses at Trelleborg and Borgring.
Writing early medieval England: tracing the first echoes of Anglo-Saxon voices
How did the kingdoms of early medieval England evolve into a single nation? A new exhibition at the British Library combines artefacts and manuscripts to tell the story of the Anglo-Saxons in their own words. Carly Hilts reports.
The palace in the lake: a royal residence on Llangorse Crannog
The Llangorse Crannog is the only example yet identified in Wales of a type of artificial island settlement more commonly found in Scotland and Ireland. Scepticism about the likelihood of the site being a crannog led to its being largely ignored in archaeological literature until the early 1980s. Then Alan Lane, who had recently been appointed to teach Post-Roman Archaeology at Cardiff University, rowed out to look and found substantial oak planks protruding from the water. Chris Catling describes what happened next.
1016 and all that: excavating the Viking conquest of England
The Norman Conquest in 1066 is often described as the most famous date in English history, but 50 years earlier – almost to the day – the country had been captured by another foreign power: the Danish army of Cnut the Great. As we mark the 1,000th anniversary of these momentous events, what trace of the Viking conquest can be seen in the archaeological record? Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
Exploring Scotland’s most sacred place
The Scottish island of Iona was one of the most influential Christian centres in Early Medieval Europe. But how much of its first monastery, built in the 6th century, has survived to the present day? As 2013, the 1,450th anniversary of its foundation, approached, it was time to find out, as Peter Yeoman explains.
Secrets of the Staffordshire Hoard: skills of the Saxon smiths revealed
The Staffordshire Hoard is a glittering reminder of the creative talents of the Anglo-Saxons – but now pioneering research is revealing that their skills were more far sophisticated than previously imagined, as Carly Hilts learned.
Q&A with site supervisor Paul Wilkinson
There isn't really anything you shouldn't say within the course of work, as you shouldn't feel intimidated by any site supervisor.
Viking hoards: buried wealth of the Norse North West
The discovery of two Viking hoards in 2011 yielded silver coins, ingots, and jewellery. Dot Boughton, Gareth Williams, and Barry Ager reveal how they also provide a window into a turbulent time.
Bamburgh Castle: digging the home of Northumbria’s kings
The Bamburgh Research Project is picking up the pieces of the archaeological work started by legendary eccentric Dr Brian Hope-Taylor, who had left virtually no record of his excavations – or so it was believed. The story of Bamburgh is two-fold: before properly investigating the site, the team must first excavate the archaeologist who worked there 60 years ago.