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 used for burial, however, the pit is believed to have…
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 very limited interventions. The total excavation, then, of Broxy Kennels…
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 The Neolithic in Jersey), which aims to outline the current…
The first excavations at Wall Camp in more than 40 years have revealed new evidence for how Iron Age communities built and used one of Britain’s most unusual wetland enclosures. Archaeologists and students from the University of Birmingham have completed…
Castlehill Wood, located south-west of Stirling, has historically been labelled a ‘dun’ – a poorly defined term that is usually used to describe an unroofed enclosure that is smaller than a hillfort but more fortified than a farmstead. Situated within…
This site report details excavations carried out by Oxford Archaeology ahead of the replacement of the gas transmission pipeline that crosses the Humber between Goxhill in North Lincolnshire and Paull in East Yorkshire. Palaeoenvironmental evidence sheds light on how this…
Two recent discoveries – Britain’s largest hoard of Iron Age gold coins and a series of unusual elite burials – unearthed about 8km (5 miles) apart on opposite sides of Chelmsford, have shed vivid light on the area’s Iron Age importance, and how local communities responded to the turbulent period around the Roman conquest. Carly Hilts spoke to Angus Forshaw and visited a new exhibition of some of the finds.
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
Iron Age burial practices in Britain are among the most enigmatic, as few ‘formal’ cemeteries are known from this period (with some exceptions, such as among the Durotriges in Dorset; see CA 281). In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we are…
Archaeological investigations near Cirencester in Gloucestershire have revealed the remains of what may have been a major religious, or ‘votive’, centre dating to the late Iron Age (c.100 BC-AD 43). The first clues to the site’s existence came in 2020,…
Dozens of items from the largest hoard of Iron Age metalwork ever found in Britain have gone on display for the first time at the Yorkshire Museum in York. Carly Hilts visited to learn more about this unique collection.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Evidence of Iron Age ritual activity has been discovered at the Bruchhauser Steine, a prominent rock formation in the hilly Sauerland region of western Germany. This natural landmark, which comprises four main rocks that can be seen for miles around,…
Analysis of an Iron Age mass grave in northern Serbia reveals surprising new information about the group of individuals buried here. Gomolava is a tell site in the Pannonian Plain that was first occupied in the 6th millennium BC and…
Caves have always captured the imagination. This is no less true of High Pasture Cave on the Isle of Skye, whose publication represents the latest contribution to a growing corpus in British cave archaeology. Nestled under the slopes of the…
A series of 2,000-year-old footprints have been unexpectedly revealed on an Angus beach following a barrage of winter storms. They add to only a handful of ancient human tracks that have been found across Britain to-date, and are the first…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
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.
A routine excavation on the site of a west Norfolk housing development has uncovered a metalwork hoard including two extremely rare Iron Age artefacts: a near-complete carnyx and a boar standard. Conservation and analysis of these fragile objects is ongoing; Carly Hilts reports on the preliminary findings.
This copper-alloy mount or strap link was discovered by a metal- detectorist in June 2025, near Snape in Suffolk. It has few parallels, and most other similar items come from antiquarian stray finds. Based on its design, however, and comparisons…
This is a trio of zoomorphic figurines that was recently acquired by Worthing Museum thanks to the kindness of the finder and landowner, who both agreed to waive their value. They were discovered a year ago, on two separate occasions,…
For more than 15 years, archaeologists from Bournemouth University have been excavating a number of sites around Winterborne Kingston, near Bere Regis in Dorset. This long-running project has revolutionised our understanding of the Iron Age in this region, with discoveries…
Excavations just north of Perth have revealed the remains of an Iron Age hillfort that appears to have been inhabited for close to 600 years before it was finally abandoned around the time that the first Roman armies appeared in…
The statuette… is intricate and highly detailed… What is it? This small, bronze figurine, which measures 7.5cm tall and weighs 55g, depicts a warrior standing in a lunging pose. He holds a sword in one hand and a shield in…
REVIEW BY NEIL HOLBROOK It is always instructive to look at the areas surrounding famous archaeological sites, as they can provide valuable context for the well-known remains. So it is with Silchester in Hampshire, where a late Iron Age oppidum…
This Birdlip brooch was found by a metal-detectorist near Catterton in North Yorkshire this past June, and is believed to date between the late Iron Age and early Roman period. Birdlip, or Beaked Bow, brooches date from between 30 BC…
An untouched Etruscan chamber tomb dating to the 7th century BC has been uncovered in the San Giuliano necropolis in Lazio, central Italy. Investigations in the area have been carried out since 2016 by the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project,…
Archaeologists have uncovered a large settlement from the La Tène period in the Hradec Králové region of north-east Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. The discovery was first made in 2023 along the route of a proposed motorway and subsequently investigated…
This artefact was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Corringham, Lincolnshire, earlier this year. It has been identified as one of the spherical knops from an Iron Age openwork toggle or possibly a fragment from a horse harness, and is believed…
REVIEW BY JODY JOY Many books have been written about the ancient Celts, whether from the standpoint of a shared identity across a connected Europe, or a more sceptical perspective, arguing for regional diversity and more complicated histories. This book…
New dating evidence from the burials found at the Iron Age hillfort of Maiden Castle, in Dorset, has revealed that they were interred over a period of a century or more, and were not all from one mass casualty evident.…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Recent research has shed new light on a rare group of Iron Age cauldrons, culminating in the construction of a full-sized replica. What did this process reveal about how such objects were made, maintained, and used? John Thomas, Liz Barham, and Hector Cole explain more.
An exhibition currently running at the University of Nottingham Museum showcases finds from Breedon Hill and Burrough Hill, hillforts that are both located in the East Midlands where such monuments are relatively scarce and poorly understood compared to other regions. Carly Hilts visited the displays, speaking to John Thomas, Clare Pickersgill, and Helen Sharp.
As excavations continue on the Fonmon Castle estate, north-west of Cardiff Airport, more intriguing details have been revealed, including the remains of an Iron Age settlement. Over the past couple of digging seasons, the team from Cardiff University has been…