A look at the latest archaeology stories from across the globe, including a 4th century galley sunk off Egypt, evidence of social links between Mayan cities, and a study of Late Pleistocene husbandry.
It is an argument that has become as traditional as turkey and mince pies. Where did the annual festival held primarily on 25 December and now celebrated by billions of people around the world really come from?
Which winter festival was described by the Roman poet Catullus as the 'best of days'?
Lisbon's Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros museum, London's Courtauld Gallery, and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have all reopened.
Which monk founded a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne in around 634?
• Iona in the Viking Age
• Uncovering medieval peasant perceptions of landscape
• CITiZAN’s climate emergency
• The evolution of archaeological illustration
• Blick Mead: uncovering Mesolithic and medieval finds
There is a great selection of new exhibitions and events taking place at museums and heritage sites around the UK in the coming months, whether you’re interested in how the Romans exercised or the history of Rapa Nui. There are also plenty of ways to enjoy history, archaeology, and heritage at home as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. Here, Amy Brunskill has put together some of the highlights on offer.
The concentration of artefacts was so rich that it led prehistorian Mike Parker Pearson to compare Fiskerton to La Tène, the 19th-century Swiss lakeside excavation that had a profound influence on our understanding of Iron Age Europe.
In which city did Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer open their first retail outlet in 1894?
Humans and jungles are often seen as a poor combination. It is easy to write off the environment as challenging at best and a ‘green hell’ at worst. But could it be that tropical forests have repeatedly helped rather than hindered humanity’s progress? Patrick Roberts told Matthew Symonds why it is time to rethink the archaeology of the jungle.
According to the dictionary, it means simply 'land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation'. But in the context of our human story, the word 'jungle' – which derives from the Hindi 'jangal' – has often taken on unfairly negative connotations.
In 1947, it is believed that rainforest covered 14% of land on Earth. What percentage does it now cover?
The wealth produced by Egyptian peasants was spent on warfare, monuments, and luxury. Egyptian artisans were despised as manual labourers. So Egyptian civilisation looked essentially the same in 30 BC as it had done in 3000 BC.
Based in Rome, LoveItaly is now in its seventh year and its accent is decidedly American and not patrician. It owes everything to the dynamism of a Californian who is every bit as Roman as the Romans.
Back in the days when I was an undergraduate, I was introduced to the mystical world of social theory. My tutors – Christopher Tilley and, later, Michael Shanks – introduced me to an obscure branch of archaeology that I had…
For thousands of years, people have lived on the 1,000-mile span of mountains stretching, high and low, from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, or in the numerous mountain valleys that delineate the Caucasus – an area where Asia…
The CARD fund provides funding for ten radiocarbon dates from British archaeological sites which are organised by community archaeology groups.
What can six battles across a thousand years of history tell us about the nature of warfare? Probably not a lot, as Allan Mallinson himself admits. In his latest book, he is not so much out to make a point…
While investigating a site near Clifton in the south-western suburbs of Nottingham, Wessex Archaeology found evidence of a late Iron Age/early Romano-British farmstead, as well as the remains of two of its residents.
• Exploring sacred spaces on Rapa Nui
• Before Tokyo: piecing together the past of a megacity
• Roman colonial city at Libarna
• Prehistoric diets in the southern Levant
• Secrets of Classical trade in the Mediterranean
• Alexander the Great
• Rorke’s Drift: why did the Zulus lose?
• Churchill versus the men of 1940
• Operation Anthropoid: killing Reinhard Heydrich
• Sir John Moore and the Battle of Corunna
Palaeontologists have identified a 'Big 5' of extinction events. Which one saw the demise of all non-avian dinosaurs?
On which historical figure is Bram Stoker's Dracula thought to have been based?
According to a recent estimate by the World Gold Council, the total quantity of this precious pale yellow metal discovered around the world throughout all of human history amounts to just 201,296 tonnes. If the whole lot were melted down to form a single cube, it would measure just 22 metres on each side.
Which book of the Bible describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets 'made of pure gold'?
Now that museums and heritage sites around the UK are reopening and in-person events are beginning to be held again, we wanted to highlight some of the ‘real life’ exhibitions, lectures, and activities coming up. However, if you’re still looking for ways to get your archaeology fix at home, Amy Brunskill also has a selection of online museums tours, resources, activities, and more to keep you busy.
This well-illustrated book on Breton identity is a development of Cunliffe’s Facing the Ocean (2001), in which he successfully carves out a broad Atlantic cultural identity, separate to that of central Europe. Echoing the great Cyril Fox, Cunliffe’s opening chapter…
Current Archaeology rounds up some of the latest discoveries across the globe, including the world's oldest shark attack victim found in Japan, a scene of honey-gathering from a cave in Spain, and the analysis of a previously unknown ancient hominin species.
Humans only live for so long. Thus, if two individuals are identified as having had a close genetic relationship there can only be so many years between their dates of death
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
This excellent volume addresses two key questions of archaeological research. First, can archaeology create the grand narratives practised by public historians? Second, what is the return on the long history of archaeological research, accumulating big data, often funded by the…
Which Italian lake was the site of a major battle in 217 BC between a Roman army and Hannibal's Carthaginian forces?
All eyes were on Tokyo this summer, as the world's most populous metropolitan area (home to an astonishing 37 million people) finally played host to the postponed 2020 Olympic Games. With its gleaming skyscrapers and ultramodern stadia, the Japanese capital made a suitably impressive backdrop for the planet's biggest sporting event.
The winning image and three runners-up will be featured in CWA.
This gloriously illustrated volume takes readers on a tour of 100 archaeological sites around the world. While many of the selections are familiar entries in lists of great sites – such as the Giza plateau, Machu Picchu, and Hadrian’s Wall…
For centuries, the work of archaeologists has allowed us to piece together a picture of the past, and to understand our ancestors' place in the universe. Without it, we would not know what life was like in Pompeii, or how the Ancient Egyptians buried their dead, or what role the sun and stars played in the building of Machu Piccu.