Multi-period

Current Archaeology’s September Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home

There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If you would prefer to get your heritage fix from the comfort of your sofa, though, there is a variety of resources on offer online, too, from virtual site tours and digital offerings by museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Kathryn Krakowka has put together a selection of some of the options available.

Current Archaeology 426

• Chamber of secrets: what tombs can tell us about Neolithic society in Ireland
• Languages without words: exploring Ice Age art
• Exploring the Viking North: Scandinavian influences in early medieval England
• From warship to whaler: solving the mystery of a shipwreck in Orkney
• ‘Cathedrals of commerce’: the Golden Age of the British High Street

World news

‘Venus’ found in Poland The Museum of Polish Arms has conducted new research into a small limestone statuette, which was first discovered in Kołobrzeg in 2022. The team found that the object, which they have dubbed the ‘Venus of Kołobrzeg’,…

Late Iron Age to Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon Settlement at Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire

REVIEW BY ANDY CHAPMAN This monograph does everything that it says on the packaging in the quoted book review. It contains, ‘high quality data with extensive and thorough reporting by artefact/ecofact specialists’. Unfortunately, with one outstanding exception, the archaeology itself…

Cotton ‘Henge’ to Craft: Neolithic to Anglo-Saxon remains at Warth Park, Raunds, Northamptonshire

REVIEW BY ADAM SUTTON Thanks to the Raunds Area Project of the 1980s and 1990s, the site discussed in this volume is located in one of central England’s most intensively studied archaeological landscapes. The developer-funded excavations reported on here, carried…

Museum news

The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.

Ancient Egypt news in brief

• UNESCO has removed the Abu Mena archaeological site in Alexandria – an ancient location for Christian pilgrimage – from the World Heritage in Danger List following work to reinforce key structures and the installation of a groundwater management system.…

Current Research in Egyptology 2023: Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Symposium, University of Basel, 10-14 September 2023

REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW The 23rd Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) conference was held at the University of Basel in 2023. Bringing together an engaged community of mainly early career researchers, the conference offered a diverse programme from which 22…

Ancient Egypt August listings

THE MYSTERY OF CLEOPATRA The legend of Cleopatra and her depictions in art over the centuries is explored through archaeological finds, paintings, sculptures, and works of contemporary art. Highlights include the peacock headpiece worn by Sarah Bernhard in Sardou’s play…

Current Archaeology’s August Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home

There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If you would prefer to get your heritage fix from the comfort of your sofa, though, there is a variety of resources on offer online, too, from virtual site tours and digital offerings from museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.

Repast: the story of food

REVIEW BY CH Packed with more than 300 illustrations, this wide-ranging book is as much a feast for the eyes as it is a fascinating exploration of humanity’s relationship with food. Throughout history and across cultures, one thing that unites…

Forgotten Forests: Twelve thousand years of British and Irish woodlands

REVIEW BY MATT RITCHIE This is a very fine biography of Britain and Ireland’s once extensive ancient forest and woodland. The book is nicely balanced – the first half spans the millennia from the Mesolithic to the Normans, while the…

The Great Museum of the Sea: a human history of shipwrecks

REVIEW BY ANDREA HAMEL This latest book by James P Delgado, eminent maritime archaeologist and historian, provides a superb overview of shipwrecks, covering hundreds of wrecks from around the world, from the most-famous examples to local fishing boats, and covering…

Surveying Skomer Island

A new 3D digital survey of Skomer Island, located a mile off the coast of Pembrokeshire, has revealed new details of its archaeological sites, allowing the public to appreciate many of them for the first time. The island, which is…

UK news in brief

Final ‘Victories’ tapestry back at Blenheim After a long conservation process, the final tapestry in the ‘Victories’ series, The Surrender of Lille, has been reinstated in the First State Room of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. The tapestry depicts the famous parley…

Current Archaeology 425

• Revealing Roman Wroxeter: new insights from one of Britannia’s largest urban centres 
• The archaeology of parish churches: the peculiarities of excavating in sacred spaces  
• A midlands milestone: 30 years of excavations with ULAS
• A life on the tiles: exploring the work of David Neal as artist and archaeologist
• Cutting-edge science at Fort Cumberland: the future of studying the past 

CWA #132 crossword, and answers to crossword #131

Across 8 Mexican state, location of Mitla archaeological site (6)9 Early horse, now known as Hyracotherium (8)10 Phoenician city-state destroyed by Rome in 146 BC (8)11 Mycenaean settlement in southern Greece (6)12 Stage of the British Pleistocene Series (10)13 Greek…

CWA 132 Letters

Smelly memories Please thank Chris Catling for his smelly article in CWA 129; smells and memories, it works both ways. I was reminded of a forgotten memory. Back in the late ’60s/ early ’70s, I visited Madame Tussauds (pictured): the…

Above ground level

A new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden explores the highlights of the last 25 years of Dutch archaeology.

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks

REVIEW BY LISA BRIGGS It has been 15 years since A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor was first published and introduced readers to a novel method of breaking down world history into bite-sized, easily digestible…

In Brief

MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.

A Midlands milestone: Marking 30 years of excavations by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services

With one of the UK’s major commercial units celebrating its 30th birthday this year, Carly Hilts spoke to Vicki Score, John Thomas, Jen Browning, Matt Beamish, and Alice Forward about ULAS’ journey into the past.

Current Archaeology’s July Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home

There is a fantastic selection of opportunities to immerse yourself in history and heritage this summer, from new exhibitions and heritage attractions to conferences and activity days. Or, if you would prefer to get stuck into archaeology at home instead, there is plenty to choose from, including digitised museum collections, virtual site tours, and online resources. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.

Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery, Truro

Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery in Truro is undergoing a major transformation. Carly Hilts visited the recently refurbished ‘Heart of Cornwall’ archaeology displays.

Between Peak and Plain: Excavations on a Multiperiod Site at Mellor, Stockport, 1998-2009

REVIEW BY HEATHER BEETON This report is a result of 11 seasons of extensive excavations of the multiperiod site at Mellor hilltop in Stockport, carried out by University of Manchester Archaeological Unit. Occupation started in the Mesolithic and continued in…

Relapsing fever bacteria identified in skeletal remains

Four archaeological samples taken from contexts spanning in date from the early Iron Age to the medieval period have tested positive for Borrelia recurrentis – a bacterium that causes relapsing fever, an illness with many recurring episodes of fever. It…

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt: A legendary life

Simone Petacchi explores the life and work of a unique French Egyptologist.

Hilary Wilson on… The King of Fish

Hilary looks at the symbolism attached to one of the major food sources for ancient Egyptians.

Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology: All Our Yesterdays

REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT This important new collection of essays explores what disability meant to the people living in the Nile Valley thousands of years ago, and the lived experience and reception of disability within the field of Egyptology over…

Ancient Egypt June listings

TOMB OF THE PHARAOHS This new 3D, immersive, and interactive experience of ancient Egypt recreates scenes of royal tombs including those of Ramesses IV, Sety I, Tutankhamun, and Nefertari, featuring more than 300 museum-grade replicas. CAIRNS AQUARIUM ANNEX, 122B Lake…

Go digging!

Following on from our special sections in CA 422 and 423, this selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects in Derbyshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, and Stirling.

Current Archaeology 423

• Revealing a Roman landscape: 20 years of the Culver Archaeological Project
• The Melsonby Hoard: exploring unprecedented insights into Iron Age Yorkshire
• Paradise lost: rediscovering Attingham Park’s forgotten pleasure garden
• Building the past: Butser Ancient Farm’s new Neolithic structure
• From gasholders to chic apartments: tracing the history of an industrial icon

Archaeological Stones and their Macroscopical Identification

REVIEW BY ROB IXER ‘No provenance is better than wrong provenance’ should be tattooed on the forehead of anyone embarking on a career in lithic studies. Forgoing that, buying this book would be a useful long-term alternative. This quintessential reference/lab…

Boathouses of Britain

REVIEW BY KK Opening with a brutal account of fratricide between the sons of the pioneering physician who first described Down’s syndrome, this book about boathouses is unexpectedly gripping. The rest of the publication is not nearly so dramatic, but…

On the Edge, Above the Vale

REVIEW BY RP Cotswold Archaeology’s latest monograph (free to download at ) covers excavations that took place ahead of the construction of the Collection Management Facility, Science, and Innovation Park at the former site of RAF Wroughton between 2018 and…

CWA #131 crossword, and answers to crossword #130

Across 7 Member of a people who lived in northern Scotland during the Roman and early medieval periods (4)8 Fort ___, National Historic Landmark in Missouri (5)9 Greek hero of the Iliad (4)11 Land bridge that linked Alaska and Siberia…