Survey work in Wadi Rum is revealing fascinating new insights into the age and variety of its rock art. Genevieve von Petzinger and George Nash share the findings so far.
Across 8 Ancient Greek historian and geographer (6)9 2nd-century Greek theologian, author of Against Heresies (8)10 Fabled city of South America (2,6)11 Mayan style of architecture from northern Yucatan (3,3)12 Inca citadel (9)14 Recess in the wall of a Roman…
REVIEW BY MARIANNE HEM ERIKSEN Human sacrifice constitutes a perennially fascinating topic for scholars and general audiences alike. It is also a research area where the risk of leaning into sensationalism and exoticisation can be relatively high. In the Darkest…
Rubina Raja and Julia Steding discuss a collaboration between the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions and the NGO Videnskabsklubben that has resulted in a brand new, first-of-its-kind archaeological outreach programme for schoolchildren in Denmark.
In partnership with: Current Archaeology Live! 2025 will be here before we know it, and tickets are selling fast. The conference, held in partnership with University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, will be on 1 March (Saturday) and will return…
• Imperial echoes? Excavating a monumental building from Roman Carlisle
• Unearthing the Peebles Hoard: a unique collection from Bronze Age Scotland
• Exploring the history of Holyrood Palace: Scotland’s official royal residence
• Goldcliff’s Mesolithic footprints: intertidal discoveries in the Severn Estuary
• Intentional offerings? Examining Bronze Age metalwork from the River Trent
Sherds does not share the passion for cycling that seems to have gripped so many people over the last two decades. In the words of the self-styled ‘Super-Tramp’, W H Davies, ‘A poor life this if, full of care,/We have no time to stand and stare’, and it is the standing and staring that walking permits, whereas cycling (uphill at any rate, with traffic presenting an ever-present threat) seems full of care
REVIEW BY JAMES SAINSBURY The Rother Valley comprises a series of papers, compiled and edited by John Boardman and Ian Foster. The book covers the prehistoric archaeology and palaeoecology of the Rother in great detail, with a masterful contribution from…
REVIEW BY CH Engagingly written and well-illustrated, Building on the Past discusses the results of 20 archaeological excavations undertaken on a 17km stretch of the N2/M2 road corridor between Finglas, Co. Dublin, and Ashbourne, Co. Meath. The works were carried…
Where is this? If you know, email the Editor peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com before 28 February with your answer, giving your full name, address, and a contact phone number. One lucky reader will have their name selected at random from all the correct…
BETWEEN PRAGUE AND CAIRO: 100 YEARS OF CZECH EGYPTOLOGY A century of Czech archaeology in Egypt and Sudan is celebrated in a new exhibition presenting the work of the Czech Institute of Egyptology of Charles University, featuring in particular the…
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT Egyptology is constantly being redefined and reinterpreted to recognise more inclusive histories, helping to recentre traditional narratives. This fascinating volume brings together a range of international perspectives on these ‘supporting characters’ of Egyptology over the past…
In partnership with: Our upcoming conference, Current Archaeology Live! 2025, will be held on Saturday 1 March. We are delighted to be returning to University College London’s Institute of Education near Russell Square for the event, which is run in…
• From Samarkand to Sutton Hoo: the impact of the Silk Roads on early medieval Britain and Ireland
• Secrets of the Dorset marsh: excavating one of Britain’s oldest wooden tools
• Archaeology and climate change: the impact along the Irish Sea coast
• Seeking a Scottish source: updating the Stonehenge Altar Stone story
• The Peebles Hoard: investigating one of Scotland’s ‘most significant’ hoards
• Ramesses III: piety and personal religion in ancient Egypt
• From fragment to scene: the reliefs from the funerary complex of Mentuhotep II
• Ani’s life after death: hymn to Ra and Osiris
• The Shasu and Egypt: textual evidence for an enigmatic neighbour
• George Reisner: the American Petrie
• The Egyptian collection in Marseille
• Visiting Egypt in 1912: how the monuments have changed
• The Temple of Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim
REVIEW BY CH Corinium is how the Romans knew Cirencester; today it is the name of the Cotswold town’s museum. Its displays include a wealth of Roman finds, as well as artefacts spanning prehistory to the present day – and…
REVIEW BY RP Most people see the British footpath for its immediate purpose: a means of getting from A to B (seldom achieved without also acquiring muddy shoes and the occasional nettle-sting). Not so for Tom King, who has spent…
Obsolete photographic formats can hold valuable or even unique information about ancient sites and artefacts. Such archives are, though, at increasing risk of being thrown out for being of no further use in a digital age. What can be done? Janice Kinory and Katharina Ulmschneider introduce us to a solution.
Across 8 US state, location of the Dolores Cave rock shelter (8)9 Legendary island where King Arthur was taken after his final battle (6)10 Ancient Greek historian and geographer (6)11 Persian dynasty founded by Ardashir I (8)12 Neolithic pottery named…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK Every year Professor Quinn has the task of sorting out applications from those wishing to study classics. Many of them say that they wish to study classics because Greece and Rome are ‘the roots of Western…
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.
There is a great range of historical and archaeological events coming up over the next few months, ranging from exciting new exhibitions to lectures and conferences. Or, if you prefer to get your heritage fix at home, there are lots of ways to do that too, including digital museum resources, virtual site tours, podcasts, and TV shows. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the best options.
In my second column on the archaeology of Greater London, I stroll through the Saxon town, meander through the medieval city, and finally alight on some post-medieval and modern sites. There is a lot to review here, from the evidence of London’s last Romans to those who lived here in some of its most difficult of times: the Blitz during the Second World War.
REVIEW BY CH Located more than 100 miles from the Scottish mainland, the cluster of islands collectively known as St Kilda have variously been mythologised as a romantically remote place whose hardy inhabitants were torn from their traditional way of…
• Pioneering spirit: exploring the archaeology of whisky distilling in Glenlivet
• Scraps of memory: illuminating the imaginative worlds of 17th-century schoolgirls
• Buried at Bodicote: investigating unusual Iron Age burials
• Making a splash: Bronze Age logboats launch at Stanwick Lakes
• Norfolk’s earliest stone churches: constructing a timeline of ancient religious buildings
• Antiquarian or archaeologist? Illustrating the influence of Edmund Tyrrell Artis
Simone Petacchi visits the galleries of the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology (MAM), which houses the second largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in France.
• Legends in the landscape: on the trail of ‘Merlin’s Grave’ in Tweedale
• Nine millennia of life: excavations around New Ross in south-east Ireland
• How to restore a manor: breathing life into a Grade II*-listed Norfolk building
• A home for hunter-gatherers? Reconstructing ‘Britain’s oldest house’
• Roman replicas: recreating the Hallaton helmet
• Scottish origins for the Stonehenge Altar Stone?
• Ancient Egyptian cats: hunter, pampered pet, divine goddess
• Faking it: the New Kingdom’s faux-stone funerary vessels
• The tale of an Amarna fresco: attempting to save a masterpiece
• Current research in Egyptology: women in the workforce, and ethnicity in ancient Egypt
• Abu Rowash: a forgotten royal necropolis of the early Old Kingdom
• Visiting Egypt in 1912: a guided tour
• Travels in an antique land: newly opened tombs on the West Bank at Luxor
My final geographically themed review focuses on London. I touched on some sites there in my reviews of Roman archaeology and the Thames (CA 330 and CA 343), so these columns will look more widely across modern-day Greater London. There…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
A new museum, created and funded by the local community, has opened in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Leon Corneille-Cowell explains how the space came to be, and highlights some of its latest work and upcoming projects.
There are lots of great opportunities to get stuck into history and archaeology this autumn, whether you’re looking for conferences and lectures or new exhibitions and museum attractions.
If you would rather get involved at home, though, there is a wide variety of resources on offer online, from digital collections and virtual heritage site tours to new podcasts, TV shows, and more. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.
REVIEW BY CH The earliest surviving written reference to Edinburgh is found in a charter of 17 July 1124 – and, to celebrate the city’s 900th ‘birthday’, Alistair Moffat has written an engaging biography of the Scottish capital. He begins…
East Africa’s earliest farming Excavations in Kenya have uncovered equatorial east Africa’s earliest evidence for plant farming. Working in Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria Basin, archaeologists have discovered remnants of the legume crop cowpea (black-eyed pea) in a hearth,…
Restoring Boden Fogou Volunteers from the Meneage Archaeology Group have restored part of a passageway in an Iron Age fogou, which was rediscovered near Boden in west Cornwall in 2003 (see CA 414 for more about excavations on the site…
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions: send them to cwaletters@world-archaeology.com