Neolithic Tombs of Wales
REVIEW BY KEITH RAY Neolithic Tombs of Wales is a revised edition of a book with similar scope that was published 20 years ago by the same publisher. It is fundamentally a field guide to around 100 sites whose remains…
Neolithic
Testing times: Examining insights from experimental archaeology
What have archaeological experiments revealed about how stone axes were sourced, made, and used thousands of years ago? James Dilley highlights some of the key findings.
Science Notes: Legacies of lead in the Neolithic landscape
Lead isotopes have frequently been used in archaeology to determine the provenance of metal objects. More recently, they have also been helping to assess mobility in humans and other animals. This form of analysis is still in its infancy, however,…
Monumental voyages
Discovered as recently as 1989, the Neolithic settlement submerged beneath the waters of Lake Bracciano, at La Marmotta, near Rome, Italy, has yielded rich evidence of life 7,000 years ago. New analysis of the five boats found at the site suggest that they could have been used for the sea voyages that led to the spread of Neolithic practices to the islands of the Mediterranean.
Communal feasting in the Central Zagros
Analysis of wild boar remains discovered at a site in the Zagros Mountains in Iran points to long-distance transport of animals for a ceremonial gathering in the Early Neolithic. The animal remains were discovered in 2016 when excavations at the…
Reconstructing a megalithic tomb
The Haldensleben Forest in Saxony-Alhalt, Germany, is home to a large concentration of Neolithic megalithic tombs. One of these monuments, known as the Küsterberg tomb, was the subject of excavations between 2010 and 2013, and was revealed to be in…
UK news in brief
Neolithic long cairn granted protected status The Dudderhouse Hill long cairn, located within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, has been granted protected status as a Scheduled Monument by the Government. The scheduling was recommended by Historic England after a number…
A game of tombs? Rethinking what the dead can tell us about Neolithic society in Ireland
Who was buried in the passage tombs of Neolithic Ireland? For centuries, many thought that these monuments were the final resting places of a ruling elite, and in 2020 this seemed to be confirmed by ancient DNA analysis which revealed that some of the individuals interred within them were related. Now, however, Penny Bickle, Kerri Cleary, Catherine J Frieman, Neil Carlin, Daniela Hofmann, and Jessica Smyth describe recent research that examines the results in light of their wider archaeological context, exploring complex funerary rites which, they argue, were just one form of kin-building among
a community with much wider social networks.
Stone Lands: a journey of darkness and light through Britain’s ancient places
REVIEW BY JOE FLATMAN The Stone Lands book launch was held on a sun-kissed midsummer’s evening on a farm near Avebury, followed by a guided walk led by the author to West Kennet long barrow. It was the perfect blend…
Generations of first farmers congregated at Carnoustie
We first brought you news of the discovery of two Neolithic halls at Carnoustie, Angus, back in 2019 when the first radiocarbon dates had come through, confirming their prehistoric date (see CA 350). Now the post-excavation analysis has concluded, revealing…
Landscape Stability and the Formation of Social Memory in Prehistoric Britain
REVIEW BY RICHARD BRADLEY Archaeologists study memories in prehistory and help to create them in the present. Ancient people must have had a sense of the past, just as we do today. That is why older monuments were visited and…
The Ancient World
The Hill of Tara, once the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, is a site steeped in mythology and history, dating back over 5,000 years. At the centre of the image lies the Mound of the Hostages, an ancient…
CWA Photo of the Year Competition 2025: Winners announced
Sponsored by: We have had a brilliant selection of entries for this year’s photo competition, with images that have taken us on a journey through history and around the world. From new perspectives on famous heritage sites to lesser-known archaeological…
Building the past: Reconstructing a late Neolithic house from Wyke Down
The newest archaeological reconstruction to be unveiled at Butser Ancient Farm is a late Neolithic house, based on a structure whose 5,000-year-old footprint was excavated in Dorset. CA visited the launch event to learn more.
New insights into kinship in Neolithic Ireland
A recently published study has shed new light on the ways in which kinship was tied to monuments from Ireland in the Neolithic period, suggesting that biological relationships and social status were not strong factors in deciding who was buried…
World news
New light on Danish sun stones Hundreds of stone plaquettes from two Neolithic enclosure sites on the Danish island of Bornholm have been linked to the eruption of a volcano almost 5,000 years ago. The plaquettes, which are commonly engraved…
Houses of the Living: Domestic architecture in England and Wales, 4000-1500 BC
REVIEW BY RACHEL BALLANTYNE Fabulously comprehensive and systematic, this is primarily a resource assessment of later prehistoric structural footprints for homes – places of social reproduction, craft activities, food storage and consumption. Of note are the many composite illustrations that…
Hunting and Fishing in the Neolithic and Eneolithic
REVIEW BY KATHERINE V BOYLE This book looks at an often-overlooked aspect of European prehistory, more specifically the Neolithic/Eneolithic, but one that, fortunately, is gradually changing with work undertaken in recent years by scholars across Europe. The subject is the…
Bring me sunshine
Recent research suggests that engraved stones discovered on the Danish island of Bornholm may have been ritual offerings in response to climatic change caused by a huge volcanic eruption almost 5,000 years ago. Over the past few decades, hundreds of…
A monumental undertaking: Unravelling the long and complex story of Crickley Hill’s Long Mound
Newly published research has illuminated the evolution of an enigmatic monument at Crickley Hill, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Its role as a religious or ceremonial complex can be traced back to the Neolithic period, but it continued to be used and rebuilt numerous times over the next 3,000 years, and perhaps even longer, as Steve Vaughan reports.
Echoes: Stone Circles, Community and Heritage at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre
A thought-provoking photography exhibition explores how contemporary communities relate to stone circles. Carly Hilts visited, and spoke to the artists to learn more.
Neolithic Life and Death in the Yorkshire Dales
REVIEW BY PENNY BICKLE For the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, there is a tendency for the usual famous monuments – such as Stonehenge or Newgrange – to capture the majority of both public and academic imagination. This leaves many…
World News
Neolithic site uncovered in Sweden Archaeologists working in the Swedish village of Hammar have excavated the remains of a unique ceremonial site associated with the Funnel Beaker Culture. A large number of finds from the site, which is located on…
A gathering place by the water
The remains of a unique Neolithic ceremonial site have been uncovered in the province of Skåne, in southern Sweden. Investigations were carried out in 2024 in the village of Hammar, outside Kristianstad, by archaeologists from the country’s National Historical Museums…
World news
New Neolithic society discovered in Morocco Investigations at Oued Beht, northern Morocco, have uncovered evidence of the oldest and largest Neolithic society yet found in Africa outside the Nile Valley. Large quantities of stone tools have been recovered from the…
UK news in brief
Renewed support for Salisbury mental-health heritage project Well-City Salisbury, a project aiming to help people with mental-health needs using arts and heritage courses, has received £368,135 from The National Lottery Community Fund. Bringing together four Salisbury-based partner organisations (ArtCare, Wessex…
‘King Arthur’s Hall’ 4,000 years older than thought
Dating analysis of a monument on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall has revealed that it may be 4,000 years older than previously imagined. King Arthur’s Hall – comprising 56 standing stones set within a rectangular bank of earth and stone measuring…
Feats of engineering
Stonehenge is often portrayed as if it were a unique monument, which in some respects it is. No other surviving monument uses mortise-and-tenon joints to lock the lintels to the uprights that form the massive stone circle and the inner trilithons (though this kind of joint was probably used in similar monuments built from timber that have not survived).
Discovering a new Neolithic society in Morocco
Research at a site in northern Morocco is uncovering evidence for the oldest and largest Neolithic society that has yet been found in Africa outside the Nile valley. Evidence of prehistoric activity at Oued Beht was first noted in the…
Seeking a Scottish source: Updating the story of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone
In CA 415, we reported on new scientific analysis suggesting that the origins of the Stonehenge Altar Stone lay hundreds of miles from Salisbury Plain, in the Orcadian Basin of north-east Scotland. The story has already moved on, however, with recently published research narrowing the search further, ruling out Orkney itself as a potential source. Rob Ixer, Richard Bevins, and Nick Pearce bring us up to date.
CA Letters 417 – November
The Altar Stone Engravings I was recently researching the Historic England archive of Richard Atkinson’s 1958 excavations at Stonehenge, and two photographs (P50106, ; and P50107, ) revealed an astonishing feature of the Altar Stone. The photographs partially show the…
CARD Fund: 100 not out!: Community radiocarbon-dating fund delivers its 100th date
A specialist grant that helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds has reached a significant milestone after funding 100 radiocarbon dates in the last nine years. Emma Aitken discusses key results from projects supported by the CARD Fund in 2023, as well as providing details of its 2024 funding cycle and an event celebrating the 100th date.
Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun
REVIEW BY ROB IXER This is the second of two recent, non-mainstream Stonehenge books (the other is Mike Pitts’ publication on the technicalities of building the circle), both of which must be on the required reading list for this monument.…
Knowth
REVIEW BY JAMES O’DRISCOLL The passage-tomb complex of Knowth is often relegated to the status of smaller sibling to the better known Newgrange, despite it being of international importance in its own right. This book summarises over 60 years of…
Possible stone circle discovered at Arthur’s Stone
Excavations at Arthur’s Stone, a Neolithic burial chamber overlooking the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, have revealed evidence of a second megalithic monument on the site: a possible stone circle some 65.5ft (20m) in diameter. Dating back 5,500 years, Arthur’s Stone…
Stonehenge’s Scottish connection
New research suggests that one of Stonehenge’s famous megaliths may have come from the very north of the UK. The Altar Stone is a six-tonne sandstone slab that currently lies in the middle of the famous stone circle. It was…