Research recently published in the journal Britannia has proposed a way to estimate the possible population of Roman Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), in Hampshire, suggesting that the town may have included many more residences than have yet been identified. As a…
Pioneering excavations in Winchester in the 1960s and 1970s made a major contribution to the development of modern archaeological practice and trained many of those who subsequently became the leading professional and academic archaeologists of our day. So the publication of the latest Winchester Studies volume – a concise synthesis of the city’s prehistoric, Roman, and post-Roman development – is a landmark event, as Chris Catling reports.
The traditional portrayal of post-Roman Britain as a landscape in decline, devoid of the cultural richness that had been infused into it by the presence of the Empire, was turned on its head in 2020, when a mosaic at Chedworth…
The first intact bird egg ever recovered from a Romano-British context has recently revealed its possible contents, cementing it as a unique archaeological discovery in Britain, and perhaps in the world. The egg was discovered during excavations in 2010 by…
• Legion: exploring the impact of the Roman army in Britain
• Piety and plague: life and death at Cambridge’s Augustinian friary
• Preserving the past: the Welsh heritage sector’s rich history and uncertain future
• A rare wooden find: uncovering a Roman funerary bed in London
• Family ties: examining ideas of kinship in the Bronze Age
REVIEW BY PATRICK DANIEL This book summarises 17 years of work by MOLA Northampton/Northamptonshire Archaeology at a 70ha development by the Roman road north of Doncaster. The earliest remains comprised a ring ditch with early Bronze Age cremation burials, an…
Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf Community, Anglesey
A major new exhibition at the British Museum shows what life was like for the men, women, and children associated with the Roman military machine – and those they encountered through campaign and conquest. Carly Hilts visited to learn more.
Excavations in central London have revealed the remains of a c.2,000 year-old cemetery, where waterlogged soil conditions have preserved an extraordinary array of wooden finds, including coffins and what may be the first complete funerary bed from Roman Britain. Carly Hilts learned more from Gwilym Williams.
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REVIEW BY ROB IXER Broken fragmentary Niedermendig (Banfield convincingly suggests that Mayen is the better term) lava is commonly recorded, but seemingly in passing, from Roman (and later) sites. This 190-page, very well-figured text corrects this slight, and must now…
Roman histories attest that thousands of Sarmatian warriors – renowned horse-riders from the Caucasus – were resettled in Britain after their defeat by Marcus Aurelius in AD 175, but vanishingly few archaeological traces of their presence here have been found. Now scientific analysis of a skeleton found during the excavation of a Roman farmstead in Cambridgeshire has produced what is thought to be the first genetic evidence of an individual from that region. Carly Hilts reports.
There are many brilliant archaeological events on offer over the next few months, including new exhibitions, conferences, and lectures. If you would prefer to get your history and heritage fix at home, though, there is a wide variety of offerings to choose from, including virtual museum- and site tours, digitised historical resources, games, TV shows, and more. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
Found in the 19th century, the Knaresborough Hoard is one of the largest and most unusual late Roman metalwork hoards known from Britain – but until recently its contents had never been studied in detail, and the circumstances of its discovery were shrouded in mystery. Carly Hilts reports on recent research that has brought to light new elements of the story of these objects.
A new exhibition exploring Silchester, an important Roman town in Hampshire, and the long-running excavations that have brought its remains to light once more, will open later this month. Michael Fulford previews some of its key themes.
This is a Roman brooch made of copper alloy and dating to c.AD 60-100. It was recently found by a metal-detectorist on cultivated land near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and has been designated as a find of county or local importance.…
REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER EVANS Thoroughly researched and well-written, this is simply a very good read, one informed by its author’s long experience of archaeological fieldwork. In it, Mackay tracks down the route of Boudica and her rebel followers, as well…
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A new Roman garden and mosaic has been unveiled at Butser Ancient Farm, an open-air museum in East Hampshire that hosts a number of historical building recon-structions, spanning from prehistory through to the early medieval period. The garden was funded…
REVIEW BY CH Large infrastructure schemes are often archaeologically exciting because they allow us to explore underlying features on a landscape scale. This comprehensive monograph summarises the results of one such excavation, by Cotswold Archaeology, where the creation of a…
Excavations by the Caistor Roman Project outside the walls of Venta Icenorum are revealing the impact on local Iron Age communities of the development of a Roman regional capital. This summer, Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Giles Emery to find out more.
The remains of a late Iron Age and Roman farmstead have been revealed during works by Archaeological Research Services Ltd which, since late February, have been investigating archaeological remains identified during topsoil stripping for Leicestershire County Council’s new road scheme…
This month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column pays tribute to the late Tony Rook, who died on 11 September 2023 at the age of 91. Tony and his wife Merle Rook (who died in 2012) jointly founded the Welwyn Archaeological Society (WAS),…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
This is a Roman tortoise or turtle figurine that was recently found by a metal-detectorist near Wickham Skeith in Suffolk. Cast in copper-alloy, it has a flat base with no evidence of having once had a fixing, suggesting that it…
Do archaeological remains represent static monuments, or do they remain ‘alive’ in their natural and cultural landscapes? Emily Hanscam and Cornelius Holtorf discuss how Hadrian’s Wall and the Sycamore Gap tree can encourage us to rethink the relationships between humanity, nature, and the planet.
The Sycamore Gap tree was an immediately recognisable feature of the central section of Hadrian’s Wall. Jim Crow, who directed excavations of this portion of the Roman frontier between 1982 and 1989, investigates its archaeological and landscape history.
In the aftermath of the felling of the famous tree at Sycamore Gap, David Breeze examines how artistic interest in different sections of Hadrian’s Wall has changed over the centuries.
When a team from Oxford Archaeology and RPS Consulting were called in to evaluate a brownfield site at King’s Hedges, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, they did not expect to come across much as the site had already seen…
Extensive excavations near Newark-on-Trent have revealed a complex farmstead that was in use from the late Iron Age through to the Roman period. Back in June, the investigations – carried out by MOLA ahead of the construction of the Newlink…
A pair of Roman swords – the first to be found in the Cotswolds, and thought to be only the second time two have been found in the same context in the whole of Britain – has been discovered during…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
REVIEW BY KK Rogers’ book serves well as a succinct introduction to the Roman towns of Britain. It starts by discussing how these towns evolved, whether de novo or through the expansion of pre-existing settlement sites, and highlights the different…
Earlier this year Archaeological Research Services Ltd excavated a Roman farmstead west of Milton, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, providing new insights into rural domestic life and adding to the picture of affluence in this area of Roman Britain.…
A recent modelling project has created a probable map of the Roman road network across the counties of Devon and Cornwall, showing how it may have connected with the wider province of Britannia. While the presence of a few Roman…
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