From serving as the edge of an empire to falling within no fewer than three modern World Heritage Sites, Raetia's Roman frontier has long been a place of consequence. David J Breeze introduces the ancient and modern significance of this remarkable monument.
Last year, in Vienna, we visited the salt mines at Hallstatt and the site beside the Danube where the Venus of Willendorf was discovered.
Excavations on the Île de la Cité are uncovering thousands of years of Parisian history. Amy Brunskill spoke to Julien Avinain and Lucie Altenburg to find out more.
A Roman marching camp covering c.7.4ha has been found near the town of Šurany, in south-western Slovakia. The discovery – which came about through an extensive ongoing archaeological project carried out by the Archaeological Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences,…
A new project is examining the traces of Roman mining associated with extracting
a particularly prized stone. Guillermo León, Catalina Urquijo, Dionisio Urbína,
José Luis Córdoba, and the spelunkers of the Cuenca Ara Club of Speleology describe the demands of archaeological investigation deep within the bowels of central Spain.
Janice Kinory examines an early photograph of a Roman emperor’s palace.
The first permanent exhibition of the plaster casts of Pompeii has opened at the Archaeological Park.
Sometime in the 1st century AD, a crass graffiti artist carved a 2m-long graffito into the wall of a stairwell within the House of Julia Felix at Pompeii. The mudslinger didn’t mince words. In it, they mocked a man who…
Over the last 300 years, a handful of enamelled bronze vessels, most of which are thought to depict Hadrian’s Wall and in some cases are inscribed with the names of forts along its line, have been discovered in Britain and on the Continent. With a sixth example newly unearthed in Spain, Carly Hilts explores what these 2nd-century ‘souvenirs’ can tell us about Roman responses to their northern frontier.
Why were dozens of people from Roman York coated with liquid gypsum as part of their funerary rites? An ongoing interdisciplinary project at the University of York is exploring this enigmatic practice and the wealth of evidence that it preserves about the individuals who were buried in this way. Carly Hilts spoke to the initiative’s Principal Investigator Professor Maureen Carroll to learn more.
A remarkable Roman cup discovered in central Spain is revealing links between Hadrian’s Wall and the Hispanic soldiers who served there. The object was uncovered by chance in farmland in Berlanga de Duero, in the province of Soria. Despite being…
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
A 19th-century photograph sheds light on a forgotten part of Pompeii, as Janice Kinory describes.
Recent excavations at the ancient city of Savatra, in the Karatay district of Konya, central Turkey, have uncovered an impressive altar in the site’s theatre complex, which is believed to date to the Roman period. The altar is decorated with…
In the last couple of years, the rise of artificial intelligence has permeated almost every aspect of society, but (outside exhibitions and other ways of presenting the past) archaeology has remained very much grounded in the physical world. New research,…
My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that I have dreamed of revisiting. For two full days, my…
A basilica built by the pioneering Roman architect Vitruvius has been rediscovered in the city of Fano, in the Le Marche region of Italy. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was born in Fanum Fortunae (modern-day Fano) in the 1st century BC and…
The walls of Pompeii are littered with messages left behind by the city’s inhabitants two millennia ago. Recent research is shedding new light on one of the richest concentrations of these ancient inscriptions.
Through her TV work and writing, Professor Alice Roberts is a powerful and effective advocate for archaeology in the public realm. In Domination, she extends her coverage to explore Christianity in Late Antiquity, unpicking the intimate connection between the spread of…
An ancient Egyptian pleasure barge (thalamagos in Greek) has been discovered by Franck Goddio and his team from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). The 35m-long boat was found submerged off the coast of Alexandria in the Eastern Harbour,…
In the second – and final – part of his interview, Richard Hodges talks to Charles K Williams about the remarkable Roman frescoes he discovered in Corinth.
A changing Rome Maria Barosso is an unsung heroine in Rome’s archaeological story. An extraordinary new exhibition in the Museo Centrale Montemartini provides a flavour of her work as a functionary in the Direzione Generale Antichità e Belle Arti. Born…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK The Roman province of Africa was famed as being the ‘breadbasket’ of the ancient city, for Africa produced the huge quantities of grain needed to feed the plebs of Rome. But why was this region so…
Aarhus offers a fascinating example of how university museums can reflect research agendas, as Vinnie Nørskov and Rubina Raja explain.
Investigating the environs of a Roman fort at Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, in south-west Germany, has revealed the remains of a remarkable number of cavalry horses. Sarah Roth explains what these can teach us about a key instrument of Roman power.
REVIEW BY MARC DeSANTIS Romans were hypocritical about gladiators. Typically slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war, they were seen by the upper crust as sitting squarely among the dregs of society. Yet they were admired, ogled, and cheered across the…
In 2011, excavations at the site of the Roman-period city of Mursa (modern-day Osijek) in Croatia came across an ancient water well containing the complete skeletons of seven individuals. The results of analysis recently published in the journal PLOS One…
A new exhibition in London uses cutting-edge technology to recreate the streets of Pompeii – and the explosive events that turned a thriving Roman settlement into an archaeological time capsule. Carly Hilts describes the experience.
An extraordinary survival plucked from a Danish bog sheds light on the technical virtuosity available in the Roman Iron Age. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja examine the significance of a remarkable piece of armour.
REVIEW BY MATTHEW SYMONDS This volume honours Professor David Kennedy, a pioneering scholar of ancient Arabia and Rome’s eastern frontier, by bringing together 21 scholarly contributions examining both the archaeology of the wider region, and the way that it is…
In March 2025, the owners of a house in the Carrollton neighbourhood of New Orleans came across a flat marble slab while clearing undergrowth in their backyard. The unusual object bore an engraved Latin inscription, leading the couple to fear…
Barbara Gai explores the history of this important monument and the clues that might lead to the location of Antinous’ tomb.
In the 3rd century AD, the possessions of an entire army were deposited in a lake in Jutland. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, Rowan S English, and Rubina Raja examine what was found, and what it reveals about Iron Age military might in southern Scandinavia.
An exhibition at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii explores what life was like for Roman women.
Although the Vandals gave their name to wanton destruction, their king Gaiseric is less well-known. Tim Newark reveals how one of the greatest barbarian warlords made Rome tremble.
A temporary marching camp used by the Roman military has been discovered near the village of Hoog Buurlo in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands. The research was carried out by ‘Constructing the Limes’, a project focused on exploring the…