Description
Highlights:
- Iron in the time of Anarchy: investigating a smithy site forged in 12th-century civil war
- ‘Who will deliver me from this turbulent priest?’ How two Henrys failed to erase the memory of Thomas Becket
- Nero’s Britain: rebellion, reconstruction, and a revised reputation
- Carmarthenshire’s missing monument: how one of the biggest excavations in Wales uncovered a long-lost henge
- Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard: secrets of a Viking Age collection from south-west Scotland
In around AD 900, a unique Viking Age hoard was buried in south-west Scotland. Known as the Galloway Hoard, its eclectic contents come from as far as Asia, and preserve stunning examples of early medieval artistry that have not been seen for over 1,000 years. Since its rediscovery, the hoard has been carefully conserved and analysed in detail. Our cover story presents the latest discoveries as a new exhibition opens.
We next examine a much larger archaeological find whose location had also long faded from memory: Britain’s most south-westerly Neolithic henge, which has been identified during a major infrastructure project in south Wales.
The Vaynor Farm henge’s demise may have come about amid dramatic cultural changes at the onset of the Bronze Age; our third feature explores another watershed period: the medieval civil war known as the Anarchy. Can the remains of a 12th-century smithy shed light on how the Anarchy affected one fenland community?
Remaining in the 12th century, we next visit the British Museum to explore their new exhibition about Thomas Becket. Artefacts and a stunning stained-glass window come together to tell the story of a murdered archbishop and why so many people in medieval Europe flocked to his shrine.
The British Museum is also telling the story of the notorious Roman emperor Nero, who came to power when the conquest of Britain was far from complete. His reign saw both the revolution of the Boudican uprising and efforts at reconciliation and reconstruction in its aftermath; we explore the latest thinking on Neronian Britain.
Cover Date: Jul-2021, Volume 32 Issue 4
