Current Archaeology 426

Description

Highlights:

From the Editor:
This month’s cover features an image of Newgrange, one of Ireland’s most famous Neolithic passage tombs. Recent analysis has shed intriguing light on the people who were buried within these grand monuments – and on the structure of the societies that they belonged to.

Questions of identity also lie at the heart of our next article, which examines recent research into the impact of Viking attacks and Scandinavian settlement across the north of England.

From raiding to trading, we then trace the heritage of the British High Street, offering new insights into these familiar environments.

Finally, we leap back in time to explore the remarkable artistic outpouring that Britain and Continental Europe witnessed towards the end of the last Ice Age.

Adding to the above, extended news reports cover a pair of Roman cavalry swords from the Cotswolds; and recent work that has revealed the identity of a 250-year-old shipwreck discovered on an Orkney beach.

Finally, I would like to offer my warmest wishes to Amy Brunskill, who is leaving CA to work for our sister magazines Current World Archaeology and Military History Matters. Amy first joined our team for CA 356 (November 2019), and she has made an invaluable contribution over the last few years, including her ingenious invention of ‘Heritage from Home’ during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Thank you, Amy, and good luck with your future endeavours!


Cover Date: Sep-2025, Volume 36 Issue 6

Cover Story

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…

Features

‘Cathedrals of commerce’ : A guide through the Golden Age of the British High Street In her new book about High Street heritage, Kathryn Morrison takes us on a trip down memory lane and reminds…
Viking North: Tracing Scandinavian influences in early medieval England A major new exhibition explores the impact of the Viking Age across northern England. Carly Hilts visited the displays and…
Languages without words: Exploring art from the last Ice Age An exhibition at Cliffe Castle Museum showcases artworks dating back 24,000 years, bringing together Continental artefacts with two key British…

Comment

The UK’s first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp Most of us associate prisoner-of-war camps with 20th-century conflicts, but an archaeological evaluation undertaken in July 2009 by Channel 4’s…
Roman towns and cities: Lincoln – Excavating the CA archive As part of my ongoing mini-series on the towns of Roman Britain, I will focus in this column on Roman…

News

Views

Current Archaeology’s August Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions,…
Museum news The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
CA Letters 426 – August Counting Quaker Meeting Houses I enjoyed the article on the Quaker Meeting Houses in CA 422. I have searched for…
Researching Wrest Park: Silsoe, Bedfordshire Over the past 15 years, a series of research projects at Wrest Park, a 19th-century country house in Silsoe, Bedfordshire,…
Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum and Gladiators of Britain Exhibitions currently running at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery focus on ancient Rome’s…
The Great War Aviation Society The decade between the first successful powered flight – made by the Wright Brothers on 17 December 1903 – and…
The World of King James VI & I at National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait Gunpowder, treason, and plot; witch trials and sexual scandals; political, cultural, and religious innovations – James VI & I’s reign…
Finds Tray – Spherical knop This artefact was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Corringham, Lincolnshire, earlier this year. It has been identified as one of…

Reviews

Repast: the story of food REVIEW BY CH Packed with more than 300 illustrations, this wide-ranging book is as much a feast for the eyes…
Forgotten Forests: Twelve thousand years of British and Irish woodlands REVIEW BY MATT RITCHIE This is a very fine biography of Britain and Ireland’s once extensive ancient forest and woodland.…
The Great Museum of the Sea: a human history of shipwrecks REVIEW BY ANDREA HAMEL This latest book by James P Delgado, eminent maritime archaeologist and historian, provides a superb overview…
Producers, Traders, and Consumers in Urban Societies in Southern Britain and Europe: post-excavation and museum studies presented to Professor Mark Brisbane REVIEW BY ANNE THOM This book was written to honour Professor Mark Brisbane with up-to- date and historical analysis of…
Ice Age Art Now REVIEW BY HANNA MCNULTY What if Ice Age art was not confined to glass cases or academic articles, but displayed…
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…

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