Following this issue’s explorations of genetic data, cemetery and skeletal evidence, and isotope analysis, Joanna Story reflects on the significance of the research, and its place within the bigger picture of understanding the early Middle Ages.
Review by CH As the last vestiges of official Roman administration flickered out in Britain, the resulting power vacuum produced a patchwork of small kingdoms. Some – Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Kent – have come to dominate popular imaginings of…
A round-up of some of the latest news from museums in the UK, including new findings from the NMS' Egyptian collections, the opening of the new Brontë at Elizabeth Gaskell's house, and
Your views on the latest issues raised in Current Archaeology.
Review by Stephen Mileson. This report sheds light on the development of an ordinary rural settlement over the long duration. Stratton was a stræt-tun, a ‘settlement on a Roman road’ – in this case, the road between Baldock and Sandy.…
The Staffordshire Hoard – the largest cache of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever found in Britain – is predominantly made up of weapon parts and other martial gear, including sword fittings, ceremonial objects, and fragments of a helmet (see CA…
Thanks to the development of ZooMS, it is now possible to differentiate between different animal species using collagen peptide fingerprinting techniques.
On the edge of a former prehistoric river channel, archaeologists found mammal bones, plant fossils, insect remains, and mollusc shells, along with stone tools, indicating that humans were exploiting this resource at least 500,000 years ago.
Review by Kevin Leahy. This book joins the growing list of publications on the Staffordshire Hoard, but Warrior Treasure is published by Historic England and can be viewed as an ‘official’ popular account. Written by Chris Fern, one of the…
The research focused on carbon and nitrogen signatures preserved in the bone collagen of 2,023 people buried in England between the 5th and 11th centuries AD.
The site at Eccles in Kent was excavated on a shoestring from 1962 to 1976 by Alec Detsicas with the Lower Medway Archaeological Research Group and then the Eccles Excavation Committee. Lack of funding hampered post-excavation, and while Alec Detsicas…
Review by Nick Higham. Stephen Rippon must be congratulated on a handsome, well-illustrated book that is a new must-read for anyone interested in the East Saxons or what the transition from Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England meant to the ordinary…
Almost three-quarters of the burials contained grave goods, including more than 2,000 beads, 86 brooches, 51 knives, 15 spearheads, and even a personal hygiene kit.
Excavations in Crowland, Lincolnshire, are exploring the remains of a structure that might be linked to an Anglo-Saxon anchorite. Project directors Duncan Wright and Hugh Willmott report.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions in the UK.
The structure is based on archaeological remains discovered close by at Church Down, Chalton.
Burials near Whitminster villa Ten human burials have been uncovered at a development site near Stroud in Gloucester (below), which Cotswold Archaeology is investigating ahead of the construction of new training pitches for Forest Green Rovers FC. Excavations at the…
It appears that, in one burial, the skull of the deceased was positioned between their legs.
Neil was an interesting person, as he lived two lives. One was as an archaeologist, as a tour guide, excavator, and valued contributor to our magazines. But he also had another life, as a revolutionary Marxist...
It will be displayed just a few metres away from where it was unearthed following archaeological excavations at Coppergate, York.
The find possibly came from a church in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, of which Galloway was a part.
The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) recently passed the milestone of one million records generated since the project’s foundation in 1997. Among the highlights announced at the launch of the latest PAS annual report (for 2020) is this gold…
The spectacular hoard was unearthed near Silverdale, North Lancashire, by metal-detectorist Darren Webster in 2011.
The results will be shared in spring, in a new episode of Time Team that will air on the ‘Time Team Official’ YouTube Channel.
Associated with the 2019 British Library exhibition Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: art, word, war, these 14 short essays demonstrate the specialised scholarship that lies behind the choice and description of items in such an exhibition. The contents of each closely focused chapter…
Shown here is one of Wagstaff’s images, with the ghostly outline of the ship, whose planks had eroded in the acidic soil, clearly visible. In the foreground, Basil Brown (wearing a hat) works in the ship.
In 2022, we can look forward to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a new Anglo-Saxon visitor at Ad Gefrin in Northumberland, and Norway's new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
The investigations at this historic site will feature in a new series of Time Team – which last aired seven years ago.
Most of the hoard was discovered between 2014 and 2020 by a single anonymous metal-detectorist.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
The Norman Conquest of England was a violent onslaught by barbaric feudal chivalry on what was, at the time, a sophisticated constitutional monarchy based on the rule of law, under whose authority the common people experienced a fair measure of…
The trove consists of 131 gold coins and four gold objects
Most of the later burials were found outside the ring ditch, but inside the prehistoric enclosure the archaeologists found the c.AD 550 grave of a warrior.
his Archaeopress volume represents the long-awaited full publication of Philip Rahtz’s 1994-2004 investigations at Kirkdale parish church, where the famed sundial records Orm Gamalson’s c.1060 rebuilding of a ‘broken and fallen’ minster. Rahtz’s work was initiated with a trench dug…
It is one of hundreds of images of the investigation that are now available to browse online thanks to the conservation and digitisation efforts of the National Trust.
The traditional story of Iona’s early medieval monastery ends in tragedy and bloodshed, with the religious community wiped out by vicious Viking raiders. Increasingly, though, the archaeological and historical evidence does not support this persistent narrative, as Adrián Maldonado, Ewan Campbell, Thomas Owen Clancy, and Katherine Forsyth report.