Current Archaeology 435
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An enduring landscape: Uncovering 8,000 years of life and death on the Cotswold Edge
Recent excavations at Milestone Ground on the eastern edge of Broadway have revealed one of the most intriguing archaeological landscapes yet found in Worcestershire. Beneath quiet pasture lay evidence of human activity stretching back 8,000 years, including Mesolithic flint tools, Bronze Age burials, hundreds of Iron Age storage pits, a Roman farmstead, and the largest late Roman cemetery known in the county. Constance Mitchell reports.
Llanbedrgoch: Exploring a unique early medieval trading centre on Anglesey
Ninth-century Carolingian coins from the reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald are not the sort of objects you would expect to find on a remote farm on the Isle of Anglesey, so, when metal-detectorists began reporting these and other exceptional artefacts from the early medieval period, the National Museum of Wales (now Amgueddfa Cymru) sent Mark Redknap, then Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology, to investigate. Between 1994 and 2012, Mark led ten seasons of fieldwork on the site, revealing the remains of a trading settlement with a form unparalleled in Wales. With the full report recently published, Chris Catling describes its key findings.
Bronze Age mound found under ‘lost’ Oxford college
‘No intact original human burials have been found but they are thought to be represented by the disarticulated skeletal remains.’
The World of Stonehenge
Review by HB. This accessible and richly informative book, produced to accompany the World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum (CA 384), treats Stonehenge as a ‘gateway’ into the interconnected worlds
Pictish symbol stone unearthed near Aberlemno
Archaeologists also found three pieces of late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art bearing cup marks and spiral designs
The triumphal arch: exploring the legacy of a Roman monument
Dismissed by one distinguished architectural writer as a regrettable example of Roman pomposity, ‘typical of the rather pretentious magnificence of the [Roman] Empire’, the ‘triumphal arch’ (more correctly the ‘honorary arch’) has proved to be surprisingly enduring, with a history that extends from the Roman period to the present day. Chris Catling reviews a new book by Peter Howell tracing the history of the arch through its many manifestations.
The Great British Dig: history in your back garden
Review by CH. Those of us who enjoy relaxing of an evening with an episode or two of an archaeological TV show have been spoiled in recent years, with such tempting offerings
The Archaeology of Merseyside in 20 Digs
Review by AB. Archaeological investigations have been taking place in Merseyside, in north-west England, since the 19th century, shedding light on the many communities who have inhabited the area over the last
New light on Trimontium: building a museum against the odds
The recent renovation of Trimontium Museum in Melrose has given archaeologists the opportunity to re-examine the enduring mystery of what happened at the nearby Roman fortress of the same name – as John Reid explains.
Industrial-scale Roman silver extraction in Kent
The team also found the remains of a high-status, middle-aged woman who had been laid to rest in a lead-lined coffin.
The Shaping of the English Landscape: an atlas of archaeology from the Bronze Age to Domesday Book
Review by Andrew Tibbs. As a collection of maps covering almost every imaginable aspect of landscape-usage, from the Bronze Age to the early medieval period, this book covers many types of ancient
World news: Swedish shipwreck, Kazakh lyre, and a Roman amphitheatre
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological news stories from across the globe.
Time Team: the love affair continues
So, what’s different about this incarnation of Team Time? Besides the charm and expertise of several new cast members, these episodes wholly embrace the countless scientific advances in dating and scanning that have occurred over the last decade.
Apollonia revisited: the story of a pioneering survey
In 1958, an archaeological team set out to undertake a trailblazing survey of the submerged ruins of Apollonia. Nic Flemming looks at what was accomplished, and what changed in the decades that followed.
Phoenician sacred pool aligned with stars identified off Sicilian coast
Excavations revealed temples lining the basin, along with altars, votive offerings, and stelae.
Roman amphitheatre found in Switzerland
The Kaiseraugst amphitheatre was discovered in the Rheinfelden district at a site known to have been the location of a Roman quarry
Archaeological study of human habitation in space launched
January 2022 saw the launch of a new phase in the first ever archaeological study of a human habitat in space. The project, which began in 2015, is led by Dr Alice
Religious Practice and Cultural Construction of Animal Worship in Egypt from the Early Dynastic to the New Kingdom: ritual forms, material display, historical development
Review by Salima Ikram. This book, based on a PhD thesis, focuses on Egyptian ‘animal worship’ from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. In the introduction, the author states that the
Scythian plate
The plate was found in 2021 at the Devitsa V cemetery in the Ostrogozhsky District of the Voronezh region, Russia.
DNA denouements and coining a phrase
People investing in DNA ancestry kits should be aware that they might not get the answers they were expecting: people who want to know if they have Viking DNA or are related to Richard III might instead discover an awkward family secret.