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.
Living like common people: uncovering medieval peasant perceptions of landscape
How did medieval villagers understand the world around them? Stephen Mileson and Stuart Brookes addressed this question in a research project and recently published book. Here Stephen reports on their findings, and how they met the challenges of uncovering the perceptions and sense of identity of ordinary rural people in the past.
Experimental ‘Bronze Age roundhouse’ unveiled
The new roundhouse was built almost entirely by 33 volunteers from Operation Nightingale, a charity assisting the recovery of wounded and traumatised military personnel and veterans through archaeology.
Roman Venus figurine found in Gloucester
Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD, the moulded statuette is just 17cm high and has been interpreted as a religious icon, probably imported from elsewhere in the Roman Empire
Church Communities and Heritage
Churches are significant repositories of community history; they contain rare and precious objects; they are, in a very real sense, museums at the heart of every community. They are also places of reflection and spiritual sustenance…
From aurochsen to abbey tiles: uncovering Mesolithic and medieval finds at Blick Mead
Excavations at Blick Mead, a significant Mesolithic occupation site close to Stonehenge, continued this autumn. Carly Hilts travelled to the site to learn more about prehistoric hunters and traces of a priory associated with a medieval queen.
‘Extraordinary’ Roman statues unearthed in Stoke Mandeville
Archaeologists now believe St Mary’s church was constructed directly over the demolished remains of a square Roman building – possibly a mausoleum.
Secrets of scotch
Archaeologists from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) are discovering the secrets of Speyside malt at the old site of The Glenlivet Distillery in Upper Drumin (pictured right), as part of the
Byzantine wine factory unearthed in Israel
Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered the largest complex of Byzantine winepresses ever found. The industrial estate, where around 2 million litres of wine were produced every year, was recently unearthed in the city of Yavne and dated to c.1,500 years ago.
Iona in the Viking Age: laying a ‘zombie narrative’ to rest
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.
‘Industrial scale’ medieval tannery found at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire
Archaeologists working at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire have identified the remains of a monastic tannery, where animal hides would have been processed in the medieval period to produce a variety of essential
Treasures of the Scythian Kings
Barry Cunliffe, among the most distinguished of world archaeologists, has recently drawn together the evidence for the Scythians in a comprehensive new book, The Scythians: nomad warriors of the steppe. Neil Faulkner asked him what we know of this most mysterious of ancient peoples.
The Griffin Warrior: treasures from the princely tomb of a Mycenaean kingdom
The surprise discovery of the mysterious Griffin Warrior at Pylos promises to reveal fresh insights into that crucial point in European history when the Minoan customs of island Crete gave way to the emergent culture on mainland Greece. Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker reveal this treasure-laden tomb from the dawn of Mycenaean civilisation.
Neolithic artistry from the Stonehenge landscape
Cutting-edge photographic techniques have shed illuminating light on a series of carved chalk plaques excavated close to Stonehenge. What have they revealed about artistic endeavour in Neolithic Britain? CA explores a new study by Bob Davis, Phil Harding, and Matt Leivers.
Baalbek and Antioch, 1933
In 1933, the first season of excavations at Tell ed-Duweir (Lachish), south-west of Jerusalem, came to end. The remains of a building from the late 5th-4th century BC, described as a governor’s
A lost monastery revealed? Investigating an Anglo-Saxon community at Cookham
In the 8th century, Cookham minster was the focus of a decades-long power struggle between early medieval kingdoms, but over time the religious community’s location faded from memory, despite its association with a powerful Anglo-Saxon queen. Now excavations in Berkshire are thought to have brought its remains to light once more. CA Editor Carly Hilts spoke to Gabor Thomas about what has been found.
Roman figurine re-identified as an African warrior
It was likely included as a grave good in an interred cremation burial.
Photos of Sutton Hoo excavation digitised
‘The collection is a slice of social history in documenting an excavation taking place on the eve of the Second World War’
Iron Age ‘shrine’ discovered in Yorkshire Wolds
The most intriguing aspect of the shrine was the discovery of the skulls of over 40 cattle which had been placed in groups or pairs