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.
The English Castle
A new generation of castleologists believe that castles were about much more than trebuchets, portcullises, galloping hooves, boiling oil, and the clash of swords on armour: instead, castles were centres of lordship, symbols of wealth, and expressions of status, alluding to the past and expressing poetic ideals. Current Archaeology’s Chris Catling reports.
Q&A with site supervisor Jacqui Wood
The most important quality we look for is enthusiasm and a love of all things in the past.
The archaeology of royal weddings
As Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s nuptials this month stir up feverish national excitement, what light can archaeology shed on the pomp and pageantry of the most magnificent of Royal occasions? Brendon Wilkins goes in search of the evidence.
Q&A with site supervisor Graeme Young
A tough and comfortable pair of boots and clothing for all seasons should be on anyone’s list when they go digging in the UK.
Q&A with site supervisor Murray Cook
Always be willing to ask questions, no one ever gets it right first time and no one minds, we all did our first dig once!
Personal Dig Checklist
When you are about to embark on a dig, it’s a good idea to double check you have everything you might need – here is a quick checklist with the essentials.
Digging a future
Archaeology graduate Emma Watts-Plumpkin recalls her fieldwork experiences, from rooky through to old hand.
Q&A with site supervisor Tony Roberts
A sense of humour may come in handy for those days when it is wet and windy on site but these are balanced by the days out in the glorious warm weather of the summer.
Q&A with site supervisor Mick Miles
If there is anything particular you would like to become involved with, then it is best to let the supervisor know at the outset, but don’t appear upset if this is not possible.
Q&A with site supervisor Paul Wilkinson
There isn’t really anything you shouldn’t say within the course of work, as you shouldn’t feel intimidated by any site supervisor.
Time Team geophysics: from pits to palaces
Time Team’s geophysics crew have covered a lot of ground, and their data represents an unparalleled archaeological archive of sites from rural retreats to Royal palaces. Lisa Westcott talks with John Gater about the science behind the scenes.
A brief history of Time Team
Everybody knows the story of how Time Team started: one ex-teacher turned TV producer, a couple of quirky archaeologists, and a fortuitous meeting in the Mediterranean with one of Britain’s best-loved actors combined to create the most successful archaeology programme ever on British television.
Call it Samhain, All Saints, Guy Fawkes, or Halloween
Dressing up as a ghost or ghoul seems a relatively harmless activity by contrast with the inflammatory implications of burning a religious fanatic, especially to children bought up on a diet of Harry Potter and TV vampires.
Viking hoards: buried wealth of the Norse North West
The discovery of two Viking hoards in 2011 yielded silver coins, ingots, and jewellery. Dot Boughton, Gareth Williams, and Barry Ager reveal how they also provide a window into a turbulent time.
London Lives
Though the Trust owns the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and last year said it would consider buying the Abbey Road studios if EMI put up for sale, it seems not to be interested in Starr’s home. Standing unloved and boarded up, it will share the same fate as a number of other Victorian two-up-two down terraces in the area known as ‘the Welsh Streets’.
Liquid History: excavating London’s great river
Prehistoric forests, the skull of a child, the slipway of a Victorian engineering masterpiece and part of a Tudor palace jetty: all have emerged from the mud and gravel on the foreshore of the Thames, thanks to an exciting new project to record the archaeology of London’s great river. Nathalie Cohen tells CA about the Thames Discovery Programme.
The curious case of the Gua Made green masks
Sensational discoveries of metal masks in a subterranean temple have led to calls for Javanese history to be rewritten. Fiorella Rispoli investigates.
Cyrus Cylinder
The cylinder, excavated in 1879 by the archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, was once considered to be a unique object, made for ritual burial in the foundations of the Esagila, ancient Babylon’s main temple, when Cyrus rebuilt it.
Moor Sand: a Bronze Age shipwreck revealed
Divers recently discovered a 3,000 year-old shipwreck near Salcombe, which carried a huge cargo of copper and tin: is this the first evidence for Late Bronze Age long-distance maritime trade in bulk goods? Chris Yates, of the South West Maritime Archaeological Group, explains.
Survival Guide to Volunteer Excavation
Are you heading out on a dig this season? If so, congratulations! Volunteers are an essential part of the excavation season. We’ve put together a short guide, including a checklist, to identify key areas for your preparation. Happy (and safe) digging!