Structural remains believed to represent the largest Viking Age hall yet found in Britain have been uncovered at High Tarns farm in Silloth, Cumbria. The site lies close to Holme Cultram Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1150, and cropmarks…
A delectable drink from Derby Derby’s profusion of malthouses (CA 420) included an early 18th-century example which had the distinction of being converted, in 1773 (by the architect Joseph Pickford for the Irish impresario James Whiteley), into Derby’s Theatre Royal,…
New project to investigate Roman gypsum burials A three-year, £1 million project, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is set to explore the Roman practice of coating bodies within coffins in liquid gypsum before burial. (A burial of…
Almost every TV costume drama begins with the sound of horses’ hooves and the rumble of carriage wheels as members of the cast arrive at some stately home or other, ready for the story to unfold. And no royal or…
Excavations in Egypt have identified the long-lost tomb of King Thutmose II, the fourth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. Thutmose II is believed to have ruled for just a few years around 1493-1479 BC, and is perhaps best known as…
Iron Age artefacts that were discovered beneath an airfield in Wales have been declared national treasure. Parts of a Celtic chariot, believed to be around 2,000 years old, were found on the site of RAF Valley in Anglesey in April…
The award-winning author and documentary film-maker on the Nazis, neuroscience, and why he doesn’t really like war movies.
To avoid paying tax, in the 18th and 19th century, small-scale whisky-production went underground, moving to isolated bothies hidden in remote locations across Scotland. Derek Alexander and Daniel Rhodes have been hunting down these sites across the Highlands and bringing their illicit remains to light once more.
Newly published research has illuminated the evolution of an enigmatic monument at Crickley Hill, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Its role as a religious or ceremonial complex can be traced back to the Neolithic period, but it continued to be used and rebuilt numerous times over the next 3,000 years, and perhaps even longer, as Steve Vaughan reports.
There are lots of great ways to get involved in archaeology, history, and heritage this spring, with upcoming exhibitions, conferences, lectures, and more. If you would prefer to get your history fix from the comfort of your home, there is plenty on offer, too, from digitised museum collections and virtual site tours to new podcasts and documentaries. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the latest options.
Shining a light on Reedham I was delighted to read Mike Fulford’s article on Reedham (CA 420). In 2021, as part of a Diploma in Archaeology at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education, I wrote a long essay about the Roman…
Analysis of flint tools found within Britain’s earliest-known post-built structures has revealed intriguing evidence of the tasks that they were used for, and how activities were undertaken in specific areas. Carly Hilts spoke to Jessica Bates to find out more.
By the time you read this, February fill dyke will be over for another year and March will (perhaps) have come in like a lion. Sherds is always glad when winter is over, but in the depths of the cold, dark, and grey weeks of January and February there is one sure way to find warmth and consolation – by reaching for a book called Next to Nature, an anthology of the ‘Word from Wormingford’ diary columns that Ronald Blythe wrote for many years for the Church Times.
Tintagel in Cornwall can be considered a ‘great site’ for a number of reasons, depending on personal perspective. For some, the draw is its rich archaeology; for others, its links to King Arthur, or its dramatic coastal settings.
Recent discharges of raw sewage into the UK’s rivers and streams are a reminder of the sanitary crisis of the 1840s to 1860s, when water pollution was identified as the major cause of rising mortality rates from ‘fever’. The response – albeit slow – involved a huge investment in waterworks that transformed public health. As revealed in a book by James Douet on water and sewage architecture, it also resulted in distinctive new building types, as Chris Catling reports.
Recently published archaeological research has shed vivid light on the power centres of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy that were swept away by the Norman Conquest – including a site associated with Harold Godwinson. Carly Hilts spoke to Duncan Wright and Oliver Creighton to learn more.
In 1946, 500 fragments of brightly coloured stained glass were removed from the window of St Andrew’s Church, Heckington, to make way for a modern replacement. This was not their first move – the fragments, which are mainly thought to…
A thought-provoking photography exhibition explores how contemporary communities relate to stone circles. Carly Hilts visited, and spoke to the artists to learn more.
This distinctive object, found by a metal-detectorist near Wragby in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, has been identified as a Roman tumbler-lock slide key. Its handle consists of a sizable, solid, copper-alloy rectangular block with banded collars at the top and bottom…
Excavations close to Exeter Cathedral have uncovered echoes of the city’s medieval and Roman past. Archaeologists from Devon-based AC Archaeology were excavating in Cathedral Close ahead of the installation of a replacement substation and associated infrastructure by the National Grid,…
Analysis of human remains from Winterborne Kingston in Dorset (see CA 281) has revealed evidence of female-centred societal structures in this area of Iron Age Britain, as well as genetic links to Continental Europe. Matrilocality, a societal pattern whereby marriage…
Britain’s largest-known coin hoard from the reign of Emperor Nero (AD 54-68) has gone on display at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum for the first time since its discovery. Known as the Worcestershire Conquest Hoard, the collection of 1,368…
Over a decade after its discovery, the Viking Age Galloway Hoard continues to give up its secrets, following the translation of a runic inscription on one of its arm-rings, offering new insights into the assemblage’s early medieval ownership. Buried c.AD…
An exceptionally well-preserved example of a 15th-/16th-century pottery kiln has been excavated at Sutton V.A. Primary School in Bedfordshire. The large, well-built kiln was discovered by Albion Archaeology. It retains its stoke-hole, floor, and flues, offering a rare opportunity to…
The latest phase of excavations at Strata Florida, a former Cistercian abbey near Tregaron, Ceredigion, has uncovered a wealth of new features, some of which pre-date the abbey’s 12th-century origins. Strata Florida was established by Cistercian monks in 1184, and…
Recently published research focused on the bones of birds of prey spanning the early Bronze Age to the medieval period has revealed striking differences between their eating habits and those of modern raptors. Researchers at the University of Reading analysed…
Earliest archaeological evidence of silk in China Mineralised fabric remnants found in pits at a Bronze Age burial site in the Sichuan Basin, south-western China, have undergone specialist analysis which has identified them as silk. The Sanxingdui settlement is believed…
Historic England continues to explore working-class heritage Historic England has announced the funding of 30 new projects through its Everyday Heritage grants programme, which will explore rural and coastal communities and celebrate working-class histories from across the country. The projects…
A recent metal-detector survey undertaken ahead of maintenance work at the RAF Valley airfield in Anglesey has recovered artefacts thought to belong to one of the most significant Iron Age collections in Europe. Carly Hilts spoke to Adam Gwilt and Richard Osgood to learn more.
The invention in 1900 by Eastman Kodak of the Brownie camera, selling for the equivalent in today’s money of £28, brought the watercolour age to an end. This too had begun, in the mid-18th century, with technical innovations, such as…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
REVIEW BY SOPHIE AMBLER Battlefield commemoration has hitherto been the territory of historians of the modern age, leaning too heavily on the First World War and US Civil War, and linking battlefield memorialisation to the rise of nationalism. Atherton instead…
REVIEW BY TOBY DRIVER Richard Hayman is an established author on a range of historical, archaeological, and industrial topics, and here he turns his hand to an appreciation of the historic Welsh landscape, in all its forms. During the confinement…
REVIEW BY LISA BRUNDLE The archaeologist Michael J Jones, having worked for 40 years in Lincoln, provides a unique personal account of archaeological discoveries in the former colonia city of Lindum prior to commercial development. For those of us who…
REVIEW BY HARRIET HAUGVIK Ben Paites’ addition to the ‘50 Finds’ series is a well-researched and nuanced exploration of the history of sexuality through material culture. The book approaches the topic from five distinct angles: from the more standard ‘Historical…
REVIEW BY CH This beautifully illustrated book highlights the vital work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme in documenting finds made by members of the public, and celebrates the remarkable artefacts and insights that have been brought to light through the…