CA Letters 415 – September
Your thoughts on issues raised by CA.
Archaeology
Maps that tell a story
When Venice features in the media, the story is usually about the malign consequences of flooding, cruise ships, and tourism, which crowds out more positive news, like the development of the Venice Time Machine, due to be showcased at this year’s European Association of Archaeologists conference in Rome.
The Coker Rope & Sail Trust
There were nine sailmakers in West Coker at the start of the 19th century, and the bleaching fields around the Somerset village were white with canvas sheets laid out in the sun. ‘Coker canvas’ became the generic name for the…
Chalking it up: The Uffington White Horse
A recent initiative has been working to restore the profile of the Uffington White Horse, a Bronze Age hill-figure in the care of the National Trust. When a drone survey (fundraised by David Miles and Simon Palmer, and undertaken by…
A home for hunter-gatherers? Reconstructing ‘Britain’s oldest house’ at the Yorkshire Museum
A recent experimental archaeology project has seen the construction of a replica of one of Star Carr’s 11,000-year-old structures in York’s Museum Gardens. Carly Hilts visited the build and spoke to Professor Nicky Milner, Dr Jess Bates, and Dr Adam Parker to learn more.
Star Carr: Life after the ice at the Yorkshire Museum
Britain’s largest exhibition focused on the Mesolithic period is currently running in York. Dr Adam Parker showed Carly Hilts around its displays.
Museum news
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Kirin of the Dobunni
REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER CATLING Rather than inventing a landscape, Anne Buffoni has set this gripping adventure story within places that can be visited in the Cotswolds. Usefully, she includes itineraries at the end of the book to encourage readers to…
Double-Sided Antler and Bone Combs in Late Roman Britain: Stylistic Groups, Context and Status
REVIEW BY NICOLA TRZASKA-NARTOWSKI Keeping up appearances seems to have been as much a part of the ritual of daily life in late Roman Britain as it is today. Combs are such personal items that it is not surprising that…
Heritage and Wellbeing: The Impact of Heritage Places on Visitors’ Wellbeing
REVIEW BY LINDA MONCKTON In this book, seven chapters chart the development of heritage-led wellbeing and present research into six heritage sites across three countries (and continents). Heritage here means ‘visiting’ a heritage site, museum, or gallery. It is unusual…
Historic Building Mythbusting: Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology
REVIEW BY KATE GILES Do secret tunnels connect the ruins of ancient castles, churches, and lost monasteries across England? Are spiral staircases designed to favour the right-handed defenders of castles against disadvantaged attackers? And what about the strange burn marks…
Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain
REVIEW BY JONATHAN FINCH Corinne Fowler’s first book, Green Unpleasant Land (2020), explored the connections between England’s colonial histories and the rural landscape, sparking a backlash from those for whom the image of rural England is at the core of…
Stone Circles: A Field Guide
REVIEW BY ROB IXER This is a book for stone circle fans. After a brief but succinct account of prehistoric stone circle-building, the stones are described starting at the geographical (and perhaps interest-wise) top in Orkney, around the Ness of…
Scottish origins for the Stonehenge Altar Stone? Geological clues to an astonishing Neolithic journey
Cutting-edge scientific research indicates that a stone at the centre of Stonehenge may have travelled hundreds of miles from north-east Scotland to Salisbury Plain. Carly Hilts reports.
World news
Culinary traditions of central Europe A new study in Germany has analysed the fat residues in a collection of over 100 pottery vessels from various sites across Europe, all of which date to between 5450 and 1000 BC. The results…
UK news in brief
Ireland’s new UNESCO World Heritage Site Northern Ireland has gained a second UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the Gracehill Moravian Church Settlement in County Antrim was awarded the status in July. The site is the best-preserved example of such a…
Finds Tray: Early medieval harness pendant
This intricately decorated early medieval harness pendant dates to AD 475-570, and was found in Quarley, Hampshire, on 13 July. It is made of copper-alloy, which has been cast and then gilded to achieve a gold finish. Pendants such as…
Science Notes: Exeter’s cutting-edge scans of Roman medical instruments
A set of six Roman medical instruments, originally found in London 125 years ago, has undergone scanning at the University of Exeter using state-of-the-art scientific technology. The artefacts were recovered from a site along the Walbrook River, a now-buried tributary…
Roman wine for the Iron Age afterlife
A prehistoric cemetery excavated at Winterborne Kingston, near Bere Regis in Dorset, is providing evidence of how locals adapted during the aftermath of the Roman invasion. Among the grave goods, excavated by students from Bournemouth University and a team of…
Malmesbury’s first confirmed Anglo-Saxon burials discovered near abbey
Dozens of Anglo-Saxon burials have been uncovered on the site of the Old Bell Hotel, which is located next to Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. Some 24 articulated skeletons and the disarticulated remains of 22 more individuals were excavated by Cotswold…
Evidence of missing B-17 bomber crew uncovered in Suffolk
A project aiming to recover the remains of three crew members from a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that crashed after a mid-air collision near Thurston, Suffolk, in 1944 has located aircraft wreckage and personal objects connected to those on board.…
High-status Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered in Banbury
Excavations ahead of a new housing development in Banbury, Oxfordshire, have uncovered a previously unknown Anglo-Saxon cemetery of more than 50 burials, many of them richly furnished. These findings were recently announced by Border Archaeology, who excavated the 8,300m2 Calthorpe…
Roman villa found near Loughborough
Archaeology students from the University of Leicester have uncovered the remains of a Roman villa in Leicestershire, near Loughborough. Clues to the villa’s presence had been surfacing for years, in the form of small finds such as coins, brooches, and…
Iron Age insights from the Knowe of Swandro in Orkney
A rare Iron Age belt-hook and comb are among the artefacts recovered by University of Bradford archaeologists and students during this summer’s excavations at the Knowe of Swandro on Rousay, Orkney. The team have been investigating the site since 2017…
The Cat in Ancient Egypt: Hunter pampered pet divine goddess
Meilin Lyu explores the different aspects of the ancient Egyptian cat, its depictions in art, and its importance in religion, cults, and daily life.
Win a copy of the The Mammals of Ancient Egypt by Dale J Osborn and Jana Osbornová
Where was this photograph taken? If you know, email the Editor (peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com) before 31 October with your answer, giving your full name, address, and contact number. One lucky reader will have their name selected at random from all the correct…
Ancient Egypt Letters 144
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
The tale of an Amarna fresco
Bob Brier gives a fascinating account of the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to save a fresco found at Akhenaten’s city of Amarna.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Continuing his series of articles entitled ‘Travels in an Antique Land’, independent traveller Karl Harris guides us round four Theban tombs recently opened to the public.
Current Research in Egyptology: Working Women
Jessica Coughtrey asks what ancient skeletons can tell us about the role of women in the ancient Egyptian workforce.
Current Research in Egyptology: Beyond ethnicity
Marwan Kilani reconsiders our ideas about collective identities in New Kingdom sources.
Faking it: The new kingdom’s faux-stone funerary vessels
James Harrell looks at the time-honoured practice of imitating costly materials with cheaper ones.
Relief of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep
Dr Campbell Price describes a stunning Eleventh Dynasty relief in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Ancient Egypt August listings
TOP OF THE PYRAMIDS: THE CIVILISATION OF ANCIENT EGYPT This exhibition, co-hosted by the Shanghai Museum and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, has more than 780 ancient Egyptian artefacts on loan from Egyptian museums, most never before displayed in…
Abu Rowash
Aidan Dodson describes a forgotten royal necropolis of the early Old Kingdom.
Flinders Petrie and the discovery of early Egypt
Petrie’s work at Naqada revealed for the first time the prehistoric past of Egypt.