Current Archaeology 436
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Current Archaeology’s June Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home
There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If you would prefer to get your heritage fix from the comfort of your sofa, though, there is a variety of resources on offer online, too, from virtual site tours and digital offerings by museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Kathryn Krakowka has put together a selection of some of the options available.
Understanding Scottish Graveyards
This is the fourth edition of a book that was first published by Betty Willsher (1915-2012) in 1985, with subsequent updates in 1995 and 2005. The original publication came about due to
Rolling stones
From the Preseli Hills of Wales to the site of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain is 120 miles as the crow flies. That is quite some distance for the young farmers of Neolithic Wales to transport the bluestones that make up the inner circle at the Wiltshire monument. During April 2024, Professor Keith Ray of Cardiff University took two weeks to walk from west Wales to Stonehenge, accompanied by a series of archaeologists and anthropologists (a different one or two each day) to look at the landscape and consider the challenges facing the stone-bearers. Among them were CA’s editor Carly Hilts and Chris Catling, who now reports.
Sherds CA 412
A new organisation has come into being in Wales, in a bold move designed to increase the capacity of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts (WATs) to compete for major developer-funded contracts, while building on their reputation for specialist regional expertise and service delivery.
Current Archaeology’s June Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home
There are many great archaeological events coming up this summer, from festivals and conferences to new exhibitions and recently reopened museums. If you would prefer to enjoy history and heritage at home, though, there are lots of fantastic resources to choose from, including virtual tours of heritage sites, online archaeological collections, radio and TV shows, and activities. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
Go digging!
Following on from our coverage in CA 410 and 411, this selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects in Staffordshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire.
Seeing the invisible: Stonehenge, Wiltshire
For more than a decade, Adam Stanford and English Heritage have periodically recorded the parch marks that appear at Stonehenge in the summer, when conditions are right. Until recently this involved oblique
Excavating the CA archive
In my columns to date I have barely mentioned Stonehenge. This is deliberate: for all that I worship archaeology, I am an atheist about this most famous of sites.
The Britannias: An island quest
REVIEW BY ANNE MITCHELL Alice Albinia spent some weeks at the Ness of Brodgar in 2017, and she writes of her time there as part of her Orkney experience in the opening
The British Society of Master Glass Painters
As the name suggests, this was originally a guild-like society, founded in 1921 by professional stained-glass artists to promote good practice and maintain high standards of design and workmanship. As regular church
World news
Stunning painted banquet hall uncovered in Pompeii A banquet hall boasting some of the finest frescoes found in Pompeii has recently been uncovered by archaeologists working in Regio IX. The Third Style
Sheffield Castle excavations reveal undiscovered steelworks
A previously undocumented steelworks dating to the 19th century has been discovered in Sheffield as part of continuing excavations, which began in 2015 to uncover the ‘lost castle’ (CA 351). The steelworks
UCL creates 3D digital model of Welwyn Roman Baths
Recent photogrammetry work on Welwyn Roman Baths, Hertfordshire, hopes to aid conservation and enhance public engagement on the site. In March, experts Dr Kris Lockyear and Antonio Reis from UCL Institute of
New Woodhenge dating aligns chronologically with Stonehenge
Radiocarbon dating at Woodhenge has revealed that it was built at almost exactly the same time as the circle at neighbouring Stonehenge. This exciting new data shows that Stonehenge was not a
Science Notes: Tracing the origins of silver in medieval Europe’s revolutionary coins
In CA 411, we carried a news story about the exciting implications of recent research into early medieval silver coinage; for this month’s column, we delve deeper into the science behind the
York Station excavations yield Victorian and medieval finds
Excavations as part of a project to create a new entrance to York railway station have revealed the original Victorian paved approach to the station, as well as ditches littered with medieval
LiDAR uncovers evidence of Middle Neolithic activity in Ireland
Recent LiDAR work intended to record the state of the landscape in Baltinglass, Ireland, has revealed a complex of five Neolithic cursus monuments, shedding new light on the importance of the area
Only UK example of Tyrian purple found in Carlisle
Testing on organic matter discovered by archaeologists from Wardell Armstrong has identified it as the first example of Tyrian purple pigment found not just in the UK, but in the whole of
UK news in brief
Wemyss Casts returned Two plaster casts of a boat carving in Jonathan’s Cave, east Wemyss, have been returned to Scotland after 90 years. Dated to 1st millennium BC, the original carving is