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.
Sexten, Italy: meditations on a moment of madness
Richard Hodges has been visiting Sexten, where the alpine scenery still bears the traces of fighting in the First World War.
Lost royal city found in Iraqi Kurdistan?
Occupation of the fortress appears to have been relatively short-lived, with the main phase of activity probably dating to the 1st century BC.
Knucklebones used for gaming and divination found in Israel
Researchers discovered that many of the bones had been modified – shaved down, polished, perforated, or filled with lead – in order to improve the roll of the dice.
Researchers decipher ancient Chinese recipe for bronze production
The recipe in question is recorded in an ancient Chinese text known as the Kaogong ji, which is believed to be the world’s first encyclopaedia of technology, probably dating to c.300 BC.
Research sheds new light on Cahokia’s North Plaza
The study found that the plaza would have been underwater for most if not all of the year at the time of the site’s creation.
Ancient newsreels
It portrays a ferocious Maya chief clad in a jaguar skin, with a jaguar’s head on his own, spearing an unfortunate captive. First seen by an outsider in 1946, the paintings are as close a reflection as you are likely to see of life in an elite Maya centre.
Living and Cursing in the Roman West: curse tablets and society
Review by Charlotte Spence. Stuart McKie’s reassessment of curse tablets sets itself up as a ‘paradigm shift’ in the scholarship and our understanding of these objects; and this is something he well
Earliest known limb amputation found in Borneo
Evidence of what appears to be the earliest known surgical amputation of a limb, dating to c.31,000 years ago, has been identified in Borneo.
Roman sanctuary found in the Netherlands
Several Roman sanctuaries are known in the Netherlands, but this is the first to be discovered on the northern boundary of the empire.
Archaeologists explore evidence of early modern human stone tool manufacturing in Romania
The latest season of excavations at Românești has provided evidence that the site was geared towards producing particular types of stone tools.
Ancient elephant tusk discovered in southern Israel
Excavations at the site, located near Revadim, have previously unearthed stone and flint tools assigned to the Late Acheulean.
Magnetic Pavilion unearthed in Greenwich Park
Local volunteers and over 200 schoolchildren assisted in excavating an area once home to scientific instruments designed to track variations in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Life across the water: exploring London Bridge and its houses
When it was completed in 1209, medieval London Bridge was the only fixed crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames (until Fulham Bridge was built in 1729). Remarkably, it was also home to some 500 people – equivalent to the population of a small medieval town. In London Bridge and its Houses, Dorian Gerhold has scoured the archives of Bridge House – the medieval charity that managed the bridge – to find out more about the community that lived on this extraordinary structure, as Chris Catling reports.
Excavating Staffordshire
Staffordshire’s coverage in terms of prehistory begins intriguingly late. The one big surprise to me while researching this column was that the oldest sites featured only date to the Iron Age. If you are an archaeologist at work in the county, here is a chance to remedy this.
Final countdown begins for Museum of London move
The Museum of London will close its doors on 4 December, ahead of its planned relocation to larger premises in West Smithfield’s historic General Market. What will the new museum look like, and what is planned at the original site during its final few months? Carly Hilts reports.
Exhibitions, events, and heritage from home this autumn
There is a fantastic selection of historical and archaeological events on offer over the coming months, ranging from exhibitions exploring medieval armour and 19th-century anatomical study to local society conferences and symposiums. There are also still many different ways to get involved in history and heritage at home, with virtual tours of historical sites, podcasts, games, apps, and much more. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
Fen and Sea: the landscapes of south-east Lincolnshire AD 500-1700
Review by Duncan W Wright. The fens of eastern England are usually characterised as unremittingly flat, with big skies but little topographical variation. This (frankly lazy) assumption fails to account for the
World news in brief: discoveries from Jerusalem, Wyoming, and South Australia
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from across the globe, which includes new insights into America’s oldest ochre mine, the discovery of what could be the remains of a medieval hand grenade, and excavations at an Australian colony cemetery.
Archaeology adrift? A curious tale of Lego lost at sea
Twenty-five years ago, a cargo of millions of pieces of Lego was washed overboard during a storm off Land’s End. To this day, tiny pieces of plastic are still being found on Cornish beaches. Joe Flatman reports on a project working to document these finds.