After the Russian Revolution, one young officer forged a career so strange that it went down in legend. Tim Newark examines the short and bloody life of Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, and recalls his bizarre mission to create his own barbarian empire in the Russian far east.
A First World War soldier was saved when a pocketbook he was carrying stopped a sniper’s bullet. The remarkable story of Private Sydney ‘Syd’ Cross is part of a new display at Knightshayes Court, a Victorian mansion in Devon which…
To mark the 80th anniversary of the legendary Allied breakout from a German concentration camp in March 1944, a new exhibition is exploring other ‘great escapes’ that took place during the Second World War. The exhibition, which opened last month…
Robert G Morkot tells us about the life and achievements of one of the most remarkable and influential characters of the New Kingdom.
TAYLOR DOWNING reviews the latest film releases.
REVIEW BY PATRICK MERCER I thought I knew a fair bit about Winston Churchill, but I have just discovered that he had skin ‘about the size of a shilling’ taken from his arm and grafted on to a brother officer…
Dr John Taylor describes Smyth’s scientific achievements and his less successful inroads into the world of Egyptology.
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.
Considered by many the finest cavalry officer of the American Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest was also responsible for one of its worst atrocities. Edmund West examines a troubling legacy.
Peter J Brand looks at how Sety I ensured his son and heir became the most well-prepared of all Egypt’s pharaohs.
When COVID-19 reached New Zealand, all my plans to continue excavating and attend conferences ground to a halt. So I turned my attention to writing my memoir, Digging Deep: a journey into South-east Asia’s past. Having kept a diary since…
TAYLOR DOWNING reviews the latest film releases.
Continuing his series of articles about individuals who influenced events in Egypt during their lifetimes, Wolfram Grajetzki now turns his attention to one of the most important members of Amenhotep III’s court in Memphis.
To mark the 225th anniversary of Nelson’s spectacular victory off the coast of Egypt, Stephen Roberts analyses the battle that made his name as a naval commander.
This image was taken outside the air-raid shelter in the garden of Roland Penrose’s house in Downshire Hill, Hampstead, north London, at the height of the Blitz in 1941. Penrose was a Surrealist artist by trade, but also worked as…
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD The 80th anniversary of the Dambusters raid in May received a certain amount of media attention and several new books on the event will have appeared by the end of this year. Yet Barnes Wallis, whose…
Text by Andrew Robinson
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones begins a new series exploring the lives and legacies of the Cleopatras of Egypt.
REVIEW BY BOB BRIER With all the Tutankhamun books published for the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb, it is reasonable to wonder if there is really anything new to say. The Earl and the Pharaoh answers with…
REVIEW BY CATHIE BRYAN Harvard-based Egyptologist Peter Der Manuelian examines the life, career, and legacy of George Reisner (1867-1942), and considers his place in Egyptological and archaeological history. He argues that Reisner’s contribution ‘cannot be overstated’, and is not sufficiently…
REVIEW BY SG Ramesses II is known as ‘the Great’, yet there are far fewer volumes dedicated to his reign than to earlier New Kingdom kings, such as Akhenaten and, of course, Tutankhamun. So this is a timely publication –…
Review by Matthew Symonds When we think of Alexander the Great, it is his exploits as an adult that spring to mind. He is the audacious leader who landed an army in Asia at the age of 21 in a…
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition!
These same people would not hesitate to wear a scarab-ring taken off a dead man’s hand… Their objections – their opinions even – are an offence to science.
In the first of an occasional series focusing on remarkable people of their period, Wolfram Grajetzki introduces the ‘First Inspector of the Priests’ at Nekhen during the Second Intermediate Period.
Review by Sarah Griffiths There are so very few books on female Ptolemaic rulers (with the exception of Cleopatra VII) that I was excited to see a new volume dedicated to two of the lesser-known and yet immensely important Cleopatras…
Your views on issues raised in Current Archaeology.
Where was Churchill born on 30 November 1874?
REVIEW by MARC DeSANTIS The death of Alexander the Great in Babylon in 323 BC left the empire he had conquered without blood heirs ready to take up the heavy burden of governance. Thus, in the days following his passing,…
Review: Hilary Forrest Many readers will be familiar with the name Francis Frith, which is associated with the world of picture postcards, often of seaside views or famous sights. What you will discover from this fascinating and detailed work is…
David Breeze, Tatiana Ivleva, and Rebecca Jones consider the contribution made to the study of Roman frontiers by Brenda Heywood, who died last December, and other contemporary female archaeologists.
Review by Neil Holbrook Many people have a favourite archaeological site, an evocative place that has a personal resonance with the past. The landscape setting is frequently inspirational, sometimes more so than the actual remains of the site itself. Roger…
The treatment of Tennyson and Chaucer stands as a warning to us all not to adopt similarly reductive techniques in our interpretations of history, heritage, and archaeology.
REVIEW BY ANDRÉ VAN LOON Napoleon: the decline and fall of an empire is the compelling, if partial, closing volume of Michael Broers’ Napoleon trilogy. It marks the end of more than a decade of Napoleon-centred writing for Broers, Professor…
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD This is not the first joint biography of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel, arguably the three outstanding battlefield commanders of World War II. Terry Brighton led the way in 2009 with his acclaimed study…
'As early as 1958, she took part in the first excavation of a 13th-century BC Bronze Age shipwreck.'