Go digging!
This month’s selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects from across Scotland, Wales, and England.
burial mound
Curating the Mold Cape: Museum of Liverpool
This ornate artefact is known as the Mold Cape. Thought to date to c.1900 1600 BC, it is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet gold-working yet found in Britain, crafted from a single ingot, which was shaped and…
The Tomio Maruyama: Discovering the longest sword and largest mirror in ancient Japan
In January 2023, the finds from excavations within the Tomio Maruyama burial mound in Nara city caused a media sensation. For the second in a two-part series examining Japanese tombs, Simon Kaner travelled to Nara and caught up with Okabayashi Kosaku, recently retired Deputy Director of the Nara Prefectural Kashihara Archaeological Institute, to find out more about the discovery and see how the story is developing.
Scandinavia’s earliest ship burial
With a diameter of 60m, the burial mound of Herlaugshaugen is one of the largest in Norway. New research has now revealed that it is older than was previously thought. The site on the island of Leka was excavated on…
Bronze Age burial mound discovered beneath former Oxford college
A fragment of skull and part of a human jawbone were also uncovered.
Researchers identify the oldest known drinking straws
Barley starch granules from the residue inside one of the straws hint that people were using them to drink beer.
Silver plate depicting Scythian gods found in Russia
Archaeologists excavating a Middle Don burial ground in the Ostrogozhsky District of the Voronezh region, Russia, have discovered a unique silver plate depicting winged Scythian gods and griffins.
Rare Bronze Age coffin sheds light on ancient funerary rites
The coffin, thought to date back c. 4,000 years, was crafted from a hollowed-out oak tree trunk
University of Glasgow project to shed light on modern-day burial mounds
They will investigate the recent trend in constructing burial mounds as a columbarium – a place for housing the cremated remains of the deceased.
Saint-Bélec Slab
What is it? This engraved stone dating to the early Bronze Age (c.1900-1650 BC) is known as the Saint-Bélec Slab. Made of grey-blue coloured schist, the slab is c.2.2m long, 1.53m wide, and 0.16m thick. New research suggests that the…
A detective story: rediscovering elite Viking burial remains
The grave goods included two iron axes, a bronze kettle, and metres of lavish textiles embroidered with silver, gold, and silk threads, all suggesting this was the grave of a high-status, elite individual.
This week on The Past: The Dig
Welcome to The Past, the brand new website that brings together the most exciting stories and the best writing from the worlds of history, archaeology, ancient art and heritage.
The big talking point here this week has been The Dig, the new Netflix movie of the Sutton Hoo story starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. Who would have predicted that a drama about the 1939 excavation of a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon burial mound would become one of the stand-out hits of lockdown? Or that it would plug so directly into modern concerns about the representation of women on screen?
Keeping the family together: Canada Farm’s Bronze Age burials
Just how quickly did Bronze Age people bury their dead? New work by Lauren Bailey, Martin Green, and Martin J Smith at Canada Farm suggests that they went to some lengths to display the deceased prior to their finally entering the earth.