In last month’s column, I examined a series of sites associated with William the Conqueror and the legacy of the Norman Conquest. One of these was Westminster Abbey, which I will now cover in more detail, alongside two other major church buildings
that regularly feature in Current Archaeology: St Paul’s Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.
Burials found in three different cemeteries in Sweden defied explanation until a connection with polio was proposed. Caroline Arcini and Emma Karlsson weigh the evidence and look at how the impact of this disease has changed over the centuries.
A complete Byzantine-era pottery workshop has been found in the village of Banawit, 24km north of Sohag, by an Egyptian mission. The complex, one of the largest pottery- and glass-manufacturing centres ever found, included a large range of ovens and…
Oldest figurative art identified The oldest narrative art in the world has been identified in Indonesia during new analysis of rock-art sites on the island of Sulawesi. A new method of dating called laser- ablation uranium-series (LA-U-series) imaging uses a…
Sixty-three burials dating to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty have been discovered by the Egyptian mission working at Tell el-Deir cemetery in New Damietta. Inside the simple graves and mud-brick tombs, the team found fragments of gold, amulets, and shabtis, as well…
The abandonment of a military barracks in the centre of Tours, France, offered archaeologists a unique opportunity to excavate the entirety of an 11th-century abbey that was completely destroyed during the French Revolution. Philippe Blanchard tells us what the project has revealed so far.
In the second of a two-part feature examining Monte Cassino, Richard Hodges examines how the monastery developed from the late 9th century onwards.
Scythian leather made of human skin A recent study, published in PLOS ONE (), has analysed 47 samples of leather from burials at 14 Scythian sites in southern Ukraine, dating from the 4th-5th century BC. The researchers used palaeoproteomics (the…
REVIEW BY HOWARD WILLIAMS A truly stupendous achievement of synthesis and evaluation, Life in Early Medieval Wales is a first for Welsh archaeology. Nancy Edwards’ concise prose draws on the experience of a lifetime spent teaching and researching early medieval…
A joint Egyptian-Japanese team working on the eastern escarpment of the North Saqqara plateau has discovered a rock-cut tomb dating to the Second Dynasty. The tomb contained an adult buried in a crouched position, found lying next to the remains…
Roman histories attest that thousands of Sarmatian warriors – renowned horse-riders from the Caucasus – were resettled in Britain after their defeat by Marcus Aurelius in AD 175, but vanishingly few archaeological traces of their presence here have been found. Now scientific analysis of a skeleton found during the excavation of a Roman farmstead in Cambridgeshire has produced what is thought to be the first genetic evidence of an individual from that region. Carly Hilts reports.
Recent excavations on the south-western part of the Northumberland Coastal Plain have revealed an early Bronze Age ring-ditch with a remarkable sequence of human burials. Milena Grzybowska, who analysed the human remains, reports on this discovery and other prehistoric features in its immediate vicinity.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the UK.
By combining excavated evidence from early medieval burials with genetic information, we can gain powerful insights into patterns of population movement, and ideas of identity and integration. Duncan Sayer explains more.
On the edge of a former prehistoric river channel, archaeologists found mammal bones, plant fossils, insect remains, and mollusc shells, along with stone tools, indicating that humans were exploiting this resource at least 500,000 years ago.
Among the discoveries were a large number of fragments of Notre-Dame de Paris’ lost medieval rood screen.
Review by Russell Ó Ríagáin. This book is the third in a series associated with the Glenmorangie Company Research Project at National Museums Scotland, treating various aspects of Iron Age and medieval northern Britain. Arguably, it has been the most…
The excavations have revealed the iron foundry’s casting pits and a deep stone-lined cistern filled with roofing slates.
Review by Owen Humphreys. You wait decades for a new book about Roman London, then two come along at once. Dominic Perring’s previous work Roman London (Routledge, 1991) was the standard reference for nearly 30 years. Now, just three years…
Burials near Whitminster villa Ten human burials have been uncovered at a development site near Stroud in Gloucester (below), which Cotswold Archaeology is investigating ahead of the construction of new training pitches for Forest Green Rovers FC. Excavations at the…
The latest discovery – an extensive floor surface made up of glazed green and white tiles – is thought to represent the northern part of the friary’s cloister.
The structure’s foundations contain reused roof tiles, possibly sourced from a Roman settlement on a hill to the east of the site
Archaeologists excavating the ruined St Mary’s Old Church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, ahead of the construction of HS2 have discovered the remains of what is thought to be an Anglo-Saxon predecessor
These new discoveries could indicate that the harsh treatment on these prison ships was not a punishment solely reserved for men.
The sleepy village of Repton in south Derbyshire seems like an unlikely starting point for a voyage halfway around the world. But it is here that Cat Jarman begins her brilliant new history of the Vikings. In 873, Repton was…
Before development-led archaeology was enshrined in law, many archaeological features were destroyed by construction projects without being documented – so, in the 1970s, a number of ‘rescue’ groups were set up to help record these remains before they were lost forever. The Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit marks its 50th anniversary this year, and Brian Philp guides us through some of its trials and triumphs to-date.
This book provides a brief history of how humans have dealt with their dead over the centuries – mainly focusing on the early medieval period through to the modern day. It is, at times, a dizzying whirlwind of a tour,…
‘The past lies in fragments… one might just as well try to reconstruct the idea of a tree from its leaves, or an ocean wave from a dripping tap.’ So writes Max Adams, author of The First Kingdom, a wide-ranging…
Ball games are known to have been played in Egypt c.4,500 years ago and in Central America at least 3,700 years ago, but it was previously thought that they were not present in Europe and Asia until much later.
From a small spindle whorl to an expanse of moorland, there are many objects, individual sites, and entire landscapes in Britain that offer a portal to the past. In her engaging new book, Mary-Ann Ochota is our guide to the…
In 2012, an extensive excavation was carried out in the Stoke Quay area of Ipswich by Oxford Archaeology and Pre-Construct Archaeology. Covering an area of 1.2ha, the project was a major undertaking and made finds spanning the early medieval period…