Research in the hinterland of Hadrian’s Wall has revealed remarkable examples of Romano-British artistry hidden in plain sight. Ian Haynes and Lindsay Allason-Jones explore some of the key examples identified by the Elusive Sculptures project, and how these carvings have evaded archaeological attention in the past.
A new exhibition at the British Museum explores the landscape that Stonehenge emerged from, and the social, cultural, and technological transformations it witnessed. Neil Wilkin and Jennifer Wexler told CA more.
Your views on past issues of Current Archaeology magazine.
For me, the crux of this book comes on page 132. Peter Davenport explains that ‘the plan of the Classical temple [was altered] into something quite similar to the more usual plan of temples in the north-west of the empire,…
Recent analysis of 600-year-old murals in Stratford-upon-Avon’s historic guildhall has revealed clues to their probable date, as well as the purpose behind their creation. As the building, now a visitor attraction, prepares to reopen, Carly Hilts visited the site, and spoke to Jonathan Foyle to find out more.
It is almost time for Current Archaeology Live! 2022, which will run from 25 to 27 February. We have an excellent line-up of leading archaeological experts ready to share their latest thinking on all aspects of the past, and, like…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Meanwhile, at Yaxley, Current Archaeology reported on work examining the archaeology of the ‘second’ English Civil War, during which the village church of St Peter’s was the scene of an extraordinary bombardment.
The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) recently passed the milestone of one million records generated since the project’s foundation in 1997. Among the highlights announced at the launch of the latest PAS annual report (for 2020) is this gold…
The ditch was not recorded on English Heritage’s 2010 Hadrian’s Wall map and was thus in danger of fading from written records.
The team, from Durham University’s Department of Archaeology, working in partnership with archaeologists and volunteers from The Auckland Project, found the tower’s steps and stone foundations.
This book examines aspects of the medicine practised in the Roman Empire from the reign of Augustus to that of Marcus Aurelius. ‘Roman medicine’ was an amalgam, which combined the theories and practices of Greek physicians operating within the so-called…
An Iron Age hill fort and multiperiod site under threat from coastal erosion at Seaford Head in East Sussex is being investigated as part of a new initiative tackling the wider problem of heritage loss. The project, funded by Historic…
Over the past 50 years or so, the later prehistoric open-air rock art of Scotland has received much useful attention with the sterling work of researchers Ronald Morris and Stan Beckensall. It is only recently, though, that interest through Historic…
Excavations in advance of HS2 construction in Northamptonshire have uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Iron Age village that grew into a flourishing Roman trading settlement. Carly Hilts spoke to James West to find out more.
There is a great variety of archaeological and historical exhibitions, events, and activities scheduled for the coming year, and we have gathered a selection of the opportunities on offer below, ranging from excavations you can get involved in to lectures and conferences to attend. At the same time, there are also many ways to get stuck into history and heritage at home, with virtual museum tours, new podcasts, and the return of some of your favourite archaeology TV shows. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the best.
When The Making of the English Landscape by W G Hoskins was published in 1954, its author claimed that ‘no book exists to describe the manner in which the various landscapes of this country came to assume the shape and…
Genetic analysis of 35 individuals buried in a Gloucestershire long cairn has reconstructed a 5,700-year-old family tree spanning five generations, shedding unprecedented light on Neolithic social structures and how people of this period related to each other. Carly Hilts reports.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological stories from across the globe, including the discovery of a slaves' room in Pompeii, a 1,000-year-old mass grave in Peru, and evidence of ancient clothing manufacture in Morocco.
The larger of the two hoards comprises fragments of seven socketed axes, a piece of sword-blade, two ingots, and six casting jets
This coin, found near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is one of a series of high denomination gold coins issued during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Elizabethan coins are among the objects most frequently reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). Gold…
A new investigation has now seen an international team of more than 200 geneticists and archaeological scientists discover aDNA evidence for a second significant and hitherto unknown Bronze Age migration into Britain
Twenty years ago, one of the richest Bell Beaker burials ever found in Europe was discovered close to Stonehenge. At that time, DNA analysis was not sufficiently advanced to learn more about the individual, dubbed ‘the Amesbury Archer’ – but the intervening decades have seen significant scientific advances that have shed illuminating light on this enigmatic figure, as well as his relationship to a younger man buried nearby. Andrew Fitzpatrick, Jacqueline McKinley, Alistair Barclay, Ian Armit, Iñigo Olalde, and David Reich report on what has been revealed.
This well-produced collaborative volume (with 12 subsidiary authors and two illustrators) presents – very timeously – the results of the 2018 excavation of c.4.5ha of development land on the outskirts of Ely. While intermittent use is attested from the late…
The anthropomorphic figure, which is 67cm tall and 18cm wide, was found in an excellent state of preservation due the ditch being water-logged
There is a growing realisation that the solution to the climate emergency is to retrofit existing buildings, with all their embodied carbon and energy, rather than to build new ‘environmentally sustainable’ structures in place of old.
Showcasing 12 articles in four parts, Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy emerged from a 2017 interdisciplinary conference, and the editors aimed to represent the diversity of topics that arise when archaeology and philosophy meet. This target is emphatically achieved. Part…
The bluestone circles at Stonehenge represent one of the best-known examples of Neolithic skill in the extraction and long-distance transport of stone, but archaeologists have recorded thousands of equally awe-inspiring feats of lithic working from this period and earlier in Britain and Europe. Chris Catling reports on the Prehistoric Society’s newly published research paper Neolithic Stone Extraction, in which Peter Topping turns to ethnographic evidence to argue that stone objects did not only acquire symbolic status once they had been extracted and worked, but that quarry sites and the extraction practices themselves had important symbolic dimensions.
Durham University investigations have revealed previously unknown aspects of the 7th-century settlement.
Its discovery is significant because while there is archaeological evidence for secular literacy in the Roman and early medieval periods in Britain, this is not really the case in Ireland
Discovered by a metal-detectorist in 2014, the hoard comprises more than 100 objects of gold, silver, copper-alloy, glass, earth, crystal, and other minerals...
At a time when even the highest-value coin in regular circulation (£2) will sometimes hardly cover the cost of a cup of coffee, it is refreshing to be transported back to an era when coins were generally much higher in…
The Midlands was a key centre for wool-production and textile-making during the medieval period. Carly Hilts visited an exhibition at the University of Nottingham Museum and spoke to Chris King and Clare Pickersgill to find out more.