Before the celebrated US paratroopers known as ‘Easy’ Company were deployed on D-Day, they were based at Aldbourne in Wiltshire. What have recent excavations revealed about their camp? Richard Osgood reports.
Last month’s CA reviewed an exhibition in Cirencester that features six ‘gladiator’ skeletons excavated in York. Struck by the fact that Cirencester has an impressive amphitheatre, but no direct evidence for the individuals who may have fought there, while York has potential gladiators but as-yet no trace of any amphitheatre, Carly Hilts presents a tale of two settlements, exploring life and death in the ancient arena.
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The cave was first excavated in 1958, when a Bronze Age urn and some human skeletons were discovered, but more recent work has shed vivid light on its contents.
Review by Michael Potterton Thirty years ago, when I was a history and archaeology undergraduate at University College Dublin, the phrase ‘Ireland and the Crusades’ seemed almost as absurd as ‘Ireland and the Palaeolithic’ or ‘Ireland and the Renaissance’. Times…
the programme dramatised one of the essential differences between detectorists and archaeologists: the first are interested in objects (preferably ones that are worth a bob or two), the latter in knowledge.
Review by Kathryn Murphy In Facing the Enemy, Andrew Tibbs presents analysis of Roman fortifications and the Scottish landscape, focusing on the positioning, intervisibility, orientation, and interconnectivity of Flavian sites. Stemming from his PhD thesis, this volume discusses one of…
This evidence adds to recent research focused on Iona suggesting that multiple monasteries across Britain may have been able to continue or re-establish themselves after initial Viking raids at the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th centuries.
Detailed analysis of an elaborate 13th-century mosaic at Canterbury Cathedral has revealed a medieval masterpiece that may be unparalleled in either Roman or medieval Britain. Warwick Rodwell explains further.
Ancient myths meet archaeological treasures in this new blockbuster at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Carly Hilts went along to learn more about the great palace at Knossos, legendary location of the Minotaur-haunted labyrinth, and real-life repository of Minoan culture.
Every month, when we open the pages of Current Archaeology or any of its sister publications, we are presented with wonderful photographs as well as compelling stories about our heritage. It is evident that there are many skilled photographers working…
Review by Edward Biddulph Ask most people what comes to mind when they hear the word ‘archaeologist’ and, if not immediately going to Indiana Jones, they will most likely imagine an academic poring over artefacts or heavy tomes, or carefully…
A round-up of some of latest archaeology news from around the world.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news in the UK.
Orford Castle in Suffolk has reopened to visitors after detailed conservation work – a project 13 years in the making – was completed in January. The castle was originally built for Henry II between 1165 and 1174, as a royal…
We are pleased to share the winners of year’s CA Awards, announced on 25 February at Current Archaeology Live! 2023.
Review by David Flintham From Iron Age hillforts to Second World War pillboxes, fortifications are all around us. Yet there are probably more terms relating to fortifications than anything else in military history. Author Jean-Denis Lepage has challenged himself to…
In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we will explore the evidence for this hypothesis, and examine how violence-related injuries are distinguished in archaeological human remains.
Royal sites revealed Lying more than 275 miles apart, Rendlesham and Yeavering belong to a handful of sites named as a vicus regius or ‘royal settlement’ by the Anglo-Saxon cleric Bede. Later this month, both are set to showcase their…
Archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology, working in advance of HS2 construction, have been excavating the site for the past three years.
Roman villas are rarely excavated these days, because we already ‘know about them’. Yet when a villa is excavated – in part or as a whole – what we find defies what we think we know. The report on Druce Farm Roman villa, excavated between 2012 and 2018 by volunteer members of the East Dorset Antiquarian Society, has been published in quick time and in exemplary form. As Chris Catling discovers, it makes us think again about what defines a villa.
Review by Jacqueline A Nowakowski A late Neolithic decorated slate disc adorns the front cover of this substantial and well-illustrated publication. Down the Bright Stream presents full technical reports on excavations (2009-2015) in Tregurra Valley by Cornwall Archaeological Unit. Key…
the star of the show is undoubtedly Cladh Hallan in the south of the island, famous for its Bronze Age ‘mummies’, the earliest evidence of deliberate mummification found in Britain.
The axle has been radiocarbon dated to the middle Iron Age, c.400-100 BC.
When an unusual female burial was discovered in the apse of All Saints Church, York, it was interpreted as possibly representing the remains of a religious recluse. Since then, archaeological science and historical research have given new perspectives on the woman’s life, as Carly Hilts reports.
Over the next few months a wide variety of fantastic opportunities are on offer to get involved in history, heritage, and archaeology, with exciting conferences, new exhibitions, events, and more. If you would prefer to explore the past from home, though, there are plenty of resources available, from virtual tours of museums and heritage sites to podcasts, TV shows, and online games. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the latest options.
Review by Simon Esmonde Cleary The excavations at Druce Farm in Dorset were carried out by local volunteers between 2012 and 2018, along with geophysical, drone, and laser surveys of the environs. The full publication of the results only four…
This is a Romano-British figurine of a chubby, naked boy, known as a putto. Although discovered in 2019 in Cox Green in Windsor and Maidenhead, it was recently highlighted in the latest Portable Antiquities Scheme annual report. It is made…
Previously it had been thought that Vikings probably pillaged such animals from British populations on their arrival.
In total, the trench yielded over 1,000 stone tools and more than 200 animal bones.
A pendant adorned with symbolic motifs linked to Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon was recently unveiled at the British Museum. Carly Hilts spoke to Dr Rachel King and Teresa Gilmore to find out more.