Historical records attest that the present parish church at Saline in West Fife had a medieval predecessor, but the exact location of this building has been lost over time. Linda Moyes and John Gooder report on recent efforts to find it once more.
When, in 1988, the National Trust for Jersey purchased a semi-derelict farmstead called Hamptonne, a detailed archaeological investigation followed as part of a seven-year restoration programme. The multi-period site, with 15th-century origins, opened to the public as the Hamptonne Country Life Museum. Building on what was learned from this project, Warwick Rodwell’s newly published research report tells us almost everything you need to know about the archaeology of vernacular houses in Jersey, as Chris Catling reports.
An award-winning social prescribing project has been excavating thousands of years of history within the Walmgate area of York. Meg Barclay reports on its recent finds and how the initiative has been supporting the mental health and wellbeing of local residents.
For the last three years, excavations outside the walls of Birdoswald Roman fort have been helping to characterise the community who lived in its shadow. Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Ian Haynes to learn more.
A new five-year project by the Vindolanda Trust is shedding unprecedented light on Magna Roman fort and nearby Milecastle 46, as well as providing invaluable data about how the local environment – and the underlying archaeology – is being affected by climate change. Carly Hilts visited Rachel Frame and Franki Gillis on site to hear the story so far.
Colchester was the first capital of Roman Britain, and excavations within the town frequently uncover evidence of this chapter of its past. Colchester Castle, built over the ancient temple of Claudius, is currently home to an exhibition exploring one aspect of Roman life (and, for many unlucky participants, death): the gladiatorial games. Glynn Davis is our guide.
For 40 years, since the establishment of the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England in 1983, Historic England has been protecting the country’s parks and gardens – with the Register now comprising more than 1,700…
Joe Flatman explores over half a century of reports from the past.
There are many great ways to get involved with archaeology and heritage this summer, including new exhibitions, events, activities, and more. Or, if you would prefer to get your history fix at home, there is a wide variety of resources available online, from new apps and digital exhibitions to virtual heritage site tours, podcasts, games, and more. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.
Your thoughts on issues raised by CA.
A new exhibition running at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth takes a deep dive into how perceptions of piracy have evolved since the 17th century, and the reality behind romanticised accounts of their activities. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
The latest on exhibitions, acquisitions, and key decisions.
REVIEW BY ROB IXER After a slight temporal dip, we are back riding up on to a crest of the sine curve called ‘popular Stonehenge book publication’ (sadly, for a sun-orientated temple, this appears out of phase with the solar…
Carly Hilts reviews the latest outing of cinema’s most celebrated archaeologist.
A new site museum tells the story of what was the fourth-largest town in Roman Britain. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
For almost 30 years, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) has been uncovering diverse archaeological features and finds at one of the UK’s largest sand- and gravel-extraction sites. Excavations have illuminated a landscape of prehistoric settlements, field systems, and monuments, located just three miles east of St Ives in Cambridgeshire. Matthew Brudenell, Charles Barker, Jonathan Tabor, and Chris Wakefield report on the latest discoveries.
Christopher Catling, Contributing Editor for CA, delves into the eccentricities of the heritage world.
We are grateful to LPRS Council member Simon Oliver for contributing this month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column.
A facial reconstruction of the early medieval teenager who was laid to rest in a bed burial in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, has been carried out by forensic artist Hew Morrison for a new exhibition, ‘Beneath Our Feet: archaeology of the Cambridge…
REVIEW BY NEIL HOLBROOK Did all the buildings in the Roman countryside that we call ‘villas’ perform the same function? Were they mostly nicely appointed homes of people who had done well at farming, or country residences of the well-to-do…
REVIEW BY MATTHEW SYMONDS Roman Scotland has long been a battleground. The remarkable remains of military works testify to the manpower that Rome committed to northern Britain, while the ancient literature reports fighting of varying intensity. An absence of any…
REVIEW BY JACQUELINE A NOWAKOWSKI Mount’s Bay, west Cornwall, hosts a major drowned landscape. This attractive and well-produced monograph successfully integrates results of the excavation of a Bronze Age enclosure barrow, east of Penzance in the littoral zone, with excellent…
REVIEW BY ANDREW TIBBS The study of Roman frontiers goes from strength to strength, as demonstrated in this volume, which marked the 30th annual conference of the Arbeia Society, the organisation that manages the Roman fort and recreated buildings at…
REVIEW BY JOHN HUNT Burton Dassett, in the Warwickshire Feldon, has previously attracted attention as representing rural settlements in the area that suffered depopulation in the late medieval period. This long-awaited publication of the excavations undertaken at Southend between 1986…
Pre-Hispanic landscape of Bolivia illuminated A large archaeological survey across the Carangas region of highland Bolivia has identified 135 hilltop sites, each with a number of circular walls built on terraces, ranging between two and nine per location. Ceramics discovered…
Bayesian statistical modelling of a series of radiocarbon dates from the Neolithic site of Dorstone Hill, in south- west Herefordshire (recently published in Antiquity: ), suggests that it may represent some of the earliest Neolithic activity in the West Midlands,…
Researchers from the University of York, York Museums Trust, and Heritage360 have recently carried out a 3D scan of a Roman gypsum burial – a practice in which liquid gypsum was poured over the body before interment. This project, the…
Recent excavations by Cotswold Archaeology in Harnham, along Netherhampton Road on the western edge of Salisbury, have uncovered a large barrow cemetery, consisting of at least 20 burial mounds. While several Bronze Age barrow cemeteries have been identified in the…
Euston cemetery burials reinterred in Surrey At the end of June, more than 14,000 burials that had been excavated from St James’s Gardens in Euston in advance of HS2 (see CA 398) were reburied at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. Prayers…
This is a unique early Bronze Age pin, made from the first phalanx (or toe-bone) of a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). It is the only example ever found in a Bronze Age funerary context in England, with only one other…
Excavations at Manor Farm in Frindsbury, Kent – in advance of the construction of a Maritime Academy – have revealed more than 800 stone artefacts found within sediments thought to relate to a Middle Pleistocene tributary of the River Medway.…
Strontium isotope analysis has become a standard in mobility research, featuring in many post-excavation analyses of human and animal remains. While ‘typical’ strontium analysis is able to tell us much about movement in the past, new techniques are being applied…
A large Roman mausoleum, used to bury high-status individuals, was recently discovered by MOLA during excavations in advance of the redevelopment of a site near Borough Market in Southwark, by Landsec and Transport for London (TfL). The foundations, which measured…