Archaeological work in rural Oxfordshire has uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa, as well as echoes of activities ranging from agriculture and industry to more enigmatic practices. Carly Hilts spoke to Louis Stafford to learn how the site’s story is evolving as investigations continue.
Three years of investigations have shed intriguing light on a near-circular feature identified on the outskirts of a village near Wigan. Patrick Maloney reports.
Cutting-edge scientific analysis of horse remains excavated in Westminster 30 years ago has opened a unique window on how such animals were sourced from far afield and put to work in 15th- and 16th-century London. Carly Hilts reports.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, there are lots of exciting opportunities to get out and about and enjoy the UK’s archaeology, history, and heritage, ranging from festivals and conferences to exhibitions and lectures. If you would prefer to get your fill of archaeological activities from the comfort of home instead, there is plenty to choose from as well, including digital exhibitions and virtual tours, podcasts, and games. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
What can the combination of archaeology, documents, maps, and plans tell us about London’s port in the period between the Great Fire of 1666 and the shift of shipping activity downstream of the City, following the opening of the West India Dock in 1801? A new and highly readable publication brings together the evidence from four sites excavated by the Museum of London between 1974 and 1984, allowing us an insight into the area around London Bridge when it served as the focal point of London’s commercial waterfront. Chris Catling reports.
With Amesbury’s recently opened History Centre celebrating six months of operations, Carly Hilts learned more about its displays and plans for the site’s future from Andrew Doig, one of its trustees.
Last month I began a tour around the final county of the UK that I had yet to visit in these pages: Wiltshire. I began in the north and headed south as far as the Vale of Pewsey. This month I will continue into what is popularly seen as the most fertile of all archaeological hunting grounds: the county’s central belt around Salisbury Plain
Your thoughts on issues raised by CA.
Advances in digital technology are opening up ever-more realistic ways to depict archaeological sites and events from the past. John Reid describes how excavated evidence has been used to create a detailed and dramatic model of a Roman attack on a hillfort in Dumfriesshire.
Historic England has recently listed three properties that have been claimed as the ‘first’ examples of their kind (not, it has to be said, by Historic England themselves – they know better than to invite a pantomimic chorus of ‘Oh no it’s not!’, but the media are not so subtle).
REVIEW BY AB What was life like for the inhabitants of Europe in the last Ice Age? How did they make their clothes? Did children play with toys? What was their relationship with dogs? These are just some of the…
REVIEW BY KK Wolf Road is Alice Roberts’ first foray into children’s literature. Drawing on archaeological and anthropological evidence, the book tries to provide as accurate a window as possible into the world of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, and into how they…
REVIEW BY MIKE SHAW Northamptonshire is a county rich in archaeological remains, many of them discovered along the Nene Valley in the south of the county. Hence the present volume is valuable in looking at a transect of land in…
REVIEW BY FINOLA O’CARROLL This book details the results of research into the monument known as Tlachtga, which combined LiDAR and geophysics to build a picture of an extensive multi-phase monument, confirmed by three seasons of excavations from 2014 to…
REVIEW BY HUGH WILLMOTT This volume was prompted by a decade of excavations by Peter Davey following Rushen Abbey’s purchase by the Isle of Man government in 1998. While these form the core of the work, the volume also synthesises…
REVIEW BY CH The N25 New Ross Bypass in Co. Wexford was designed to alleviate the notorious peak-time tailbacks that were known to extend for miles on either side of the historic town of New Ross. Its 14km route, stretching…
This month we are revisiting the subject of the very first ‘Odd Socs’ column (CA 211): the Milestone Society. The original idea for ‘Odd Socs’ was to adopt a tongue-in-cheek approach to the heritage sector’s hundreds of voluntary societies, presenting…
A new publication, An Early Medieval Craft: antler and bone working from Ipswich excavations 1974-1994, details the extraordinary Viking Age finds discovered over the course of 20 years of digging in the town by Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (SCCAS).…
It is generally assumed that archaeological remains buried in the ground are relatively safe, and that – aside from the effects of climate change and natural forces like erosion – human-created developments represent the main factor that might affect their…
Recent excavations by Gahan and Long Archaeological Services in advance of the construction of a new retail store in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, have unearthed a previously unknown medieval cemetery. As work began on the site in December of last year,…
New research, funded by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) through its Culture and Heritage Capital Programme, has demonstrated that heritage has a positive effect on wellbeing, with the presence of nearby historic places having a direct benefit…
Excavations at Crowland, in Lincolnshire, have revealed new evidence of how this landscape was used over the millennia – from the Neolithic to the post-medieval period – and in particular how it continued to be seen as a sacred place…
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the UK.
Research recently published in the journal Britannia has proposed a way to estimate the possible population of Roman Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), in Hampshire, suggesting that the town may have included many more residences than have yet been identified. As a…
Roman residence revealed A remarkably preserved domus, dating to the late Republican period, has been excavated in Rome between the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. First discovered in 2018, the site – which has been named the Domus del…
A new project led by researchers at the University of Oxford, which has collated evidence from around the world, has shown that the human brain can remain preserved in diverse environments for at least 12,000 years. When human brains are…
During the mid-7th century AD there was an abrupt economic shift in north-west Europe, particularly around the North Sea, with silver coinage largely replacing the use of gold. Recent research has suggested that at least some of this coinage was…
This is a medieval or early post-medieval silver pendant, set with jet, which was found last August by a metal-detectorist near Bletchingley in Surrey. It is probably a pilgrim souvenir dating to c.AD 1400-1550. The pendant comprises a silver, scallop-shaped…