A Celtic princely burial in Germany
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
Celtic
Music to archaeological ears
A routine excavation on the site of a west Norfolk housing development has uncovered a metalwork hoard including two extremely rare Iron Age artefacts: a near-complete carnyx and a boar standard. Conservation and analysis of these fragile objects is ongoing; Carly Hilts reports on the preliminary findings.
An impressive Iron Age settlement
Archaeologists have uncovered a large settlement from the La Tène period in the Hradec Králové region of north-east Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. The discovery was first made in 2023 along the route of a proposed motorway and subsequently investigated…
Celtic cremation grave unearthed in Germany
The burial was found to contain a pair of scissors, a folded sword, the remains of a shield and a spearhead, a razor, and a fibula (clasp).
Caistor St Edmund: excavating an aqueduct in Roman Norfolk
Archaeological investigations in a field outside Norwich, close to the remains of a Romano-Celtic temple, have uncovered further evidence of activity associated with the religious complex. Carly Hilts reports on a recent visit to the site.
Iron Age Britain Quiz
When is the Iron Age usually said to have begun in Britain...?
Rebuilt Romano-Celtic temple unveiled in Kent
It is 70m from where archaeological remains thought to represent a 1st-century AD temple were discovered
This week: Halloween
It’s a scary thought for parents. After an enforced pause in 2020, Halloween spending is expected this year to return to something like pre-pandemic levels – which in 2019 stood at £474m in the UK alone, according to market analyst…
Rich bronze artefact deposits found at ancient French settlement
Two deposits of spectacular bronze artefacts dating back to the 9th century BC represent the latest discoveries made during a series of archaeological excavations and surveys conducted in the Allier department of central France since 2019.
3D technology to shed new light on ancient Celtic writing system
Its alphabet represents a written language ancestral to Scottish Gaelic, modern Irish, and Manx
Hadrian’s Wall: A Roman frontier revisited
How much do we really know about Hadrian’s Wall? After more than a century of scientific research into this magnificent Roman monument, it might be suspected that few mysteries remain. Instead, the recent ‘Pilgrimage’ along the Wall showed that debate is still in rude health, as Matthew Symonds reveals.
Contested Heritage: contemporary Pagan groups and the archaeological and heritage professions in Britain
Relationships between contemporary Pagan groups and those who work in the fields of archaeology and heritage management have been strained for many years due to disagreements over ancient sites and human remains. Inspired by Francis Pryor’s assertion that both groups…
Mounds and monasteries: burials in late Iron Age and early medieval Ireland
The Irish archaeologist Barry Raftery (1944-2010) wrote: ‘Death represents the ultimate confrontation between the human and the supernatural worlds. The surviving burial remains and the associated funerary monuments thus provide us with the clearest and most tangible surviving evidence of religious beliefs and practices’. With this as her theme, Elizabeth O’Brien has studied every excavated Irish burial dating from the period c.200 BC to c.AD 800. She found great diversity and one common strand – burial in close proximity to ancestors or to people regarded as saints, as Chris Catling reports.
Le Câtillon II: conserving Britain’s biggest Iron Age hoard
How do you begin to analyse a corroded mass of almost 70,000 Celtic coins? Neil Mahrer guides us through the painstaking process of conserving the largest coin hoard yet found in the British Isles, and what has been discovered so far.
Evidence of Roman reprisals in Essex?
A recently revealed Iron Age settlement in Cressing, near Braintree in Essex, appears to have been almost completely destroyed during the second half of the 1st century AD. Dating to around the time of the Boudican uprising of AD 60/61,…
Romano-Celtic villa: a temple-mausoleum and evidence of industry at Priors Hall, Corby
Excavation just outside Corby has shed vivid light on the construction of a Roman villa, the reuse of an enigmatic religious building, and a bustling array of industrial activity, as Paddy Lambert explains.