The Caithness Broch Project (CBP), a charity aiming to build a replica of an Iron Age broch, has finally found – after an extensive search – the perfect location for their ‘Big Broch Build’ in an area north of Latheron,…
Community excavations in Winchester are helping to piece together the layout of a long-demolished Benedictine monastery. Carly Hilts visited this summer’s investigations to find out more.
An eight-year effort by a dedicated band of more than 100 volunteers has borne fruit with the recent opening of a new heritage attraction in the heart of the Avalon Marshes. Richard Brunning describes how Somerset’s Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Viking past has been brought to life once more.
A specialist grant that helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds has opened applications for its 2023 funding cycle. Robin Holgate discusses some of the key findings from the projects supported by the CARD Fund in 2022 – and how to apply this year.
REVIEW BY IAIN BANKS This is a landmark publication, summarising as it does the 12 years (and counting) that Operation Nightingale has been in existence. During this period, some excellent archaeology has been carried out and some excellent therapeutic work…
A collaborative project has brought to light the lives of a 19th-century community living and working in Fewston, North Yorkshire. Among their number were many children who were indentured to work in the nearby mills, and whose lives may have ultimately been cut short by this labour. Kathryn Krakowka talked with Rebecca Gowland to learn more.
Archaeology Scotland’s flagship festival, Scottish Archaeology Month (SAM), is taking place throughout September. More details can be found at www.archaeologyscotland.org.uk/scottish-archaeology-month, but here are some highlights of what’s on offer.
A stone used by Neolithic people to sharpen stone axes, known as a ‘polissoir’, has been discovered in the Valley of Stones near Portesham in Dorset. Previously, most polissoirs in England had only been discovered buried in chambered tombs, placed…
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.
Join in this July with the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology! The theme for 2023 is ‘Archaeology and Creativity’, which will be explored online and in-person across the programme. Ceri Pennington has put together a selection of this year’s regional highlights.
This week on The Past, we are delighted to celebrate a very special milestone: the 400th issue of our sister publication Current Archaeology – the ground-breaking specialist magazine, first published in March 1967, that is now firmly established as Britain’s…
Review by CH This beautifully presented book (illustrated in colour throughout) showcases the results of an archaeological initiative that set out to engage the Tarradale community with their local heritage, and, through six excavations between 2017 and 2019 (see CA…
Humans in the late Palaeolithic lived mainly on the coastline at a time when sea levels were up to 100m lower than they are today, meaning much of the archaeology of this period now lies below the waves.
An exhibition running at Sutton Hoo tells the story of nearby Rendlesham, an early medieval elite settlement whose remains have been brought to light just four miles from the famous burial ground. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
This year is the 380th anniversary of the Siege of King’s Lynn, an important but often overlooked engagement during the Civil War. David Flintham presents the latest findings of a community archaeology project exploring the town’s fortifications.
This summer offers a wealth of opportunities to get involved in fieldwork in the UK and Ireland. Ceri Pennington has put together some regional highlights for 2023, but see www.the-past.com/digs for even more archaeological experiences.
Govan Old Parish Church is home to one of the most significant collections of Viking Age carved stones in the British Isles, and recent fieldwork in the churchyard has revealed the presence of further examples buried beneath the turf. Carly Hilts spoke to Stephen Driscoll about the latest findings, and about an initiative to forge new connections between the church, its archaeological holdings, and the local community.
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…
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.
Your views on issues raised in CA.
Archaeology is not immune to wider social changes... the #BlackLivesMatter movement focused attention on the colonial pasts of many nations and on the challenges of the post-colonial present.
To many, this part of the country is the ‘definitive’ Scottish landscape of their dreams, the stuff of countless movies and TV shows. To less romantically inclined archaeologists, it is a place forged by the environmental extremes experienced there.
There is a great selection of opportunities on offer this year to get involved in heritage, history, and archaeology, with new exhibitions, lectures, conferences, and more coming up over the next few months. Or, if you would prefer to get your heritage fix at home, there are plenty of resources available, including virtual exhibitions and heritage-site tours, podcasts, games, and TV shows. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the latest options.
The three fragments of an Islamic glass vessel were found in the late 1990s at Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries.
Historic England recently published its Heritage at Risk Register for 2022.
A specialist grant that helps volunteer and community groups date their finds has opened applications for its 2022 funding cycle. Maryne Baylet and Roger Doonan discuss some of the key findings from the nine projects supported in the last round – and how to apply this year.
‘The results of this season’s excavation are of international importance. Rendlesham is the most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England.'
A round-up of some of the latest stories from the realm of UK archaeology.
The 2,500-year-old fortifications are perched on the edge of a cliff, and are fast disappearing due to processes of natural coastal erosion.
The project ends in December, but the team are still looking for more places to excavate. For more information, see www.thebishopbigdig.com.
Review by Timothy Darvill Using archaeological sites and museum collections in new and imaginative ways to improve people’s wellbeing has become a significant theme in recent years. This wide-ranging volume of essays provides a welcome addition to the fast-growing literature…
A round-up of some of the best military history events, lectures, and exhibitions.
Local volunteers and over 200 schoolchildren assisted in excavating an area once home to scientific instruments designed to track variations in the Earth’s magnetic field.
A round-up of some of the latest news from the realm of archaeology in the UK.
September and the first half of October will see heritage-themed events being held all across Scotland, as part of the annual celebration of the nation’s past coordinated by Archaeology Scotland.
According to the 12th-century cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth, the famous stones that make up the Stonehenge monument were erected originally in Ireland, before being moved to their current, more familiar home on Salisbury Plain. Geoffrey’s claim may seem fanciful, but…