Cover Feature

Nelson and Trafalgar

Graham Goodlad concludes our series on naval leadership with a look at the legendary figure of Horatio Nelson.

OPPOSITE The Battle of Trafalgar (1836) by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield. The artist has chosen to depict the duel between HMS Victory, HMS Temeraire, and, between them, the French ship Redoubtable.

Britain’s greatest naval victory

Military History Matters' Neil Faulkner analyses Nelson’s culminating tactical masterpiece.

Interpreting Dover Castle’s great tower: Angevin innovation, or a medieval white elephant?

Dover’s massive castle, rising in tiers above the harbour to the crest of the hill above the town, looks like the very model of a medieval fortification – but, as a new book reveals, it has some very odd features indeed. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports on the efforts of English Heritage and Historic England, as well as castle specialists and medieval historians, to explain this extraordinary monument.

Nero: the people’s princeps?

Roman literature gives us an overwhelmingly negative view of Nero, but was there any good to this matricidal ruler? As a new exhibition on the emperor opens at the British Museum, Minerva's Editor Lucia Marchini speaks to curators Thorsten Opper and Francesca Bologna to find out more about how and why this figure, popular with the people, came to be known as an enemy of the Senate and the state.

Beads curios and heirloom objects were bundled and strung together resting as a group on a silver brooch hoop at the top of the lidded vessel in the Galloway Hoard

Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard: secrets of a Viking Age collection from south-west Scotland

Buried c.AD 900, the Galloway Hoard is thought to be Scotland’s earliest-known Viking Age hoard. In the years since its discovery in 2014, wide-ranging research has illuminated its eclectic and often unique contents. As a new exhibition opens, exploring the story so far, Martin Goldberg takes us through some of the latest findings.

Jerash: revealing a ‘peripheral’ part of an ancient city in northern Jordan

In AD 749, the ancient city of Jerash was hit by a devastating earthquake. Excavating private houses that collapsed during the disaster has revealed a wealth of information about the Umayyad city. These, though, are just some of the finds encountered during recent archaeological work in the north-western part of the site, as Achim Lichtenberger, Eva Mortensen, and Rubina Raja reveal.

Barbarossa – the biggest invasion in history

David Porter analyses the tense relationship between the two most powerful dictators in Europe during the countdown to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

Above The new Neolithic: Butser Ancient Farm’s latest reconstructed building is based on the remains of a nearly 6,000 year old house that was excavated by Wessex Archaeology in Berkshire.

Back at Butser Ancient Farm: reconstructing the past and safeguarding its future

In mid-April, CA travelled to Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire – our first site visit of 2021! – to catch up with what’s new at the recently reopened experimental archaeology centre. The site has just unveiled an immersive reconstructed Neolithic house, as well as an innovative new online offering to share the team’s research more widely. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.

Rodney, Howe, and the rise of British seapower

In the half century between the Battle of Quiberon Bay (1759) and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), Britain’s Royal Navy transformed naval tactics and established global maritime supremacy. Developments in the technology of sail power and naval gunnery had combined…

Nefertari: into the Valley of the Queens

The Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II, Nefertari, was buried in one of the most spectacular tombs of Egypt’s Valley of the Queens. Well-educated and well-travelled, Nefertari played a crucial part in the political life of the pharaoh, and her importance was reflected through her magnificently decorated tomb. Minerva's Lucia Marchini speaks to Jennifer Casler Price to find out more.

The riches of Ravenna

In a small city on Italy’s Adriatic coast, faces of all-powerful emperors, empresses, and bishops gaze out from glittering mosaics. But why are these magnificent decorations here? Judith Herrin explores the history of Ravenna, a well-connected city and one-time capital of the Western Roman Empire.

ABOVE An early example from Nepal of a ‘Tantra’ that is, a religious text. BELOW A 13th century temple sculpture showing Bhairava. His impassive expression is undercut by the pair of fangs projecting from his mouth and the severed head clutched in his hand. Members of the demonic dead stand to Bhairava’s left and right.

Tantra: an archaeology of enlightenment

Tantra’s appeal has proven remarkably broad. What began on the margins of Indian society went on to command the patronage of royalty and transform Hinduism and Buddhism as it spread across Asia. Along the way, it created a rich archaeological legacy, capable of provoking radically different reactions from its audiences, as Imma Ramos told World Archaeology.