Gold bracteate
What is it? This gold pendant, known to specialists as a bracteate, is 5cm in diameter and comes from a Danish hoard dated to the 6th century AD – the object itself dates to the early 5th century. The front…
Current World Archaeology
The World of the Ancient Silk Road
REVIEW BY TIM WILLIAMS This book is a collection of papers that focus on themes of human migration, communication, and cross-cultural exchange along the Silk Roads, from the 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD. The volume is…
Europe’s Lost Frontiers – Volume 1 : Context and Methodology
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH Due to current climate change, the coastline of north-western Europe is in a state of flux, resulting in the slow but inevitable inundation of the sea. This change in coastline is clearly witnessed by the ongoing disappearance…
The Museum of the Wood Age
REVIEW BY ROLAND ENNOS Given the preponderance of stone, bronze, and iron artefacts found at archaeological sites, and their usefulness in enabling archaeologists to date their finds, it has perhaps been inevitable that so much research has concentrated on these…
Celebrated crafts and cross-cultural connections
Buried in lead The excellent Museum of Antiquities in Rouen, Normandy, has mounted a special exhibition called Le Plomb et l’homme (Lead and Man; open until 5 March 2024) devoted to the large number of Gallo-Roman lead coffins and funerary…
Palaeolithic portable art
A rare example of Upper Palaeolithic portable art has been found at an open-air site in south-eastern France. Bellegarde, located between Nîmes and Arles, was discovered in 2015 by Inrap archaeologists. Excavations across c.2,000m2 of the multi-phase site have produced…
World’s earliest known saddle found in China?
A recent study has determined that a leather saddle found in north-western China may be the oldest surviving example currently known. Exactly when horse-riding and the use of saddles began is still a subject of some debate, but the latest…
Religious sites in Bolivia
Archaeological surveys in the Carangas region of highland Bolivia have identified a previously unrecognised concentration of religious sites built by the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the area, including one site with characteristics currently unique in the Andes. The survey identified 135…
Fusion diets in the early colonial Caribbean
Analysis of pottery from the Caribbean island of Isla de Mona, part of the Puerto Rican archipelago, is shedding new light on food and drink practices on the island at the time of its early colonisation, including what may be…
World news in brief: Bronze sword from Bavaria, AI identifies new Nasca lines and new human remains found in Pompeii
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological discoveries from across the globe.
Roman body armour undergoes analysis
In 2018, a rusty lump of more than 400 fragments of iron was discovered in Germany at Kalkriese, the site of the Varus Battle, where a catastrophic defeat was inflicted on Rome in AD 9 (see CWA 104). In the…
World News
More still to uncover at Pompeii While investigations at Pompeii have been ongoing for centuries, much of the site remains unexplored, and new excavations have recently begun in one such previously unexamined section. This new project aims to uncover an…
The ancient world’s largest fortresses: Persia’s northern defences in late antiquity
In the 4th to 6th centuries AD, Persia was under attack from the north by the ‘White Huns’ and other powerful groups of steppe warriors. Persia’s response was to create a massive fortification belt – unsurpassed in scale anywhere in the ancient and medieval world, with only the possible exception of China. Eberhard Sauer, Jebrael Nokandeh, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, Mohammadreza Nemati, and Mehdi Mousavinia have explored the backbone of the system: the densest concentration of mega-fortresses in the late antique world, in the Gorgan and Tehran Plains of Iran.
CWA Photo of the Year Competition 2023 – THE RESULTS!
This year’s overall winner is Nickolas Warner’s photo of the West Cemetery of Meroë, Sudan.
The West Cemetery of Meroë
The image was chosen as the winner of the CWA Photo of the Year 2023 Competition (sponsored by Ace Cultural Tours).
How studying sinuses can enhance our understanding of human evolution
The way these features changed in size and shape across ancient human species can provide important information about how their skulls changed over time
World news in brief: sunken Nabataean altars, ancient ice skates, and signs of the zodiac
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological discoveries from across the globe.
Neolithic Turkey: investigating the transition to settled and farming lifestyles on the Konya Plain
The Konya Plain presents an extraordinary glimpse of what the shift from a mobile existence to Neolithic lifestyles could mean for individuals. Douglas Baird, Ian Hodder, and Michele Massa share some exciting results from the long-running investigations of a set of sites in central Anatolia.
The Young Alexander: the making of Alexander the Great
Review by Matthew Symonds When we think of Alexander the Great, it is his exploits as an adult that spring to mind. He is the audacious leader who landed an army in Asia at the age of 21 in a…
Uncovering the home of the monument-builders
Archaeologists have discovered a settlement site belonging to the builders of some of Europe’s earliest Neolithic monuments.
Western Macedonia: forgotten highlands of Greece
The archaeological gems on show in a neglected region of Greece help to shed light on the success of Alexander the Great, as Alex Rowson reveals.
Power or decadence? Luxury under the Achaemenids, Athenians, and Alexander the Great
We all know that the finer things in life can transmit messages about wealth and status. In the epic struggles between the Persians and Greeks in the 1st millennium BC, though, luxury came to mean so much more, as Jamie Fraser told Matthew Symonds.
New archaeological work begins at Pompeii
The excavations are only in their early stages, but already signs of the upper parts of ancient buildings are beginning to emerge.
Vietnamese stringed instrument
What is it? This object, thought to be at least 2,000 years old, is believed to be a stringed musical instrument. The artefact is made from a single piece of deer antler and is c.353mm long, with a diameter of…
Beer: a global journey through the past and present
Review by Max Nelson Arthur presents a global history of beer inspired by his two-year stay with the Gamo people of Ethiopia. He begins with a brief introduction examining beer in terms of technology (as fermented malted cereal processed with…
Severed hands found in ancient Egyptian palace offer evidence of a ritual custom
The discovery prompted a debate about whether they represented ritual trophy-taking or the amputation of limbs as punishment.
The secrets of church walls
had King Charles been in need of distraction or amusement during his Coronation in May 2023, he could have done worse than study all the graffiti carved into the woodwork of the Coronation Chair
Research reveals American wood imported by Norse Greenlanders
The study confirms that the Norse had the ability, knowledge, and vessels necessary to bring timber from North America until well into the 14th century, if not longer.
Broken links and smashed glass
Far into the Middle Ages, glass-workers produced beads using techniques eerily similar to those employed 2,000 years earlier in Amarna.
An archaeology of thought
I doubted if Daeng would find anything of interest within. An hour later, she was revealing the smallest skeleton I have ever seen.
Battle Elephants and Flaming Foxes: animals in the Roman world
Review by Chris Epplett Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of books and studies written on humankind’s interactions with and exploitation of the natural world. The book under review, drawn from the author’s background as…
Maya ballgame marker discovered at Chichén Itzá
The ancient Maya ballgame, known as pelota or sometimes pok-ta-pok, played an important ritual and symbolic role in the Mesoamerican culture.
Grama Bay: where the Ionian blue begins
Richard Hodges has been following in the wake of generations of mariners by investigating the extraordinary concentration of inscriptions carved into the rock of Grama Bay, Albania.
Prehistoric cave art found in Spain
The motifs found on the panel include quadrupeds (possibly bovids and equids), as well as circles, zigzags, lines, reticulates, stelliforms (suns and/or stars), and more.
Analysis of elephant bones shines light on Neanderthal diets
The assemblage of more than 3,000 elephant bones was discovered in 125,000-year-old lake deposits at the site of Neumark-Nord, in central Germany.
World news in brief: finds from Japan, Iraq, and Egypt
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological news from across the globe.