Around 20 Roman villas have been excavated in the Limburg region of the Netherlands. The heyday for this work came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a succession of sites was investigated with antiquarian zeal. Now fresh research in the field, archives, and find stores is shedding intriguing new light on these villa estates and their inhabitants, as Jasper de Bruin told Matthew Symonds.
A personal tribute by Paul Reynolds.
Nigerian archaeologists are working with the British Museum and UK colleagues to research and excavate in Benin City. Mike Pitts visited the site to learn more.
An exhibition at Pompeii explores the less glamorous side of life in the ancient city.
Across 6 Large knife often found among Anglo-Saxon grave goods (9)8 Fertility goddess worshipped at Carthage (5)10 ___ Wall, Roman fortification in Scotland (8)11 Extinct Tibeto-Burman language (6)12 Opponent of Greece at the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis (6)13 US…
Rome’s frontiers have defeated many, ranging all of the way from menacing barbarians to publishers planning a book series. Now a serendipitous set of volumes has successfully documented this ancient frontier network. David Breeze, who produced the range, tells us more.
The Dolmen of Guadalperal is a megalithic tomb located in the Spanish province of Cáceres, some two hours south-west of Madrid. The site is believed to be a Neolithic funerary monument, probably constructed between the 5th and 4th millennium BC.…
Results We had a fantastic selection of entries sent in for this year’s photo competition, with images that took us all over the world, and back in time. Subjects range from famous monuments and spectacular heritage sites to places of…
Rubina Raja & Søren M Sindbæk on managing ressources in urban African societies.
In the complex story of human migration out of Africa, Homo sapiens are believed to have travelled steadily eastwards to Asia – eventually reaching Australia by around 50,000 years ago – but seem not to have moved into Europe for a period of 20,000 years.
For two centuries, European scholars have explored prehistoric settlements preserved in Alpine lakes and bogs. The discovery of ancient pile-dwelling sites in the Mediterranean region of southern Europe makes it evident that this phenomenon did not stop at the Alps. Albert Hafner reveals the intriguing findings emerging from ongoing investigations in Albania, Greece, and North Macedonia.
I was in Greece, rolling off a ferry at Kyllini, about to visit its mighty castle, when I received the text message accusing me of being a Greek spy. Almost at once, I got an avalanche of emails from angry…
What is it? This small, intricately decorated cylindrical vial, measuring 6.7cm long and 1.9cm in diameter, is made of a greenish chlorite-schist and contains a deep red cosmetic mixture believed to be lip paint. The container, which comes from Iran,…
There has, of late, been a veritable tsunami of results from recent research that are literally transforming prehistory before our very eyes.
Personal ornamentation is a powerful form of self-expression, often used to send messages about the wearer’s social identity, even today. But could such objects hold the key to understanding the cultural landscape of Palaeolithic Europe?
The abandonment of a military barracks in the centre of Tours, France, offered archaeologists a unique opportunity to excavate the entirety of an 11th-century abbey that was completely destroyed during the French Revolution. Philippe Blanchard tells us what the project has revealed so far.
Excavations in the highlands of northern Peru have identified a circular plaza that may be among the earliest examples of monumental megalithic architecture in the Americas. The Callacpuma archaeological site, located in the Cajamarca Basin, has been the subject of…
In 1994, the 300,000-year-old spears from Schöningen, Germany, made headlines as some of oldest wooden objects ever discovered. But these were not the only finds from the site. By the time excavations at Schöningen 13 (the ‘Spear Horizon’) came to…
DNA analysis of the Avar empire people, who lived on the Great Hungarian Plain some 1,500 years ago, is revealing details of their social structure, kinship practices, and marriage traditions. The Avar empire was founded by groups of mounted warriors…
Archaeologists working at Pompeii have uncovered a spectacular banquet hall decorated with mythological images connected to the Trojan War. This luxurious space, once used for feasting and entertaining, was part of a grand private residence located in Insula 10 of…
Early piercings A study recently published in Antiquity () has identified more than 100 ornaments used in body perforation as early as 11,000 years ago. The artefacts come from burials at the Neolithic site of Boncuklu Tarla, in Turkey, and…
New discoveries on a small Australian island are rewriting our understanding of the culture and technology of the country’s early people. It has long been believed that the ancient Aboriginal peoples of Australia did not have pottery. A few examples…
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH When we think about the history and archaeology of the north, we are immediately drawn to the Inuit or Sami peoples. We forget the vastness of the polar region, which covers at least 20% of the surface…
REVIEW BY SHANNON LEE DAWDY Dead Man’s Chest is a collection of essays and research reports by practising archaeologists and historians who have conducted work on shipwrecks, terrestrial sites, artefact collections, and archival sources. It is the third book in…
REVIEW BY MATTHEW POPE From the start, Slimak is clear that The Naked Neanderthal is a very personal book and offers his own individual views on the archaeology of Neanderthal people. And this is an important point to make. The…