A surge in development associated with Black Sea tourism has provided numerous opportunities for excavations in the ancient Greek city of Apollonia Pontica. Matthew Symonds talked to Margarit Damyanov about how the results are revolutionising our knowledge of this major site.
Archaeology essentially illuminates human entanglement with things, James Deetz pointed out 50 years ago in his classic book In Small Things Forgotten. ‘Don’t read what we have written; look at what we have done’, Deetz concluded in a clarion call…
Across 8 Mexican state, location of Mitla archaeological site (6)9 Early horse, now known as Hyracotherium (8)10 Phoenician city-state destroyed by Rome in 146 BC (8)11 Mycenaean settlement in southern Greece (6)12 Stage of the British Pleistocene Series (10)13 Greek…
Smelly memories Please thank Chris Catling for his smelly article in CWA 129; smells and memories, it works both ways. I was reminded of a forgotten memory. Back in the late ’60s/ early ’70s, I visited Madame Tussauds (pictured): the…
Over the course of a few centuries, the devotional art of three major world religions underwent a profound change in India. To find out what happened, Matthew Symonds spoke to Sushma Jansari and Kajal Meghani.
In its annual ‘watchlist’ of threatened heritage sites, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has cast its gaze beyond our own planet and declared that the surface of the Moon represents a vulnerable cultural landscape.
If you want to know how liveable a city is, you can ask the rats. The cosmopolitan rodents will know exactly how resource-rich and wasteful in nutrients their human co-habitants are.
A recent Netflix documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals, has attracted a massive worldwide audience, and taken a major step forward in dealing with the widespread myth that Neanderthals were brutish and backward. As we now know from comparing their DNA and ours, we can count them among our remote ancestors.
A remarkable discovery in the fields near Vindelev revealed objects that are both beautiful and informative. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja bring us up-to-date about a find shedding fresh light on runic writing, the history of religion, and royal power in Denmark.
Burials found in three different cemeteries in Sweden defied explanation until a connection with polio was proposed. Caroline Arcini and Emma Karlsson weigh the evidence and look at how the impact of this disease has changed over the centuries.
A new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden explores the highlights of the last 25 years of Dutch archaeology.
A new technique is offering fresh insights into ancient tattoos.
A community-led project in Costa Rica has identified two wrecks as lost 18th-century Danish slave ships.
August 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which precipitated the unconditional surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War. What has become known as VJ (Victory over…
Research in the Bolivian Andes has identified a previously unknown Tiwanaku ceremonial complex. The Tiwanaku civilisation (c.AD 500-1000) was a pre-Inca culture centred around the southern shores of Lake Titicaca, in western Bolivia, but their influence is believed to have…
For the first time, non-invasive technology has been used to recover a title from the ancient papyri from Herculaneum carbonised in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Earlier this year, scans of the scroll in question, known as PHerc.172,…
Obsidian was highly valued by many cultures across Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, including the Mexica (Aztecs), for its natural lustre and sharpness, which made it a perfect material for both highly polished ornaments and the production of tools. Analysis of obsidian artefacts…
New analysis of a hominin skull previously believed to represent a new species of ancient human suggests that it may in fact be a Denisovan. The Denisovans were first discovered in 2010, when ancient DNA from a finger bone in…
A Viking Age burial site has been uncovered at Lisbjerg, near Aarhus, in Denmark. Excavations carried out by archaeologists from Moesgaard Museum have revealed 30 burials, although it is possible that there could be more in the surrounding area. The…
Cave treasures In 2023, two speleologists exploring the Cave of Tlayócoc in south-western Mexico came across a collection of 500-year-old objects. Archaeologists from INAH investigated further, revealing that the assemblage consisted of 14 artefacts in total, including three engraved shell…
REVIEW BY LISA BRIGGS It has been 15 years since A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor was first published and introduced readers to a novel method of breaking down world history into bite-sized, easily digestible…
REVIEW BY PAULINE RIPAT Roman legends stressed the importance of babies in the foundation of Rome and its destiny to dominate. The unlikely birth of the twins Romulus and Remus from a Vestal Virgin, and their even more improbable survival…
REVIEW BY ROBIN OSBORNE Trade in Greek pottery long attracted little interest. Finley’s massively influential The Ancient Economy (1973) discouraged both the idea that archaeological data might have anything to add to study of the ancient economy and the idea…
This design is… known from the Sutton Hoo and Valsgärde helmets. What is it? This rectangular copper-alloy object is 1-1.5mm thick and measures 4.5cm by 3.7cm. It dates to c.AD 550-625 and is a type of stamping die known as…