excavation

AE157 News

Tell el-Yahudiya tombs

An Egyptian mission has uncovered a number of rock-cut tombs at the Tell el-Yahudiya site in Qalyubia Governorate – a rare find in the Eastern Delta, which has predominantly clay soil not suited to rock-cut structures. The tombs date from…

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Pit of puzzlement: Evelix, Sutherland

This unusual burial was recently found by archaeologists from Highland Archaeology Services, working in advance of the expansion of a quarry at Evelix, near Dornoch, in Sutherland. Before it was used for burial, however, the pit is believed to have…

Insights from above

Last month we shared images from Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, highlighting how recent drought conditions have revealed the outlines of long-buried archaeological remains. Features both familiar and newly identified have also been emerging across Wales this summer, and have been documented by Dr Toby Driver, the Senior Investigator for Aerial Survey at the Royal Commission.

Further finds at Huttons Ambo

This season’s excavation at Huttons Ambo in North Yorkshire has uncovered new details about the small village’s medieval past, including potentially one of the most high-status buildings yet found on the site. This is the fourth year the project has…

Bronze Age settlement revealed in Erskine

A once-thriving Bronze Age settlement has been revealed during excavations in Erksine, Renfrewshire. The discovery was made by a team from GUARD Archaeology, who excavated two large fields in Northbar, on the south-east outskirts of Erskine, between 2018 and 2019.…

The cistern below the pig sty

Giove: In Jupiter’s shadow

I first came to the Umbrian hilltop village of Giove half a lifetime ago. I was seeking sanctuary in the real Italy as I navigated potential closure of the British School at Rome (where I was director) at the hands of Mrs…

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CA 438 Letters – August

Archaeology has been ‘solved’! (or, how we shed some light on dark earth…) It was great to see Cotswold Archaeology’s research into the function of burnt mounds included in ‘Sherds’ (CA 435). Chris Catling suggested that we should now turn…

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Prehistoric timber circle uncovered near Belfast

Another prehistoric circle was recently uncovered during a community archaeology project, this time near the Giant’s Ring, just outside Belfast.  The investigation, led by archaeologists from Queen’s University Belfast, was sparked by a re-examination of aerial photographs taken in the…

Carved stone genius (c) The Vindolanda Trust

Rare Genius at Vindolanda

A Roman relief of a Genius – a protective guardian spirit – has recently been found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, hidden underneath the floor of a barracks. While inscriptions dedicated to genii have been found across Roman Britain,…

Cotswold Archaeology mosaic cleaning

Further finds from Halberton Roman villa

A Roman mosaic thought to be the most westerly example of the polychrome style yet found in Britain is among the discoveries emerging from  a large Roman villa complex near Halberton in Devon.  Excavations by the SHARE project (Saving Halberton’s…

Go digging!

This month’s selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects from Staffordshire, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Nottinghamshire.

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Observing the Ouse: Excavating the deep history of the Cambridgeshire Fens

The Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) has been excavating sites along the banks of the River Great Ouse since 1994, keeping one step ahead of sand- and gravel-quarrying that is steadily transforming the landscape from solid ground to a series of lakes that will eventually form a large nature reserve. Chris Catling reports on the latest volume to emerge from this project, which brings together a series of excavations exploring a c.5km length of the river at the point where it enters the Fen marshlands near Earith in Cambridgeshire.

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Ramesses re-erected

A colossal statue of Ramesses II has been restored and re-erected in its original position by the Egyptian-American team working at Ashmunein (Hermopolis), in Minya. The limestone statue measures approximately 6.7 metres in height, and weighs over 40 tons. It…

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Explosive discovery at Culloden Battlefield

Last autumn’s excavations at Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness, had already rewritten our knowledge of how the engagement unfolded (see CA 430), but further insights continue to emerge, including the discovery of an unexploded mortar shell, which further highlights the conflict’s…

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UK news in brief

Community Archaeology reveals 19th-century house A recent community excavation in Belfast has revealed the remains of a 19th-century house and the partial layout of the Victorian streets in the area. Run by Community Archaeology Programme Northern Ireland (CAPNI) – an…

An enduring landscape: Uncovering 8,000 years of life and death on the Cotswold Edge

Recent excavations at Milestone Ground on the eastern edge of Broadway have revealed one of the most intriguing archaeological landscapes yet found in Worcestershire. Beneath quiet pasture lay evidence of human activity stretching back 8,000 years, including Mesolithic flint tools, Bronze Age burials, hundreds of Iron Age storage pits, a Roman farmstead, and the largest late Roman cemetery known in the county. Constance Mitchell reports.

Bronze Age watering hole found near Gloucester

Excavations south of Gloucester have uncovered a remarkably well preserved Bronze Age watering hole, with many of its wooden structures surviving in situ. The discovery was made last year during investigations by Cotswold Archaeology. When they first stripped back the…

Go digging!

With the summer digging season rapidly approaching, we will be running a series of pages highlighting excavation opportunities across Britain and Ireland. This month features projects ranging across East Anglia, the Midlands, and the South-East.

Excavations at former concentration camp

During World War II, a number of German armament factories were relocated underground as a result of Allied air raids. In August 1944, a work detail of the Buchenwald concentration camp was established near the village of Walbeck, in the…