Underwater archaeology is not all deep-sea diving. Artefacts and historic remains are periodically exposed on the shoreline before vanishing as the tide rises again, and can be found further inland in lakes and other bodies of water. Karen Moule describes the experience – and importance – of documenting these finds, and highlights three initiatives that you can join.
Petra is renowned for its extraordinary tomb architecture, but little is known about the builders of these mausolea. George H Nash, Genevieve von Petzinger, Lina Alrabab’h, and James Nash examine this funerary landscape and the traces of those who made it possible.
An extraordinary survival plucked from a Danish bog sheds light on the technical virtuosity available in the Roman Iron Age. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja examine the significance of a remarkable piece of armour.
Easter Island did not just produce monumental stone sculptures. It was also home to talented woodcarvers making an extraordinary range of figurines. Paul Horley, Rafal Wieczorek, Catherine Orliac, and Paul Bahn explore a side to these sculptures that was hidden in plain sight.
Over the last century, Messenia in Greece has produced an extraordinary range of archaeological riches. Together, these finds showcase sumptuous burials and flourishing settlements, and shed vivid light on life during a pivotal period for the Mycenaean world. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Claire Lyons, Jack Davis, and Sharon Stocker.
In our latest four-part series, marking the 250th anniversary of US independence, Fred Chiaventone examines first the genesis of America’s Revolutionary War, how discontent exploded into open warfare, and then traces the history of a conflict whose repercussions are still being felt 250 years on.
In the second part of our series, Fred Chiaventone looks at how the conflict escalated as the two sides struggled to gain the upper hand.
£133 million - Britain's national debt after the Seven Years War. This enormous deficit prompted the introduction of unpopular new taxes in North America.
Concluding our series on Imperial Germany’s Great War allies, Graham Goodlad examines Bulgaria’s belated and ultimately disastrous entry into the conflict.
In the third part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing reveals how Stalin consolidated military and political control over a new Soviet bloc.
They were the world’s most feared killers. But, in 1114, the Assassins were thwarted – not by elite bodyguards, but by a group of middle-aged women who weren’t prepared to be pushed around. Steve Tibble reveals all.
Tessa Dunlop uncovers the stories behind some of the UK’s most fascinating monuments to conflict, and reveals what they tell us about changing attitudes to war.
Around 130 dodecahedra have been found across the northern Roman Empire, but the purpose of these ornate objects is unknown, and few have been recovered from datable contexts in modern excavations. An important exception forms the focus of an exhibition exploring the archaeology of Potter Hill, Lincolnshire. Carly Hilts visited the displays and spoke to Chris Clay, Richard Parker, and Clare Pickersgill to learn more.
December 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the identification of a remarkable prehistoric timber monument just two miles from Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Amanda Chadburn is our guide around Woodhenge and its lasting legacy.
Between 2008 and 2010, the first modern excavation of a legionary storehouse anywhere in the Roman Empire was carried out at Caerleon. With the full findings now published, Carly Hilts reports on what has been learned about the site’s military life, and what happened when official administration ended.
The first archaeologically focused exhibition to be staged at the Museum of Liverpool explores what Treasure finds from north-west England and Wales can tell us about past and present connections across the region. Carly Hilts visited and spoke to Vanessa Oakden to learn more.
Following on from CA’s review of the golden age of the chain store (CA 426), Chris Catling looks this month at the accommodation built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras for single working women: hostels, houses, and chambers that were designed to protect their morals but also gave a first taste of freedom and independence to the growing class of businesswomen and ‘bachelor girls’.
Philippe Rosset explores the iconography of this ceremonial weapon, which marks a transitional moment in Egyptian kingship.
Wolfram Grajetzki continues his series with one of the most important and best known kings of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Simone Petacchi describes an important Egyptian collection in Rovigo, Italy, that is not on public display.
Barbara Gai explores the history of this important monument and the clues that might lead to the location of Antinous’ tomb.
Alan B Lloyd acknowledges the huge contribution to Egyptology made by people born in Wales.
Roger Forshaw records the life and career of a court official and scribe who was the world’s first recorded dentist.
Hilary Wilson explores the preservation of Egypt’s cultural heritage through replicas – the next best thing to visiting the monuments themselves.
Recently published research from one of the largest cemetery excavations of its type outside London has shed vivid light on the experiences of almost 2,000 men, women, and children who lived and died in Lancashire around 200 years ago. Carly Hilts spoke to Julie Franklin to learn more.
What was life like in Britain 3,000 years ago? How did people live together, find their food and materials, and organise their domestic rituals and day-to-day activities? The Bronze Age to Early Iron Age settlement of Cladh Hallan in the Outer Hebrides has provided answers, as well as new questions, as Mike Parker Pearson, Jacqui Mulville, Helen Smith, and Peter Marshall explain.
Vampires and zombies are not just the fictional creation of 19th-century novelists, nor modern film directors and creators of computer games – John Blair’s new book, Killing the Dead, shows that there is a long history of belief in the ability of the dead to leave their graves and cause harm to the living. Making sure this cannot happen results in extraordinary burial practices, as Chris Catling reports.
Bronze Age hoards tend to be found in watery locations – rivers, lochs, bogs – where they are routinely interpreted as ritual votive deposits. Two recently published examples, however, discovered 150 miles apart in Scotland, came from contemporary Bronze Age settlements. Rachel Buckley explains what micro-excavation of their strikingly different contents has revealed about why these collections may have been buried 3,000 years ago.
What have archaeological experiments revealed about how stone axes were sourced, made, and used thousands of years ago? James Dilley highlights some of the key findings.
Far below the Nullarbor Plain in Australia lies an extraordinary gallery of rock art. Exploration and research in Koonalda Cave has revealed much about these ancient markings, as well as mining and the early occupation of Australia, as Keryn Walshe, April Nowell, and Clem Lawrie reveal.
In the 3rd century AD, the possessions of an entire army were deposited in a lake in Jutland. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, Rowan S English, and Rubina Raja examine what was found, and what it reveals about Iron Age military might in southern Scandinavia.
Excavations at Tell Nabasha are shedding new light on life in a delta city, and the death of its great temple. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Nicky Nielsen.
A remarkable site containing Palaeolithic stone tools was found in modern rainforest near Anyama, Côte d’Ivoire, in the 1980s. The chronology of these deposits remained unclear, but could modern dating techniques help to fill in this blank? Matthew Symonds learnt from Eslem Ben Arous, James Blinkhorn, and Eleanor Scerri what happened when a field team returned to Anyama.
In the second part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing explains how the defeat of the Nazis brought new division to the Austrian capital.
In the first part of our series examining the transition from World War to Cold War, Taylor Downing looks at how the end of the fighting in 1945 sowed the seeds of the conflict to come; while in the second part he explains how the defeat of the Nazis brought new division to the Austrian capital.
