genealogy

In Brief

MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.

The treasure of Tanis: A discovery rivalling that of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Situated in the north-eastern part of the Nile Delta, ancient Djanet (Tanis) was the residence and burial place of the kings of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties. In the late 1930s and early ’40s, a complex of royal tombs was…

Lancashire Parish Register Society

We are grateful to LPRS Council member Simon Oliver for contributing this month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column.

Egypt’s Golden Couple: when Akhenaten and Nefertiti were Gods on Earth

Review by Sarah Griffiths This new exploration of Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s unique vision for Egypt and their rise to divine status is presented in an unusual format, with each chapter headed by a short dramatic reconstruction. Such vignettes are perhaps…

‘One of the most valuable women that ever lived’

During archaeological works beneath the floor of Bath Abbey between 2018 and 2020 (see CA 348), Wessex Archaeology recovered a stunning piece of an 18th-century bas relief marble sculpture. It was one of approximately 4,000 fragments removed from the Abbey’s…

Tutankhamun, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife

by Aidan Dodson.AUC, 2022ISBN 978-1-6490-3161-7Hardback, £29.95. Aidan Dodson continues his pharaonic series with a volume on Tutankhamun “offered unapologetically” as an addition to the numerous books released or reprinted in time for the centenary. The book follows the format of…

ABOVE This image shows how Hazleton North long cairn might have looked during the early Neolithic period. Image: courtesy of Corinium Museum, copyright Cotswold District Council

Family matters: tracing kinship links in a Neolithic tomb

Genetic analysis of 35 individuals buried in a Gloucestershire long cairn has reconstructed a 5,700-year-old family tree spanning five generations, shedding unprecedented light on Neolithic social structures and how people of this period related to each other. Carly Hilts reports.

Above DNA analysis is allowing archaeologists to answer fundamental questions about past relationships. Here, we see the remains of Peder Winstrup, a bishop who founded Lund University, being studied in 2013. A major surprise was that the bishop was not alone in his coffin, and DNA analysis has helped to explain why.

Reconnecting relationships: uncovering genealogy in archaeology

Examining ancient DNA is revolutionising our knowledge of the past. Being able to detect family relationships is revealing ever more about connections between people buried in cemeteries and even individual coffins. Caroline Arcini introduces three cases where DNA evidence has opened new windows into past lives.

FAR LEFT The Society has developed a curriculum programme with 13 primary schools in north Herefordshire and south Shropshire. There is content on heraldry, castles, weapons and armour, and illuminated letter writing. The programme culminates in a living history day at Ludlow Castle, attended by the 350 plus pupils who have participated in the programme that year.

The Mortimer History Society

What is it about the members of the Mortimer family, powerful and ambitious lords of the March, that attracts people to the Mortimer History Society (MHS)?

The Past

National Library of Scotland acquires important 16th-century manuscript

Its contents are written in Latin, Scots, and Gaelic, and include contemporary annals, poetry, lists of Scottish kings and battles, and chronicles recording the deaths of prominent members of Highland society.

Great Cloister: a lost Canterbury Tale

Among the 856 heraldic shields emblazoned on the ceilings of the cloister of Canterbury Cathedral is hidden a story of the social and political history of 14th- and 15th-century England. In this large and intensively researched volume, Paul A Fox…