Review by Andrew Tibbs In Roman times, water was an important resource, but also had symbolic importance. Waterways acted as arterial routes of the Empire, used by the military, traders, and civilians to move resources and people, while on dry…
Distinctive tiles stamped with the name and titles of the Roman emperor Nero have been found at only two sites from Roman Britain, both in Hampshire. Michael Fulford explores what this might mean.
It appears to be Roman in date, but it was found on the grounds of a medieval deer park and could equally date to any time before the 18th-19th century.
Review by Sadie Watson Scholars of Roman London might wait years for a major synthesis such as Dominic Perring’s London in the Roman World to be published. This is hardly surprising when you consider the amount of research that has…
Review by Aidan Dodson. In 2013, a remarkable discovery was made at the site of Wadi el-Jarf on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. It comprised a group of papyri, which not only proved to be the oldest inscribed examples of…
This photograph, showing soldiers lounging on their tank and citizens going about their daily business, was taken outside Hamburg railway station in May 1945.
Review by AB. The term ‘street furniture’ encompasses a wide range of everyday objects that are found along roads and in towns and cities around the world, from manhole covers and postboxes to bus stops and cabman’s shelters. In this…
Review by Owen Humphreys. You wait decades for a new book about Roman London, then two come along at once. Dominic Perring’s previous work Roman London (Routledge, 1991) was the standard reference for nearly 30 years. Now, just three years…
Nearly 50 years of excavations have explored much of Leicester’s north-eastern quarter – and now a newly published thematic volume, Life in Roman and medieval Leicester, draws together the results from these extensive investigations. Covering such a large area, and a time span that starts with the late Iron Age and carries through to the Norman Conquest and beyond, the report looks at the cycles of growth and decline in the life of the town and draws out the similarities and differences between the Roman and medieval settlement, as Chris Catling reports.
Inventive Vents has a clever way of engaging younger people with scatological anecdotes, in the style of Horrible Histories. Thus we are told that the innocuously named Carting Lane was known colloquially as ‘Farting Lane’ because of the smell of sewer gas.
The remains were revealed during excavations of an abandoned Roman quarry where the construction of a new boathouse for the Basel Rowing Club is scheduled
Suspension bridges were crucial for the success of the Inca road network, but these remarkable structures needed to be regularly rebuilt. Can examining surviving examples of similar bridges reveal more about how Inca crossings were maintained, and the importance of such events for the local communities involved? Lidio Valdez takes us behind the scenes of a long-standing Andean tradition.
The first Hampden stadium, complete with enclosed pitch and turnstiles, was built in 1873.
It is always stimulating to be reminded how much more remains to be said about Hadrian’s Wall, a Roman frontier system that is often believed – from an archaeological perspective – to have been ‘done’. Despite centuries of scholarly scrutiny,…
A community project excavating Scotland’s first railway has uncovered three 18th-century phases of timber construction layered on top of each other. The unprecedented discovery was made in East Lothian by the 1722 Waggonway Project, and has been described by railway…
The London we know today traces its roots directly back to the modest settlement developed on the banks of the Thames in the late 9th century, in the time of the Saxon king Alfred the Great. In spite of fires,…
Britain has a rich maritime history, a key part of which involves seaside resorts. This book showcases a collection of black-and-white photographs taken by Aerofilms Ltd between 1920 and 1953, illustrating scenes across England and the Isle of Wight. Each…
During the most recent excavations there, the team discovered what appears to be a small lode, which may have been used to bring boats further into this settlement.
The 1722 Waggonway Project has discovered three phases of early wooden railway in East Lothian
Some of the latest news stories from archaeology in the UK, including the discovery of a section of Hadrian's Wall, the launch of a new campaign to protect archaeology as a discipline, and the start of a project analysing Viking remains in Orkney.
Built 6,000 years ago, the Neolithic timber trackways known as the Sweet Track and the Post Track are among Britain’s earliest known bridges. In which county can they be found?
'It takes us back to the tumultuous time of Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.'
News round-up featuring updates from HS2 archaeologists' excavations in Stoke Mandeville, the scheduling of a submarine wreck off the coast of Dartmouth, and a medieval database launched by the University of St Andrews.
The county is one that historically suffers from being overlooked: its proximity, and partial absorption, into Greater London risks obscuring its significance.
Could the relationship between the Roman army and local communities living in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall hold the key to understanding this remarkable monument? Current Archaeology's Matthew Symonds investigates why it was built.
This publication features, among other highlights, the extraordinary, emotive survival of a series of footprints made by a Mesolithic child.
Why should we study airfields – and do these sites even count as archaeology? Bob Clarke makes a case for investigating and preserving such sites as important drivers of social change, as well as relics of military history.
Since 2013, the largest infrastructure project in modern Norwegian history has granted a team of more than 40 archaeologists an extraordinary glimpse of medieval Oslo. One of the biggest questions they aimed to answer is what the medieval town really looked like. Thomas Wrigglesworth shares some of their discoveries.
The remains of a Victorian bathhouse have recently been discovered beneath a car park in the Mayfield area of Manchester. The site was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Salford’s Centre for Applied Archaeology in advance of the development…
Excavations begin along the A303 Preliminary investigatons by Wessex Archaeology in advance of the planned A303 tunnel scheme are in progress. So far they have undertaken more than 462ha of geophysical survey and 440 evaluation trenches, uncovering diverse finds in…
As every archaeologist knows, listed buildings and scheduled monuments represent the tip of the heritage iceberg.
Medieval bridge discovered in Scotland Over the last two years, the Ancrum and District Heritage Society (ADHS) have, with the help of Historic Environment Scotland, Dendrochronicle, and Wessex Archaeology, surveyed and researched a medieval wooden bridge that was discovered underwater…
This work has revealed the foundations of the original medieval hall, as well as the massive extension commissioned by Henry VIII after he took Hampton Court from Wolsey.
As cities, ceremonial centres, watchtowers, and irrigation systems emerge from the Guatemalan forest, a new LiDAR survey shows that there is more to the Maya than meets the eye.
Everyone has heard of the aqueducts of Rome, but what about those of Medieval Exeter? Professor Mark Stoyle is on a mission to make them better known, as Chris Catling reports.
In 1993, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee described the setting and presentation of Stonehenge as ‘a national disgrace’. Two decades later, we finally have a remedy – a spanking new visitor centre to cater for travellers’ bodily needs and to prepare them for an encounter with the monument. What is more, the road that once severed Stonehenge from the Avenue has gone, restoring the link between the monument and its processional way. Chris Catling went there, gazed in awe, and wants to go back again very soon.