The caves at East Wemyss are home to traces of human activity spanning prehistory to the present day, including important Pictish carvings. In recent decades some of these interactions have been destructive, but the local community is working to preserve this unique collection. As they mark the 40th anniversary of these efforts, Mike Arrowsmith reports.
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…
It is a much-cited refrain that the only way to understand Scottish hillforts properly will be to excavate them fully, reliant as we have been, for the most part, on very limited interventions. The total excavation, then, of Broxy Kennels…
This book brings together papers from MetalAges2024 – Chronological Methods and their Correlation in the Metal Ages, which was held in Florence in 2024, co-organised by the UISPP Scientific Commission ‘Metal Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean’ and the Istituto…
This is the most recent addition to the Jersey Heritage Research Series (see CA 434 for a review of The Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in Jersey and CA 431 for The Neolithic in Jersey), which aims to outline the current…
Janice Kinory looks back on the curious case of the clay tablets from Glozel.
The first excavations at Wall Camp in more than 40 years have revealed new evidence for how Iron Age communities built and used one of Britain’s most unusual wetland enclosures. Archaeologists and students from the University of Birmingham have completed…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Castlehill Wood, located south-west of Stirling, has historically been labelled a ‘dun’ – a poorly defined term that is usually used to describe an unroofed enclosure that is smaller than a hillfort but more fortified than a farmstead. Situated within…
This site report details excavations carried out by Oxford Archaeology ahead of the replacement of the gas transmission pipeline that crosses the Humber between Goxhill in North Lincolnshire and Paull in East Yorkshire. Palaeoenvironmental evidence sheds light on how this…
Two recent discoveries – Britain’s largest hoard of Iron Age gold coins and a series of unusual elite burials – unearthed about 8km (5 miles) apart on opposite sides of Chelmsford, have shed vivid light on the area’s Iron Age importance, and how local communities responded to the turbulent period around the Roman conquest. Carly Hilts spoke to Angus Forshaw and visited a new exhibition of some of the finds.
Interpersonal violence has been a fact of human existence for much of our long history – but how far is this reflected in the archaeological record? With a major new exhibition now open at the National Museum of Scotland, Matthew G Knight and Hannah Boddy examine traces of past conflicts spanning 4,000 years, and consider how to present these stories to modern audiences.
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.
Highdown Hill is an extraordinary place. It stands detached from the great chalk spine of the South Downs, dominating the coastal plain across to the English Channel. The Bronze Age saw the hill crowned with an enclosure, perhaps a redistributive…
Iron Age burial practices in Britain are among the most enigmatic, as few ‘formal’ cemeteries are known from this period (with some exceptions, such as among the Durotriges in Dorset; see CA 281). In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we are…
Archaeological investigations near Cirencester in Gloucestershire have revealed the remains of what may have been a major religious, or ‘votive’, centre dating to the late Iron Age (c.100 BC-AD 43). The first clues to the site’s existence came in 2020,…
Archaeological investigations in advance of the A46 Newark Bypass scheme in Nottinghamshire have revealed a landscape scattered with features spanning six millennia. Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) was contracted on behalf of National Highways to examine more than 23 acres (9.6ha)…
Unusual religious monument uncovered in Egypt Excavations at the ancient Egyptian port city of Pelusium (modern-day Tell el-Farama) have uncovered the remains of a unique 2,000-year-old temple that is believed to have been dedicated to the local deity Pelusius. Archaeologists…
Iron age mining rituals in Germany Evidence of Iron Age ceremonial activity associated with quartz mining has been discovered at the Bruchhauser Steine, a prominent rock formation in the Sauerland region of western Germany. This natural landmark comprises four massive…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
This month’s selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects from across Scotland, Wales, and England.
Analysis of an Iron Age mass grave in northern Serbia reveals surprising new information about the group of individuals buried here. Gomolava is a tell site in the Pannonian Plain that was first occupied in the 6th millennium BC and…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
An absorbing new exhibition at Oriel Môn in Llangefni highlights Anglesey’s long and varied archaeological heritage. Carly Hilts visited the displays.
Caves have always captured the imagination. This is no less true of High Pasture Cave on the Isle of Skye, whose publication represents the latest contribution to a growing corpus in British cave archaeology. Nestled under the slopes of the…
The watering hole found near Gloucester is not the only reworked water source recently discovered in England. Excavations in advance of a new Rolls-Royce extension site at Goodwood, near Chichester in West Sussex, have revealed evidence of a thriving Iron…
The latest excavation by the long-running Caistor Roman Project has uncovered a series of unusual deposits within the monumental triple ditches that encircled Venta Icenorum, capital of the Iceni. At the same time, recent GPR surveys have shed new light on aspects of the settlement that these once-imposing earthworks surrounded. Giles Emery and Will Bowden report.
At the end of February, our annual conference returned to UCL’s Institute of Education in London, with hundreds of people coming together to share the latest news about the past. For those who weren’t there, here is a round-up of what went on.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Denmark is home to many archaeological marvels, including both renowned sites and world-class museums. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja are our guides to the wealth of heritage that the country has to offer.
A century ago, an Iron Age boat was found in Denmark. Now it is revealing new secrets. Amy Brunskill spoke to Mikael Fauvelle to find out more.
Pleased about potin coins I was so amused when I saw the ‘pastry potin’ coins on the ‘Letters’ page in CA 432. I remember David Holman some years ago showing a group of members of the Isle of Thanet Archaeological…
The discovery of an extensive and long-lived late Roman agricultural landscape near Cambridge has added illuminating details to our understanding of a region that appears to have been home to numerous villa estates. With the project now published in full, Francis M Morris, who recently completed the post-excavation analysis for Archaeological Research Services Ltd, is our guide to the key findings.
In partnership with: Current Archaeology Live! 2026 is coming up quickly, and tickets are selling fast. The conference, held in partnership with University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, will be on Saturday 28 February, at the UCL Institute of Education,…
A routine excavation on the site of a west Norfolk housing development has uncovered a metalwork hoard including two extremely rare Iron Age artefacts: a near-complete carnyx and a boar standard. Conservation and analysis of these fragile objects is ongoing; Carly Hilts reports on the preliminary findings.
A recent geophysical survey in Margam Country Park, near Port Talbot in South Wales, has revealed the clear outline of a large Roman villa. The building’s footprint was identified during a geophysical survey carried out as part of the ArchaeoMargam…