Ain Khadra
Amir Ebrahim Elkorashy explores an archaeological landscape around a spring in the Western Desert.
landscape archaeology
The Burpham Big Dig: Transforming the story of two Sussex villages
A recent series of excavations across Burpham and Wepham in West Sussex has revealed new – and sometimes surprising – insights into their origins and evolution. James Sainsbury reports.
Excavating the CA archive: Monasteries of the high medieval period – Part 2
Continuing last month’s exploration of high medieval monasticism, this month I will visit sites across the country, both well known and less well known, that reflect the profound impact the Church had on society during this era, and the discoveries made by modern-day archaeologists which highlight this
Defence to domesticity: Exploring the evolution of Irish castles
Marking the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, 2027 has been designated the Year of the Normans. Events to mark the millennium are planned all over Europe, with castles as a major theme. In Ireland, the best guide to the hundreds of defended structures surviving from the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169 is the late David Sweetman, Ireland’s former Chief Archaeologist, whose book on The Medieval Castles of Ireland reveals how these 12th- and 13th-century symbols of Anglo-Norman power evolved from earthworks to commodious towers that dominated the landscape. Chris Catling reports.
Statements in stone: Investigating Neolithic architecture at the Ness of Brodgar
The Ness of Brodgar in Orkney is home to an unprecedented complex of 5,000-year-old buildings. Ongoing analysis is illuminating their form and function, as Carly Hilts reports.
Broxy Kennels Fort, Souterrain and Surrounding Landscape, Perth
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…
Making and Meaning in the Bronze and Iron Ages: chronology, landscapes, and societies across Europe
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…
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.
No stone unturned: recent finds at Arthur’s Stone
When we last reported from Arthur’s Stone in 2023 (CA 404), it was thought of as an isolated Neolithic monumental site overlooking the Golden Valley in Herefordshire. Now, the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff team that is leading the project…
UK news in brief
Sculpting southern Scotland A new project, coordinated by Dr Christina Cowart-Smith and funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, is set to start this autumn with the aim of documenting around 200 fragments of sculpture south of the Forth–Clyde…
Castles in the cliffs: Archaeology and myth in the Pyrenees.
In the 12th century, the counts of Foix began creating a unique network of fortifications using caves and other natural features in their part of the Pyrenees. Colin Duncan Taylor explores their origins and reveals how, starting in the 19th century, these castles in the cliffs were ransacked by early archaeologists and fortune hunters in search of fabled Cathar treasure.
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…
Ancient answers to climate crises
The wetlands of La Mojana in northern Colombia are home to an ancient raised field system made up of canals and ridges (camellones) covering a vast area of c.500,000ha. Often called the Zenú hydraulic systems, after the pre-Hispanic societies who…
New excavations shed light on Shropshire marsh-fort
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…
Historic drought reveals historic garden: Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
While this summer’s drought conditions have had a dramatic effect on many aspects of our environment, one upside of the recent hot and dry conditions has been the discovery of long-forgotten or completely unknown archaeological sites. This was the case…
A Stonehenge ‘prototype’
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
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.
Current Archaeology’s July Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home
There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If you would prefer to get your heritage fix from the comfort of your sofa, though, there is a variety of resources on offer online, too, from virtual site tours and digital offerings by museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Kathryn Krakowka has put together a selection of some of the options available.
‘Prototype’ for Stonehenge’s solar alignment found
Excavations at Bulford have revealed the remains of a 5,000-year-old structure suggesting that the solstice was celebrated on Salisbury Plain centuries earlier than thought. CA reports.
Seeking the Saxon Shore: a guide to the coastal forts of Roman Britain
This new book from Pen & Sword is a most welcome one: many people are familiar with the Saxon Shore forts of east and south-east England, but there has not been a comprehensive guide to them published since Andrew Pearson’s…
Excavations at Highdown, West Sussex
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…
The Archaeology of Britain: an introduction from earliest times to the twenty-first century
This is the third edition of a book which first appeared in 1999 and was first revised ten years later. Much has happened since then, and even the editors have changed. The new book is a collaboration between a prehistorian…
Unexpected prehistoric discoveries at Crookston Castle
A geophysical survey carried out in the grounds of Crookston Castle, with the aim of learning more about the Glasgow site’s medieval and post medieval history, has unexpectedly revealed the remains of a late prehistoric settlement, including the footprints of…
Ancient Tree Forum
An ancient tree is one that is in the final stage of its life and is exceptionally old for its species. Such trees typically have a wide girth and a hollow trunk with decaying wood, holes, and cavities that provide…
Crossing to Inis Cealtra
Firsts. I first went to Inis Cealtra – Holy Island in County Clare – with my first girlfriend, Leigh, in 1973. From County Antrim, a northerner, she had an esprit de vie that I always associate, like the constant drizzle,…
Photo Competition: Results
CWA Photo of the Year Competition 2026 – winners announced
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.
A monumental legacy: Aubrey Burl and The Stone Circles of the British Isles
This year marks a century since the birth of the pioneering prehistorian Aubrey Burl, and the 50th anniversary of the publication of his landmark study The Stone Circles of the British Isles, which is often considered the foundational work on the subject. To reflect these milestones, Neil Mortimer offers an overview of how the book came into being – and the occasionally unconventional approach of its author.
Neolithic trackway uncovered in Somerset
Excavations at Honeygar Farm, a nature reserve that forms part of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, have uncovered the remains of a 6,000-year-old wooden trackway that would have been used during the early Neolithic period to allow people to cross the…
Sizewell C, the story so far: Who did what, where, when – and why?
Oxford Cotswold Archaeology’s ongoing excavations on the site of the planned Sizewell C power station in Suffolk have uncovered a vast array of features and finds spanning 6,000 years of history. Project Manager Richard Mortimer guides us through some of the most significant discoveries to-date.
Upon a White Horse: journeys in ancient Britain and Ireland
Peter Ross has made quite a name for himself in recent years. His previous books, A Tomb with a View: the stories and glories of graveyards (2021) and Steeple Chasing: around Britain by church (2023), both became bestsellers, and I…
A Mediterranean Valley redux
My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that I have dreamed of revisiting. For two full days, my…
Surveying Falerii Novi: Rethinking the development of a Roman town
Surveying an ancient town in Italy has presented fresh insights into a key moment for Roman urbanism. Matthew Symonds spoke to Martin Millett about what can be learnt from studying an entire townscape.
Home on the range: Examining a late Roman villa estate at Milton, Cambridgeshire
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.
Tracing historical children’s burial grounds in Ireland
Historically, the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland did not permit the burial in consecrated ground of stillborn babies and infants who died before they could be baptised (a rule that ended with the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s). Instead,…
Bronze Age brought to life at Harden Quarry
Excavations at Harden Quarry, an active hard-rock quarry that is operated by Tarmac at Biddlestone in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland National Park, has revealed a near complete view of Bronze Age life in this area: where people lived, where…