Dating the Cerne Abbas giant
New dating research has revealed that, rather than being an ancient fertility symbol or depiction of the mythical hero Heracles, the giant is in fact medieval.
landscape archaeology
Latest dating evidence for the Cerne Abbas hill figure
Analysis of sediment samples taken from the Cerne Abbas Giant has shed new light on the origins of the Dorset hill figure, suggesting that the chalk outline may have been created in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
Timeline: the archaeology of the South Wales Gas Pipeline
Underpinning this comparatively slim volume is a remarkable archaeological programme. The South Wales Gas Pipeline was constructed in 2005-2007, extending from the Pembrokeshire coast to Gloucestershire. It was not a direct route: the Brecon Beacons lay in the way. So…
Excavating Surrey
The county is one that historically suffers from being overlooked: its proximity, and partial absorption, into Greater London risks obscuring its significance.
Protected places and prehistoric pints
Abydos was not only the earliest brewery and the forerunner of the great royal cemeteries... it was also the birthplace of the funeral wake and possibly too of the mass hangover.
Saint-Bélec Slab
What is it? This engraved stone dating to the early Bronze Age (c.1900-1650 BC) is known as the Saint-Bélec Slab. Made of grey-blue coloured schist, the slab is c.2.2m long, 1.53m wide, and 0.16m thick. New research suggests that the…
Queen Adelaide’s castle in the Tuscan marches
Thanks to modern scientific analyses, the every-day circumstances of Tuscany’s Dark Age peoples are no longer mute. One thing is certain from this excavation: objects and nature played an active part in transforming the primitive experiences of Tuscany’s 9th-century peasants and their early feudal masters into some of the most sophisticated lifestyles in Europe by the 12th century.
Bid launched to secure Culloden battlefield as world heritage site
To coincide with the battle’s 275th anniversary, which fell earlier this year, the National Trust of Scotland (NTS) has published a manifesto, which it hopes the Scottish parliament will back, to grant the site UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Hadrian’s Wall: creating division
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.
Excavating Glamorgan and Monmouthsire
This publication features, among other highlights, the extraordinary, emotive survival of a series of footprints made by a Mesolithic child.
Hadrian’s Wall: Creating Division
Symonds provides a particularly accessible and entertaining overview of this complex monument, including the history of its construction and the role of the Wall in later history.
Digging Dunragit’s prehistoric past
If these post-holes form part of this larger complex, it would mean the entire site extends for 2.5km across the landscape, making in one of the most significant prehistoric ceremonial clusters in Britain, perhaps on a par with those at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, and even on Salisbury Plain.
Arabia’s mustatils identified as the earliest monumental landscape
The discovery of cattle horns and skull fragments during the excavation has been interpreted as an apparent offering, and as confirmation that the structures were built for a ritual, cultic, or religious purpose.
Eroding evidence of prehistoric Orkney
A massive incised rock has recently been discovered at the northern end of the Bay of Skaill in Orkney.
Illuminating St Kilda’s Iron Age inhabitants
A newly published report from GUARD Archaeology has revealed evidence for the Iron Age inhabitation of St Kilda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and isolated archipelago located 64km west of the Outer Hebrides.
Stringbags to Star Wars: an archaeology of airfields
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.
Excavating the past of south Wales
This revealed much about life in ‘Roman’ Wales, in both its modest urbanised centres and its wider hinterlands.
Altai rock art: Visions of the past in Mongolia
Survey and excavation in a remote region of Mongolia are revealing a wealth of information about an extraordinary concentration of rock art.
Life, Death, and Rubbish Disposal in Roman Norton, North Yorkshire: excavations at Brooklyn House, 2015-2016
Detailing excavations at Brooklyn House in Norton-on-Derwent, carried out by JB Archaeological Services between 2015 and 2016, this comprehensive site report sheds new light on this area of Roman Britain. Lying north-west of York, the modern town of Norton is…
Landscape and Settlement in the Vale of York: archaeological excavations at Heslington East, York, 2003-2013
York is well-known for the archaeology of its Roman, Anglian, Viking, and medieval periods of occupation, but the prehistoric and Roman archaeology of its rural hinterland is much less visible, despite an increasing number of development-led excavations. The projected expansion…
Excavating the CA Archive: North Wales
From prehistoric Anglesey to Snowdonia's slate industry: Joe Flatman explores half a century of reports from the past
Elizabethan gardens found in Warwickshire
The remains of an extravagant but previously unknown garden from the Elizabethan period have recently been revealed at Coleshill in Warwickshire. The site was first identified a few years ago during an aerial survey that revealed the remains of Coleshill…
Stonehenge: a recycled Welsh monument
Recent research has potentially identified an intriguing new connection between Stonehenge and a partially dismantled stone circle in south-west Wales – furthering the connection between these two areas during the Neolithic period. Previous work on the origins of Stonehenge’s smaller…
The First Kingdom: Britain in the Age of Arthur
‘The past lies in fragments… one might just as well try to reconstruct the idea of a tree from its leaves, or an ocean wave from a dripping tap.’ So writes Max Adams, author of The First Kingdom, a wide-ranging…
Offa’s Dyke Journal, Volume 1
The archaeological societies founded in the 19th century embraced all aspects of the discipline, and from about the beginning of the 20th century societies came to be formed. In recent years, they have been joined by more-specialist societies and journals.…
Roman villa revealed near Wrexham
The remains of a Roman villa have been revealed near Rossett, Wrexham. It is the first site of its kind to be found in north-east Wales, adding to our knowledge of the region during this period. The first clues to…
Tomen y Mur, Snowdonia National Park
Tomen y Mur was abandoned by AD 130, but had lasting political and cultural significance into the medieval period.
Excavating the CA Archive: Yorkshire 1
The archaeological riches of God's Own Country: Joe Flatman explores half a century of reports from the past
Old Oswestry Hillfort and its Landscape: ancient past, uncertain future
Sharing elements with a standard regional study of a hillfort in geographical context, this series of papers is distinctly wider in scope. It is neither underpinned by recent excavation, nor by reassessment in detail of the 1930s interventions. Instead, ten…
The Giant’s story revisited: identifying the Cerne Abbas hill figure as ‘The Choice of Hercules’
Following our feature exploring the Cerne Abbas Giant’s date, Brian Edwards offers some thought-provoking insights into the Dorset hill figure’s historical context.
Investigating the age of the Cerne Abbas hill figure
The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55m-tall chalk hill figure depicting a nude man, has been in the care of the National Trust for 100 years. To mark this anniversary, small-scale excavations retrieved dating samples from the Dorset landmark – and, although the present lockdown has put analysis on hold, intriguing clues are already beginning to emerge. Mike Allen and Martin Papworth report.
Letters from CA May 2020/June 2020
Early insights into Callanish Site XI I was an active amateur archaeologist on the Isle of Lewis between 1975 and 1984, working with Margaret Curtis, who was then my wife. She remained on the island when I relocated to my…
Recent Roman discoveries during the A1 upgrade in North Yorkshire
In 2018, Highways England opened an upgraded section of motorway on the A1 in North Yorkshire. Construction of the new road prompted a series of large-scale excavations, with illuminating results. Stuart Ross and Cath Ross present some of the preliminary findings.
The Palpa figures: were these images created before the Nasca lines?
Survey near the town of Palpa, Peru, has revealed a wealth of geoglyphs that appear to be older than their celebrated neighbours at Nasca. Luis Jaime Castillo, Johny Isla, Fabrizio Serván, and Karla Patroni reveal what has been found, and why these images seem to have been aimed at a very different audience to the Nasca lines.
Managing the Wall: How to care for a 73-mile-long monument
Hadrian’s Wall was built to safeguard the Roman frontier – today, the fortification itself needs special care. Humphrey Welfare discusses the unique challenges of managing a monument that runs from coast to coast and spans diverse authority areas.
Community spirit: Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria
For Historic England, Hadrian’s Wall has always been a site needing active research – many questions about the frontier remain unanswered, and only by the kind of refreshed understanding that research brings, and by addressing the interests and concerns of the public, can the frontier remain relevant.