Phoenician sacred pool aligned with stars identified off Sicilian coast
Excavations revealed temples lining the basin, along with altars, votive offerings, and stelae.
maritime archaeology
Sunken ship found off Swedish coast
It is one of the oldest cogs ever found in Europe.
Historic items from legendary warship go on display at Chatham
The remains of the ship were discovered in 1979 by local fishermen and she was designated a Historic Wreck in 1980.
Cannon from Revolutionary War raised from Savannah harbour
The finds will now be analysed, before being exhibited in the city.
Research underway to find best materials for conserving HMS Victory
Specially designed tests will assess a range of paints, caulking, glues, and metal fastenings.
Coin discovered under mast of HMS Victory
The ship is best known as Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar
A crossroads between the seas: the origins of early Christianity
Excavations in Eritrea are revealing early Christian sites from the Kingdom of Aksum. What can these places of worship reveal about cultural connections in the 6th century AD? Gabriele Castiglia, Philippe Pergola, Stefano Bertoldi, Marco Ciliberti, Elie Essa Kas Hanna, Božana Maletic´, and Matteo Pola share the secrets of an extraordinary ecclesiastical complex.
The Wrecks of HM Frigates Assurance (1753) & Pomone (1811)
In April 1753, a British frigate called the Assurance sank on the Needles, off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Its remains were rediscovered in 1969, complete with cannon, silver coins, and many other artefacts. Designated the sixth protected…
The Shipwreck Museum, Hastings, and the wreck of the Amsterdam
At very low tides, the remains of the Amsterdam, the most complete surviving example of a Dutch East India Company trading vessel, can be seen on Bulverhythe Beach near Hastings. CA Editor Carly Hilts visited the wreck, travelled to the Shipwreck Museum in Hastings’ Old Town, and spoke to Peter Marsden to find out more.
News in brief: minesweepers off Ireland, Kenyon Medal winner, and Bristol’s plague hosptial
Current Archaeology explores recent news about a WWII minesweeper HMS Mercury discovered in the Irish Sea, the winner of the Kenyon Medal which is awarded in recognition of work in fields of archaeology and Classics, and new revelations about a plague hospital in Bristol.
Professor of Archaeology Seán McGrail
His work included ethnographic research into different forms of shipbuilding, especially the construction of vessels without the use of metal fasteners, which took Seán to sites near and far, from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of India.
WWII minesweeper HMS Mercury identified in the Irish Sea
The discovery was made as part of a joint research project between maritime archaeologists at Bournemouth University and scientists at Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences.
Honor Frost (1917-2010)
Frost fitted herself out with an improvised breathing hose at a party in order to explore a 17th-century well.
Venetian beads found in arctic Alaska
Eight of the ten beads were found at Punyik Point, a site in the Brooks Range, located on ancient trade routes from the Bering Strait to the Arctic Ocean.
Breaking Seas, Broken Ships: people, shipwrecks, and Britain, 1854-2007
Broken Seas, Broken Ships is Ian Friel’s latest book on the history of ships and shipwrecks in Britain, and is the ‘sequel’ to Britain and the Open Road (2020), which covered British maritime history starting in the medieval period and…
News in brief: York’s medieval walls, a shipwreck, and Anne Boleyn’s prayer book
In the CA377 'News in brief' section, Kathryn Krakowka explores excavations in York, a survey of a warship wreck, and new inscriptions found in Anne Boleyn's prayer book.
Shipwrecks off Singapore shed light on island’s ancient maritime trade routes
The discoveries are significant as they reveal the long history of maritime trade in Singapore well before the establishment of the East India Company in 1819.
News in brief: HS2, a submarine, and medieval writers
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.
Early Royal Navy submarine prototype given protected status
The wreck of the Royal Navy’s first long-range diesel-powered submarine has been awarded protected status by the British government.
World’s ‘deepest-known shipwreck’ surveyed in the Pacific Ocean
Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, she nonetheless fought valiantly against her larger opponents, allowing time for the escort carriers she was protecting to escape. Of the ship’s 327-man crew, only 141 survived the battle.
This Week – The Mary Rose
Almost four decades have elapsed since the Mary Rose was raised and an astonishing array of new research techniques have revolutionised our thinking about the ship’s make-up, her calamitous final moments, and perhaps most poignantly, the skeletal remains of her 500-strong crew.
The Mary Rose Museum
The Mary Rose museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was reopened 471 years to the day since the sinking of Henry VIII’s flagship – for the first time giving the public a clear view of her hull
A shot at conservation: Saving the Mary Rose’s cannonballs
The arsenal of iron shot that was carried aboard Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, may have once struck fear into the hearts of the French fleet, but today they are somewhat more delicate. How do you stop the rot?
Tudor seapower: When Britannia first ruled the waves
Thirty years ago, the wreck of the Mary Rose, pride of Henry VIII’s navy, rose from the seabed to the gasps of a live TV audience of millions. Neil Faulkner takes the opportunity to review the rise of English seapower in the early 16th century.
Reinterpreting a Tudor flagship: the Mary Rose and her crew
Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, famously sank in the Solent almost 500 years ago. Her partial remains were recovered by archaeologists in 1982 – what has been learned since then? Peter Marsden explores some of the latest thinking on the Tudor vessel’s appearance and her crew.
Mary Rose Quiz
The Mary Rose was launched in 1511. In which year did she sink?
Ancient African ivory recovered from 16th-century shipwreck
A cargo of ancient African ivory recovered from a 16th-century shipwreck is shedding light on early trade networks and historical elephant populations.
World News in Brief
Domesticating dogs A study published in Scientific Reports ( s41598-020-78214-4) has proposed a new theory in the complex debate surrounding the way in which dogs came to be domesticated by early humans. It suggests that the process may have centred…
News in brief
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…
Jacques Francis
He was not, Jacques Francis insisted as prosecution witnesses tried repeatedly to have his testimony thrown out, a slave. They called him ‘blackamoor’ and ‘infidel-born’, but he called himself famulus rather than servus – a member of the household, a…
In search of sunken ships: reflections of Britain’s colonial past
Britain’s involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade and the historical injustices of colonialism and the British Empire have been much in the news in recent months. In Britain and the Ocean Road, maritime historian Ian Friel asks how Britain got caught up in these nefarious activities. Chris Catling reports on what the new book reveals.
Sharing the secrets of a 2,700-year-old Phoenician shipwreck
The initial exploration of an ancient Phoenician shipwreck discovered off the Maltese coast was reported on in CWA 88. Now, thanks to groundbreaking technological developments, the wreck can be explored underwater in minute detail using virtual reality in a new online museum. Timmy Gambin, Lucy Woods, and Maja Sausmekat take us for a closer look.
The Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo
Oliver Gilkes contemplates an ancient masterpiece plucked from the sea.
The Mayflower, 1620-2020: tracing voyages of discovery in Plymouth’s past
Four hundred years ago, the Mayflower carried around 100 would-be colonists across the Atlantic to found Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts. What can we learn of these voyagers, the city they left behind, and the impact they had on the indigenous people who were already living on the land where they settled? Carly Hilts reports.
The Thames Discovery Programme at ten
The Thames Discovery Programme – whose volunteers record the archaeology of the Thames foreshore – has recently celebrated its tenth birthday. Eliott Wragg, Nathalie Cohen, and Josh Frost explore some of the initiative’s most important findings from its first decade of life.
Ship 17: a wreck in the Nile
The emporium of Thonis-Heracleion lay at the westernmost entrance to the Nile. When this city sank into the Mediterranean, it created an extraordinary underwater repository of ancient activity, complete with ports and canals crammed with traces of ancient craft. Alexander Belov told Matthew Symonds what the first ship from the city to be excavated reveals about rivercraft that once caught Herodotus’ eye.