In 1653, a small Cromwellian warship was lost off the west coast of Scotland. Excavated between 1992 and 2003, the wreck of the Swan yielded finds that tell stories of cutting-edge weaponry, mishaps on board, and plunder. Now the full report has been published, Colin Martin reveals the ship’s secrets and explains why wrecks are such a valuable archaeological resource.
What did the fragmentary Bronze Age boats found around Britain look like when complete, and what were they like to handle? The best way to find out, Robert Van de Noort told Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts, is to build one yourself.
From sea shanties to the shipping forecast, boats and the sea are woven into the fabric of English life and culture, and yet we only began to take shipwrecks seriously as historical and archaeological monuments in the 1970s. Chris Catling looks at what we have gained in the 40 years since the passing of the landmark Protection of Wrecks Act in 1973.
In 1995 the discovery of part of a Royal Navy warship hidden in the Wheelwrights’ Shop at The Historic Dockyard Chatham sparked a hunt to determine both the name of the vessel and what it was doing there. Now, this unique find has proven to be the final twist in the tale of an exceptional warship, as Alex Patterson explained to Matthew Symonds.
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.
Is the Titanic archaeology? A century since her loss on 15 April 1912, we learn how recent survey has revolutionised knowledge of the wreck, transforming a lost liner into a monument to a great migration, as James Delgado told Matthew Symonds.
Crete lies in an earthquake zone. This has affected the island over the centuries, but how? Although never fully recognised, in the 1850s Captain Spratt, of the Royal Navy, worked it out. Dudley Moore explains.
In the second part of our mini-series based on Barry Cunliffe’s new book Europe between the Oceans, our focus is the period c.2800-140 BC. We see the rise and fall of great civilisations, and a looming clash between a Mediterranean-based superpower and the Celtic peoples of Iron Age Europe. Once again, it is the movement of people, goods, and ideas that is central to Cunliffe’s vision of Europe’s distinctive history.