Neolithic

The Past

Neolithic Quiz

In which English county would you find Silbury Hill, the tallest Neolithic human-made mound in Europe?

Left A view of one of the more complex houses in Çatalhöyük: Building 52.

Neolithic Turkey: investigating the transition to settled and farming lifestyles on the Konya Plain

The Konya Plain presents an extraordinary glimpse of what the shift from a mobile existence to Neolithic lifestyles could mean for individuals. Douglas Baird, Ian Hodder, and Michele Massa share some exciting results from the long-running investigations of a set of sites in central Anatolia.

Above Archaeologists believe they may have discovered the home of the Neolithic community that constructed the tumuli at Tusson, 2km from the megalithic site. below These reconstruction images show how the site might have looked in its prime, with several houses at the pinnacle of a small promontory, surrounded by natural defences, and protected by a

Uncovering the home of the monument-builders

Archaeologists have discovered a settlement site belonging to the builders of some of Europe’s earliest Neolithic monuments.

Ponteland’s prehistoric past: tracing life and death on the edge of the Northumberland Coastal Plain

Recent excavations on the south-western part of the Northumberland Coastal Plain have revealed an early Bronze Age ring-ditch with a remarkable sequence of human burials. Milena Grzybowska, who analysed the human remains, reports on this discovery and other prehistoric features in its immediate vicinity.

Right The engraved surface of the Whixall Stone, an example of late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art recently found in Shropshire.

Found and lost: tracing a later prehistoric engraved stone from Shropshire

When a rock carved with late prehistoric imagery was uncovered in Shropshire – a county where examples of ancient artwork are notably scarce – it was recognised as a very significant find. George Nash reports on the discovery, its motifs, its place in British rock-art research, and its uncertain future.

Rethinking Roundhouses: later prehistoric settlement in Britain and beyond

Review by Trevor Creighton This book is, in part, an update of D W Harding’s 2009 publication, The Iron Age Roundhouse. Significant new insights from the author justify the updated title, however. The chronology now extends from the later Neolithic…

Signalling and Performance: ancient rock art in Britain and Ireland

Review by Ceri Pennington This book presents a compilation of new interpretations of prehistoric rock art across Britain and Ireland. The beautifully illustrated volume is filled with images displaying art from a range of different sites. Case studies originate from…

Excavating the Lowlands and Borders

The Scots borders have it all in terms of archaeological content. Within a discrete area, this column spans the Neolithic through to the post-medieval period

The rise of royalty in prehistoric Europe

Extraordinary burials discovered in south-eastern Europe marked out individuals even at a time of egalitarian societies. Attila Gyucha and William A Parkinson guide us through spectacular finds from eleven countries that show how the elite grew their power in prehistory.

World news in brief: Neolithic burials, early bone weapons, and the Notre-Dame’s dead

A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the world.

Science Notes: Recreating Neolithic violence

A recent study aimed to determine whether stone axes and adzes – common tools during the Neolithic – were also used as weapons.

UK news in brief: digging at the Ness of Brodgar, researching Saxon burials, and analysing a Viking Age boat

A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the UK.

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The Past

Neolithic monument in northern Arabia yields evidence of ritual activity

‘It looks like cattle, goats, and gazelles were brought to the site, potentially slaughtered there and then presented to what is probably a stone representation of an unknown deity.'

Below Tollund Man, a naturally mummified individual who died in the Early Iron Age, is one of the best known bog bodies in Europe.

Bog bodies: complex human connections with wetlands, death, and burial

New research is expanding our understanding of the human remains deposited in peatlands around Europe.

Left Archaeologists working in Slovakia have discovered a mass grave containing 38 headless

Headless skeletons uncovered in Neolithic mass grave

The positions of the skeletons indicate that they were thrown or rolled into the grave, and many of the remains are disarticulated or incomplete.

The Past

Home of Neolithic monument makers discovered in France

The settlement was discovered by a team of researchers at the site of Le Peu in the Charente department, a landscape scattered with Middle Neolithic (c.3700-4700 BC) dolmens and long barrows.

Cave in Cumbria used for centuries of burials

The cave was first excavated in 1958, when a Bronze Age urn and some human skeletons were discovered, but more recent work has shed vivid light on its contents.

Current Archaeology Award Winners for 2023 announced

We are pleased to share the winners of year’s CA Awards, announced on 25 February at Current Archaeology Live! 2023.

The ‘peaceful Neolithic’ is dead: the dawn of agriculture coincided with rising violence

In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we will explore the evidence for this hypothesis, and examine how violence-related injuries are distinguished in archaeological human remains.

Down the Bright Stream: the prehistory of Woodcock Corner and the Tregurra Valley, Cornwall

Review by Jacqueline A Nowakowski A late Neolithic decorated slate disc adorns the front cover of this substantial and well-illustrated publication. Down the Bright Stream presents full technical reports on excavations (2009-2015) in Tregurra Valley by Cornwall Archaeological Unit. Key…

Left Detail of a male figure in high relief, flanked by two leopards, on a bench in a Neolithic building in Sayburç, Turkey. Above Five figures are carved on to the bench, possibly forming two related scenes.

Neolithic narrative scene identified in Turkey

The discovery was made during excavations that uncovered two separate clusters of Pre-Pottery Neolithic buildings at the site.

Above Imaginative reconstruction of a Western Desert Neolithic settlement, based on archaeological evidence from sites mentioned in the text.

Neolithic settlements of the Western Desert: Proto-villages of Stone Age Egypt

Following his exploration of rock art in the Western Desert in AE 127, Julian Heath continues his occasional series exploring Egypt’s prehistoric past, looking for evidence for the earliest settlements in the Western Desert.

Re-excavating Arminghall Henge: a burnt timber circle from prehistoric Norfolk

Last September, an excavation at Arminghall Henge in Norfolk reopened a trench first dug by Grahame Clark almost a century earlier – revealing a glimpse of a large timber monument that may have met a fiery end. Andy Hutcheson, Matt Brudenell, and Mark Knight report.

Excavating Orkney and Shetland

before I leave the Mainland, I must mention one other site of this era, the stunning Neolithic house at St Ola, just south of Kirkwall... Here was discovered the oldest art yet found on the islands.

The Knowe of Swandro: excavating eroding archaeology on Rousay

In the concluding part of our Orkney trilogy (see also CA 394 and 395), Carly Hilts reports on her visit to the Knowe of Swandro on Rousay, where Julie Bond and Caz Mamwell took her through the latest findings from this long-lived but rapidly eroding site.

Neolithic axe-grinding site discovered near Stirling

It appears that this site had been a significant place for local communities for millennia.

Conference | Current Archaeology Live! 2023

We’re getting ready to hear leading experts discussing archaeology from across the UK and abroad, and we hope you can join us on 25 February (Saturday) for another stimulating and enjoyable conference. Tickets are selling fast, so book now.

Opposite The Penywyrlod long cairn photographed from the air during excavation in 2016, with Mynydd Troed on the horizon. top Penywyrlod: an aerial view from the north east in 2003, showing the impact of quarrying in the 1970s, when stone was removed to create a platform for a nearby farm building, before the archaeological significance of the cairn was realised. Cadw has since protected the mound using geotextile sacks filled with earth and sand, seeded with wildflowers, reconstructing the shape of the mound. above Penywyrlod and Mynydd Troed at ground level.

Pondering Penywyrlod: in search of the early origins of the Cotswold-Severn long cairn and barrow group

The title of The First Stones, a newly published book edited by William Britnell and Alasdair Whittle, proclaims a bold new thesis: that the Neolithic long cairn at Penywyrlod, in the Black Mountains of south-east Wales, is one of the earliest of its kind. With the benefit of 50 new radiocarbon dates, and new ways of modelling those dates using Bayesian analysis, its authors revisit excavations that first took place in the 1970s – and argue that this distinctive monument represents the birth of a new tomb-building tradition, as Chris Catling discovers.

The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: the carved stone balls of late Neolithic Scotland

Review by Hugo Anderson-Whymark Carved stone balls are one of Scotland’s most intriguing Neolithic artefacts. Some 500 of these palm-sized stone spheres are known, with most found in Aberdeenshire. This monograph is the first solely devoted to the study of…

Below Overlooking excavations at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney. This site is home to dozens of large Neolithic buildings, the first of which was discovered 20 years ago. The Stenness Stones and the remains of Barnhouse’s late Neolithic settlement lie just across the bridge.

The Ness of Brodgar: marking 20 years of Neolithic discoveries

Since the first hints of Neolithic masonry emerged at the Ness of Brodgar in 2003, two decades of excavations have uncovered an extraordinary complex of monumental stone buildings dating back 5,000 years. The site continues to revolutionise our understanding of this period of prehistory both in Orkney and further afield, and last summer Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Nick Card to find out the latest news from the Ness.

The Past

Neolithic carvings discovered in Turkey may represent the earliest-known narrative scene

The relief panels depict interactions between humans and the animal world.

Our traditional Christmas has deep roots in the prehistoric pagan past. Archaeologist Paul Frodsham has been tracing the cultural links between midwinter rituals at Stonehenge (left) and ‘Merry Old Santa Claus’, as depicted here by Thomas Nast in Harper’s Weekly in 1881 (above).

From Stonehenge to Santa Claus: the archaeology of Christmas

What does Stonehenge have to do with Christmas? How did the Romans celebrate midwinter? Was Jesus really born on 25 December? How did the Medieval church merge the celebration of the Nativity with earlier pagan tradition? Why did Parliament abolish Christmas in the 17th century? What are the origins of Christmas trees, carols, and crackers? And who is Santa Claus?