Cereal consumption at Hebridean crannogs
Chemical analysis of pottery found in the waters surrounding crannogs in Scotland has revealed that cereals were cooked in pots and mixed with dairy products, and occasionally meat.
Neolithic
Stonehenge and Middle to Late Neolithic Cremation Rites in Mainland Britain (c.3500-2500 BC)
In the middle-to-late Neolithic in southern and eastern Britain a number of important monumental landscapes were host to a series of cremation cemeteries, the deposition of the dead in some cases being a catalyst and inspiration for the elaborate monument-building and…
Coring crannogs: a multi-pronged approach to assessing lake sediments
Biomolecular and mineralogical techniques applied to lake settlements obtained from Scottish and Irish crannogs have yielded genetic and environmental data, providing evidence of animal butchery and feasting.
Early farming practices at Balbridie brought to light
Analysis of cereal grains recovered from Neolithic sites in Scotland have revealed that the first farmers adapted their methods based on individual soil conditions.
Footprints on Merseyside beach shine light on biodiversity in Ancient Britain
The footprint beds reveal that the intertidal landscapes of Mesolithic Britain were hubs of human and animal activity for the first few thousand years after the last glacial period.
Hundreds of prehistoric hunting traps identified across the Arabian desert
These monumental structures, termed 'kites', consist of low stone walls that stretch hundreds of metres and lead to an enclosure, in which gazelles and other game could have been trapped.
Exhibitions, events, and heritage from home across the UK
As autumn approaches, there are many fantastic opportunities to get involved in history, heritage, and archaeology around the UK, including new exhibitions, events, and conferences. There are also still plenty of online resources available if you’re looking for ways to get your heritage fix at home, ranging from new virtual museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.
CWA 115 Crossword, and answers to 114
Crossword, cartoon, and more
La Hougue Bie, Jersey Island story
An elevated medieval chapel may be the most noticeable thing in this picture of the beautiful La Hougue Bie near Grouville in Jersey, but the vast mound that this stone structure crowns has much older origins.
Rock crystal commemorations in the Neolithic
The quartz was brought to Dorstone Hill as whole crystals, which were then worked into smaller flakes, blades, and cores.
How to Build Stonehenge
Review by Susan Greaney. This elegant new volume is the first book for over 60 years to focus specifically on how the world-famous Neolithic monument of Stonehenge was constructed. The narrative progresses through the step-by-step process of the extraction, transport,…
Designed to enchant: the great dolmens of Neolithic northern Europe
The word ‘dolmen’ – derived from the Breton taol maen (‘stone table’) – is regarded as a folk term for Neolithic monuments that consist of a massive capstone supported by three or more upright stones, or orthostats. Archaeologists have sought to subdivide these monuments into more precise typological categories, but Vicki Cummings and Colin Richards, the authors of Monuments in the Making, politely suggest that they are wrong to do so. Is it time to reclaim the word? Chris Catling reports.
Scenes from Prehistoric Life: from the Ice Age to the coming of the Romans
Review by Molly Masterson. In just a few hundred pages, Scenes from Prehistoric Life takes readers on a journey through 900,000 years of prehistory, weaving a narrative that connects the ancient and historic pasts and the more recent memories provided…
This week: Butser Ancient Farm
'Through a series of spectacular experiments, the archaeologist Peter Reynolds... told us more about Iron Age buildings and agriculture than most of the excavations of that period put together,' said The Guardian in its 2001 obituary of the first director of Butser Ancient Farm, the pioneering archaeological open-air museum nestling in the South Downs, which is now celebrating its 50th birthday.
Cissbury Ring: Neolithic flint-mines in the digital age
Seventy years after John Pull’s excavations at Cissbury Ring transformed our understanding of Neolithic flint-mining, an innovative new interpretive trail has been launched at the West Sussex landmark. Carly Hilts visited the site with James Brown and James Sainsbury to find out more.
News in brief: Maeshowe reopens and Historic England funds project investigating Shakespeare’s hometown
A round-up of the latest archaeological news from around the UK.
The archaeology of Black Cat Quarry: farming, flooding, and fighting in the Great Ouse valley
Recent excavations at Black Cat Quarry in Bedfordshire have revealed a story of farming communities spanning the Neolithic to the early medieval period, as well as the possible remains of an important Viking encampment described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Ben Dyson, who supervised the majority of excavations and undertook the post-excavation analysis for Archaeological Research Services Ltd, explains more.
‘Prehistoric farming settlement’ found on North York Moors
A community excavation led by DigVentures has unearthed post-holes and artefacts thought to date from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Roman periods.
This week: Mapping the cosmos
These days, we take it for granted that we carry the world – and the cosmos – in our pockets. Powerful smart phones and ever-more-sophisticated technology mean that we can summon up highly detailed maps both of the earth and the heavens above with just a few taps of the screen. It was not always like this, of course.
CWA 113 Crossword – May 2022
Across 7 Phoenician city state destroyed by Rome in 146 BC (8) 9 Light cavalryman originating in Hungary in the 15th century (6) 10 Sailing vessel developed in Macau in the 16th century (6) 11 Germanic people who invaded Italy…
Early ear surgery
Analysis of the remains of an elderly woman buried at the Dolmen of El Pendón, in northern Spain, has identified the earliest known evidence of successful ear surgery, 5,300 years ago. The skull was discovered by researchers from the University…
Prehistoric pioneers: how female migrants changed the face of Bronze Age Orkney
Analysis of human remains from the Links of Noltland, Westray, has revealed the first concrete evidence of a major influx of non-local people into Orkney during the Bronze Age – and, uniquely for the period, it appears that this movement of migrants was dominated by women. Carly Hilts reports.
This week: Links of Noltland
The perfectly preserved Stone Age village of Skara Brae is perhaps Orkney's most celebrated ancient site, offering stunning proof that these northerly islands were once at the cutting edge of Neolithic civilisation. But Skara Brae was only inhabited from about 3200 to 2200 BC – after which date, according to the traditional view, Orkney's fortunes slipped into a decline from which they were slow to recover.
8,500-year-old structures represent the earliest-known in the United Arab Emirates
Hundreds of stone artefacts, including finely worked arrowheads likely used for hunting, were also unearthed.
Neolithic ritual complex discovered in Jordan
Two stelae are examples of some of the oldest artistic expressions in the Middle East.
Earliest evidence of ear surgery identified in Neolithic skull
Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed a 5,300-year-old Neolithic skull bearing the earliest known evidence of ear surgery ‘in the history of humankind’. Since 2016, excavations at the Dolmen of El Pendón in Burgos, Spain, have shed light on a megalithic…
Exhibitions, events, and heritage from home in Spring and Summer 2022
There are lots of great heritage-related opportunities to get out and about this spring, with conferences to attend, exhibitions to visit, and excavations to sign up for. Or, if you’d prefer, there are still many archaeology-, history-, and heritage-related resources and activities to enjoy at home, whether you’re looking for a virtual tour of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a podcast about transatlantic shipwrecks, or online games designed for children. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
CA Letters – April 2022
Your views on the latest issues in Current Archaeology.
Was Stonehenge a solar calendar?
Recent geochemical research has found that most of the sarsen stones come from the same geographical area
From landscape to latex: recording rock art in the Tagus River Basin
In the 1970s, prehistoric rock art was found in the Tagus River Basin, just as a dam project was set to raise water levels. In a race against time, archaeologists sought to find a way to record thousands of images before they were submerged. Now the results have been carefully studied using a variety of new technological approaches. Sara Garcês and George Nash tell the remarkable story of one of Europe’s principal rock-art areas.
‘Hippy’ archaeologists
The ‘hippy generation’ prefers to tell archaeological narratives that paint our ancestors as egalitarian, caring for weaker members of society and welcoming migrants for the new skills and ideas.
Bretons and Britons: exploring prehistoric Britain’s French connection
The fact that Britain and Brittany have similar names is more than coincidental. The two places have enmeshed histories, as Barry Cunliffe discusses in his latest book, Bretons and Britons. Chris Catling reports on the periods in prehistory when the people of the two cultures facing each other across the Channel were particularly close.
Excavating Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Dramatic evidence was found here for Iron Age ritual practices: parts of at least five human bodies were discovered, arranged round the western edge of a shallow hollow filled full of articulated animal bones.
The world of Stonehenge: placing a famous monument in context
A new exhibition at the British Museum explores the landscape that Stonehenge emerged from, and the social, cultural, and technological transformations it witnessed. Neil Wilkin and Jennifer Wexler told CA more.
Prehistoric Rock Art in Scotland: archaeology, meaning and engagement
Over the past 50 years or so, the later prehistoric open-air rock art of Scotland has received much useful attention with the sterling work of researchers Ronald Morris and Stan Beckensall. It is only recently, though, that interest through Historic…
Family matters: tracing kinship links in a Neolithic tomb
Genetic analysis of 35 individuals buried in a Gloucestershire long cairn has reconstructed a 5,700-year-old family tree spanning five generations, shedding unprecedented light on Neolithic social structures and how people of this period related to each other. Carly Hilts reports.