Obsidian was highly valued by many cultures across Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, including the Mexica (Aztecs), for its natural lustre and sharpness, which made it a perfect material for both highly polished ornaments and the production of tools. Analysis of obsidian artefacts…
New analysis of a hominin skull previously believed to represent a new species of ancient human suggests that it may in fact be a Denisovan. The Denisovans were first discovered in 2010, when ancient DNA from a finger bone in…
A Viking Age burial site has been uncovered at Lisbjerg, near Aarhus, in Denmark. Excavations carried out by archaeologists from Moesgaard Museum have revealed 30 burials, although it is possible that there could be more in the surrounding area. The…
Cave treasures In 2023, two speleologists exploring the Cave of Tlayócoc in south-western Mexico came across a collection of 500-year-old objects. Archaeologists from INAH investigated further, revealing that the assemblage consisted of 14 artefacts in total, including three engraved shell…
A trove of helmets dating from the First and Second World Wars has been discovered by archaeologists in Poland. Road-construction workers found more than 50 helmets lying just beneath the surface on Koszarowa Street in the city of Wrocław. The…
The site of what is believed to be the world’s first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp will soon be open to visitors. The Norman Cross Camp, just south of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, was established by the British government during the Napoleonic Wars.…
A new museum dedicated to the spies who uncovered many enemy secrets during the Second World War has appointed its first director. Giuseppe Albano was recently named as the head of Trent Park House of Secrets, which is due to…
More than 250 years after she was sunk, the final resting place of the vessel commanded by Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery has been confirmed. HMS Endeavour, which Cook used to map the Pacific Ocean and…
The first UK festival dedicated to military history will take place in Hereford this autumn. Tickets have gone on sale for the three-day event in late September, which organisers say will include ‘a rich and varied programme of talks, panel…
In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we are examining amino acid geochronology (AAG) – a dating technique that can be used to help date the whole Quaternary period, from c.2 million years ago up to the present day. Recently, a team…
Napoleonic war camp saved for the nation The first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp in the world – dating from the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars – has been saved for future generations through its recent purchase by Nene Park Trust, with…
Following the discovery of more pieces of the Bromeswell Bucket at Sutton Hoo last year (see CA 414), the fragments have now been micro-excavated, revealing its intact base along with the cremated remains of both human and animal bones. The…
New dating evidence from the burials found at the Iron Age hillfort of Maiden Castle, in Dorset, has revealed that they were interred over a period of a century or more, and were not all from one mass casualty evident.…
The medieval Eaglais na h-Aoidhe (St Columba’s Church) stands on the coastline at Aiginis on the Isle of Lewis. In 2015, coastal erosion threatened to undermine parts of the Scheduled church and graveyard site and revealed deeply stratified midden layers.…
A community excavation within Moira Demesne – a public park in Northern Ireland – has revealed finds spanning from prehistory through to the 18th century. Once the location of a fine country house called Moira Castle, the excavation is being…
Four archaeological samples taken from contexts spanning in date from the early Iron Age to the medieval period have tested positive for Borrelia recurrentis – a bacterium that causes relapsing fever, an illness with many recurring episodes of fever. It…
Dionysian frieze discovered in Pompeii Ongoing excavations of a grand domus in Pompeii’s Insula 10, Regio IX, have revealed a series of spectacular finds, including a dining room decorated with scenes from the Trojan War (CA 412), a lararium or…
A ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey conducted on the open spaces of Lincoln Castle has revealed a series of archaeological features, including previously unknown structures that probably pre-date the Norman castle and which add to our overall understanding of the evolution…
A new Fifth Dynasty tomb has been discovered at Saqqara by an Egyptian mission led by the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities and Heritage. The 4,400-year-old tomb belongs to Userafra, a previously unknown son…
The owner of a tomb discovered in the 1970s in el-Assasif has finally been identified by a joint Egyptian-Canadian (University of Ontario) mission. Following the first archaeological work since the discovery of the tomb, known as Kampp 23, the team…
Recent excavations at Tell Abu Saifi in the Qantara region (Ismailia) have revealed new military architecture at the site of two fortresses dating back to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Located in the northern Sinai Desert, the ‘Fortress of the…
A number of well-preserved Third Intermediate Period tombs have been uncovered at the Ramesseum by a French-Egyptian mission (the Supreme Council of Archaeology and the French National Research Centre and Sorbonne University). The tombs, discovered in the north-eastern area, contained…
The cartouches of an Egyptian king, discovered on a rock face in Jordan a decade ago, have now been documented, and confirmed as an inscription of Ramesses III (c.1184-1153 BC). The first such Egyptian inscription to be found in Jordan,…
As we were going to press, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of three new tombs in Dra‘ Abu el-Naga on the West Bank of Luxor. Dating to the New Kingdom, the three tombs, each with a…
• Egyptian and Greek pottery discovered by Israeli archaeologists at Megiddo (‘Armageddon’) confirms that Egyptian forces and Greek mercenaries were present around the period of the biblical battle between King Josiah and Pharaoh Necho II, c.609 BC. • A recently…
In ‘Science Notes’, we often talk about how new technologies are revolutionising our approach to archaeology. And while this is most certainly still the case, the reliability of previous methods can sometimes be taken for granted. This month we are…
Restoration work at a former Tudor hunting lodge – the Ashes in Cumbria – has revealed beautiful paintings lurking beneath the failing plasterwork. The paintings were discovered in the primary upstairs bedroom of the lodge, and are believed to date…
Roman battlefield burial uncovered A mass grave was discovered in autumn last year during construction work being carried out in Simmering, a district of Vienna, Austria. The subsequent excavation of the site uncovered around 150 individuals buried within a 5m…
A Roman lime kiln – possibly one of the first to be excavated in Gloucestershire – was discovered during excavations at Horsbere Brook at the Centre Severn development in Barnwood, a suburb of Gloucester. Excavations of the site were carried…
As excavations continue on the Fonmon Castle estate, north-west of Cardiff Airport, more intriguing details have been revealed, including the remains of an Iron Age settlement. Over the past couple of digging seasons, the team from Cardiff University has been…
Found in 1979 on Gallows Hill in Thetford, Norfolk, the Thetford Hoard was originally believed to have been buried in the second half of the 4th century AD. Now Ellen Swift from the University of Kent has re-examined the components…
Recent research carried out by Project Ancient Tin, an initiative led by Benjamin Roberts and R Alan Williams from the University of Durham (published in Antiquity: ), has found that a large proportion of sampled tin ingots on Mediterranean shipwrecks…
Two locations on the Isle of Skye have recently revealed evidence for occupation during the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP). Now new research (published in the Journal of Quaternary Science: ) into the environment at this time shows that these Palaeolithic…
Rare photographs of Second World War filmmaking revealed To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Historic England’s Archive has released a collection of photographs capturing behind-the-scenes stills of RAF film productions. The collection was put together by Dorothy ‘Knicky’…
New research is exploring the sophisticated metalworking involved in the creation of the famous Nebra Sky Disc.
An assemblage of bone tools found in Tanzania is revolutionising our understanding of early human technologies.