News

Uncovering Scotland’s earliest railway

Excavations along the disused Tranent–Cockenzie Waggonway have revealed a section of the historic rail route and uncovered new details about its use and construction that could potentially alter our understanding of railway innovations. The Tranent–Cockenzie Waggonway was the first railway…

World news

Stone tools on Sulawesi Excavations at a site called Calio, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, have found new evidence of the island’s occupation by early hominin species. Carried out between 2019 and 2022 by a joint team from Indonesia…

Leicester Market’s secrets uncovered

Ongoing excavations at Leicester’s market are uncovering new details about the city, stretching from its role as an important Roman settlement through to the post-medieval period. Redevelopment of the marketplace began in July of this year, and the University of…

UK news in brief

New project to study ‘bog bodies’ A new project, entitled ‘Bog Biographies’ and led by researchers at Coventry University, is aiming to improve understanding of the Iron Age phenomenon of ‘bog bodies’. This period appears to have seen a significant…

Concerns for Mount Sinai

The Egyptian government’s ‘Great Transfiguration Project’ for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mount Sinai – the location of the 6th century Monastery of St Catherine – has caused international concern, and calls for the area to be placed on…

Rare Egyptian hat

A rare felt hat from the Roman Period has gone on display for the first time at Bolton Museum, in the north-west of Britain, following conservation work. Dating to c.AD 200, the hat is thought to have belonged to a…

New Canopus Decree stela

A new and complete version of the Ptolemaic Canopus Decree has been found by an Egyptian team working at Tell Far’oun (Tell Nabasha) in Egypt’s Sharqia Governorate. Unlike other surviving versions of this decree, which are trilingual (written in hieroglyphic,…

Purifying the Great Pyramid

A new air-purification system has been installed inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu to stabilise humidity levels within the monument and prevent the erosion of the inner walls. The improved air quality will also provide a more comfortable environment for…

Rare Ptolemaic coin

Another recent find connected to Berenice II has been announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority. A rare gold coin depicting the Ptolemaic queen without her consort (and a cornucopia on the reverse) has been discovered during the excavation of a…

Sunken treasures

The Egyptian Department of Underwater Antiquities has recovered three heavy ancient artefacts from the seabed off the coast at Abu Qir Bay in Alexandria. One of them is a large quartz sphinx bearing the cartouches of Ramesses II. The team…

Copper-smelting workshop

An Egyptian team excavating the Wadi el-Nasab site in south Sinai has discovered a copper-smelting and -casting workshop with administrative buildings at what was one of the most important ancient mining centres. Copper ingots of different sizes and shapes were…

Ancient Egypt news in brief

• The gold bracelet of the Twenty-first Dynasty pharaoh Amenemope was recently stolen from the conservation laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Arrests were made but, sadly, the bracelet had already been melted down for gold. • An ancient…

World news

Large Iron Age settlement found in Czechia Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a large settlement dating to between the 3rd and 1st century BC in the Hradec Králové region of north-east Bohemia, Czechia. First discovered in 2023 during investigations…

Studying the ‘Plastic Age’

Increasingly, archaeologists are concerned with the here and now. This is evident in a new study, led by researchers from the University of York, which has examined how our discipline can deal with modern materials. In particular, they consider the…

Intact Etruscan chamber tomb discovered

An untouched Etruscan chamber tomb dating to the 7th century BC has been uncovered in the San Giuliano necropolis in Lazio, central Italy. Investigations in the area have been carried out since 2016 by the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project,…

An impressive Iron Age settlement

Archaeologists have uncovered a large settlement from the La Tène period in the Hradec Králové region of north-east Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. The discovery was first made in 2023 along the route of a proposed motorway and subsequently investigated…

Stone tools on Sulawesi

Stone tools recently discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are rewriting the story of the early human occupation of island Southeast Asia. Perhaps the most famous hominin from this region is Homo floresiensis (the ‘Hobbit’), a small-statured species found…

The face of Lake Lednica

A wooden beam decorated with a lifelike human face has been discovered in Lake Lednica, Poland. Systematic underwater archaeological research in Lake Lednica has been taking place since the 1980s and has uncovered a wealth of material. Among the finds…

Communal feasting in the Central Zagros

Analysis of wild boar remains discovered at a site in the Zagros Mountains in Iran points to long-distance transport of animals for a ceremonial gathering in the Early Neolithic. The animal remains were discovered in 2016 when excavations at the…

CWA news in brief

Pompeii reoccupied after eruption Excavations at Pompeii have uncovered evidence that certain areas of the city were reoccupied after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. This had been suggested before, but previous excavations focused on reaching Pompeii’s pre-destruction levels…