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Iberian Iron Age massacre The Iron Age settlement of La Hoya in the Ebro River Valley in Spain was discovered in 1935 and excavated between 1973 and 1990. It was known then that a violent attack must have taken place,…

Anglo-Saxon ‘warrior’ burial uncovered

The grave of a 6th-century man – a possible warrior – has been uncovered on a hilltop near Marlow, overlooking the Thames Valley. Its location within the borderlands of prominent neighbouring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms – at different times Wessex, Kent, and…

Return to Rat Island

Remains from a minimum of 11 individuals – doubling the number so far found – were recorded and retrieved under license.

Ancient Russian battle-axes discovered

This is a significant event for Russian archaeology, since no similar site has been uncovered for the past quarter-century.

Below Dug into beach shingle, the graves held relatively well preserved human remains contained in wooden coffins. The bones of nine individuals were recovered during the recent excavation.

Exercise Magwitch and the prisoners of Rat Island

Popular legend has long told of the presence of graves on an island in Portsmouth Harbour, holding the remains of convicted criminals or Napoleonic-era prisoners of war. In the wake of severe storms that exposed human remains below the cliff, would archaeological investigation confirm the tale? Richard Osgood reports.

Above Found with other fragmentary human remains in a pit near the Walbrook River, this skull speaks of the violent life and brutal death of the man it once belonged to. Might he have fought in London’s Roman amphitheatre?

Fighting talk: searching for gladiators in Roman London

A new exhibition, displayed amid the remains of London’s Roman amphitheatre, tells the story of the gladiators who fought in its arena. Carly Hilts spoke to Kate Sumnall about what light the material record can shed on the lives and deaths of these men.

Right The Western Road graves appeared almost random in their distribution, but closer investigation revealed method in the apparent madness.

Buried between road and river: investigating a Roman cemetery in Leicester

Until recently, Leicester’s Roman cemeteries had seen little major excavation, and their burial practices were poorly understood. Now an investigation in the city’s West End has given a wealth of new insights into the Roman town’s diverse population, as Mathew Morris reveals.

Ancient Egyptian police and punishment

Stab wounds found on Ancient Egyptian skeletons suggest corporal punishment was used at the New Kingdom site of Amarna.

Britain’s Bronze Age mummies

These remains come from sites scattered from the Scottish Highlands to Dorset, and range in date from c.2200-750 BC

Keeping the family together: Canada Farm’s Bronze Age burials

Just how quickly did Bronze Age people bury their dead? New work by Lauren Bailey, Martin Green, and Martin J Smith at Canada Farm suggests that they went to some lengths to display the deceased prior to their finally entering the earth.

Vampires or victims?

The 17th- to 18th-century graves contain features designed to stop the deceased returning after death, such as a sickle across the neck or body, and a stone beneath the chin.

Left The skulls of fallen warriors. inset One of the weapons discovered, a Germanic style axe with a preserved handle made from ash wood.

The bare bones: ritual violence in Denmark’s Holy Valley

Are the macabre remains at an Iron Age sanctuary evidence of sacrificed enemy warriors? CWA talks to Mads Kähler Holst, who made the grim finds.

LEFT The human remains discovered in trench 1 of the Grey Friars dig laid out for study in the lab. The skeleton’s feet were destroyed during an earlier disturbance of the grave, while the severe sideways curvature or scoliosis of the spine is clearly apparent. Following detailed analysis, the team concluded that these are the remains of Richard III, the last Medieval king of England.

Reconstructing Richard III: discovering the man behind the myth

On Monday 4 February the results of tests on a skeleton found beneath a Leicester carpark were announced to a global media audience. Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley stated ‘our academic conclusion, beyond reasonable doubt, is that the individual exhumed at Grey Friars in September 2012 is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England.’ Matthew Symonds and Carly Hilts look at what this momentous announcement tells us about Richard, and why the Leicester team are so confident they have got their man.

Main Image This is believed to be the earliest surviving portrait of Richard III. Executed within about 25 years of his death, it was probably based on a lost original painted during the king’s lifetime.

Richard III: the search for the last Plantagenet king

On 12 September the University of Leicester held an extraordinary press conference. They announced that a three-week dig seeking the remains of Richard III had ‘entered a new phase’ with DNA testing under way on an adult male skeleton. So what had they discovered? Richard Buckley, Jo Appleby, and Helen Foxhall Forbes told Matthew Symonds and Carly Hilts.

RIGHT The face of Late Roman Winchester? This skull from a 26 to 35 year old male hints at a multicultural 4th century AD city. A number of features including the low bridged nose, slightly projecting jaw, and small brow ridges are more in keeping with Black and Asian groups than Caucasians.

Lankhills: ethnicity and death in Late Roman Winchester

Lankhills, Winchester, is a landmark site for Roman cemetery studies. Excavations there in the 1960s set new standards and explored the evidence for different ethnic groups. More recent redevelopment provided an opportunity for Oxford Archaeology to test these findings, and make major new discoveries. The final report by Paul Booth, Andrew Simmonds, Angela Boyle, Sharon Clough, Hilary Cool, and Daniel Poore cements Lankhills’ status.