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Above A prototype of the Tortoise, which proved in testing to be a ‘dead end’.

A39 Tortoise Heavy Assault Tank

The Tortoise was to be a well-armoured assault vehicle that could break through heavily defended areas. But Its sheer bulk and weight meant that rail transportation was impossible, and it far exceeded the capacity of any landing craft or standard Bailey bridges.

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Forgotten faith? Tracing early Christianity in western Britain and Ireland

It used to be said that Christianity in Roman Britain was a short-lived phenomenon that sputtered out in the 5th century, needing the missionary efforts of St Columba, St Ninian, and St Augustine of Canterbury to revive it in the later 6th century. But there is now an increasing body of evidence that the religion continued to thrive as a force for learning, culture, and social organisation in the western parts of England and Wales, with links to Brittany and Ireland. Chris Catling goes in search of the latest thinking.

The Dig: ‘poetic licence aside’

This is no high-octane adventure romp, but a slow, almost meditative period piece that focuses more on the people involved in the investigation and on the looming threat of the Second World War than it does on the astonishing artefacts that were recovered from Suffolk’s sandy soil.

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Stabiae: The pursuit of leisure

Buried by Vesuvius in AD 79, the Roman seaside resort of Stabiae and its opulent villas have long been overshadowed by nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum. As Dalu Jones reports, a new museum puts this ancient playground of the rich in the spotlight.

Sacred Light, Brilliant Matter

Why are we drawn to bright things? When and where did our fascination with sparkle and shine begin? Were ancient ideas of beauty and value the same as ours – or rooted more deeply in the magical worlds of sorcery and spiritual belief?

Photo: Harvard University Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Kerma, 1913

The sands of ancient Nubia, a region over-lapping southern Egypt and northern Sudan, are home to remains of cities, forts, and numerous pyramids. It was to these archaeologically rich sands that the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition headed…

Saving Tigray’s painted churches

Over the past few years, the Ethiopian Heritage Fund has been scaling cliffs and mountains to study and conserve the remarkable rock-hewn painted churches of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, currently in the grips of conflict. Blair Priday, Stephen Rickerby, and Lisa Shekede guide us through their work.

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Galen: The Emperor’s Doctor

Medical stories have dominated the news this past year. While the pandemic is closing museums, some are heading online. A new virtual exhibition by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World sheds light on the life and accomplishments of Galen, the Roman physician who worked during a deadly ancient plague. Geraldine Fabrikant finds out more.

Above An aerial view of Gwyrch Castle, a 19th century country house in North Wales. right The Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s warship, which sank in 1545, was raised in 1982. Its conserved hull and many finds from the ship are on display in the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.

A helping hand for heritage

Since 1980, the UK’s National Heritage Memorial Fund has been safeguarding significant heritage at risk of loss. New archaeological finds declared as Treasure, works of art being sold to overseas buyers, historic buildings, and even an island home for puffins all come under the NHMF’s remit, with the various items they support serving as a memorial to those who have died for the UK. As the government-funded NHMF celebrated its 40th anniversary, Lucia Marchini spoke to Vanessa Wells to learn more about its achievements over the decades.

Above Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown, Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty, and Archie Barnes as her son Robert, at the recreated Sutton Hoo mound in The Dig. right Ben Chaplin and Lily James play archaeologists Stuart and Peggy Piggott.

A Riveting Tale

Netflix has just released The Dig, a major film about the Sutton Hoo excavation. Lindsay Fulcher unearths the story of how Basil Brown uncovered the splendid Anglo-Saxon ship burial and illuminated the so-called ‘Dark Ages’.

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The Aeneid: A New Translation

The great epic by Roman poet Virgil (or Vergil; 70-19 BC) became an instant classic. His Aeneid was celebrated by other poets and the imperial family, and taught in schools in antiquity (indeed, it is still taught in some schools…

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Voyagers: The settlement of the Pacific

When the many islands that are scattered across the waters of Oceania were first settled, how, and by whom are questions that have generated much discussion over the centuries. It is such questions and responses to them that Nicholas Thomas,…

The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates

Disease tearing through a community; mass fatalities; and no apparent end in sight: the pestilences plaguing Greeks at Troy at the start of Homer’s Iliad or Thebes in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King seem all too familiar in our COVID-haunted world.…

Above Jacques Francis, illustration by Joe Lillington. below The Mary Rose, as she would have looked in 1545, in a painting by Geoff Hunt.

Jacques Francis

He was not, Jacques Francis insisted as prosecution witnesses tried repeatedly to have his testimony thrown out, a slave. They called him ‘blackamoor’ and ‘infidel-born’, but he called himself famulus rather than servus – a member of the household, a…