Testing times: Examining insights from experimental archaeology
What have archaeological experiments revealed about how stone axes were sourced, made, and used thousands of years ago? James Dilley highlights some of the key findings.
Prehistory
Slow Migrations
REVIEW BY CH For this collection of 34 poems imagining western England’s prehistoric and Roman pasts, Slow Migrations is a fitting title. Many of the works within – inspired by the Corinium Museum in Cirencester and the Roman Baths at…
Curating the Mold Cape: Museum of Liverpool
This ornate artefact is known as the Mold Cape. Thought to date to c.1900 1600 BC, it is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet gold-working yet found in Britain, crafted from a single ingot, which was shaped and…
Koonalda Cave: A place of ancient engravings and flint mining
Far below the Nullarbor Plain in Australia lies an extraordinary gallery of rock art. Exploration and research in Koonalda Cave has revealed much about these ancient markings, as well as mining and the early occupation of Australia, as Keryn Walshe, April Nowell, and Clem Lawrie reveal.
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…
Rare Bronze Age breastplate identified
A rare fragment of body armour from the Late Bronze Age has been found in the Czech Republic. The discovery was made in 2023 in Moravia – the exact location remains secret in order to protect the site – as…
A game of tombs? Rethinking what the dead can tell us about Neolithic society in Ireland
Who was buried in the passage tombs of Neolithic Ireland? For centuries, many thought that these monuments were the final resting places of a ruling elite, and in 2020 this seemed to be confirmed by ancient DNA analysis which revealed that some of the individuals interred within them were related. Now, however, Penny Bickle, Kerri Cleary, Catherine J Frieman, Neil Carlin, Daniela Hofmann, and Jessica Smyth describe recent research that examines the results in light of their wider archaeological context, exploring complex funerary rites which, they argue, were just one form of kin-building among
a community with much wider social networks.
Ice Age Art Now
REVIEW BY HANNA MCNULTY What if Ice Age art was not confined to glass cases or academic articles, but displayed in galleries alongside contemporary artists? In Ice Age Art Now, Jill Cook curates just that experience. Spanning the final 20,000…
Stone Lands: a journey of darkness and light through Britain’s ancient places
REVIEW BY JOE FLATMAN The Stone Lands book launch was held on a sun-kissed midsummer’s evening on a farm near Avebury, followed by a guided walk led by the author to West Kennet long barrow. It was the perfect blend…
A tale of two hillforts: Illuminating the inhabitants of Iron Age Leicestershire
An exhibition currently running at the University of Nottingham Museum showcases finds from Breedon Hill and Burrough Hill, hillforts that are both located in the East Midlands where such monuments are relatively scarce and poorly understood compared to other regions. Carly Hilts visited the displays, speaking to John Thomas, Clare Pickersgill, and Helen Sharp.
CWA #131 crossword, and answers to crossword #130
Across 7 Member of a people who lived in northern Scotland during the Roman and early medieval periods (4)8 Fort ___, National Historic Landmark in Missouri (5)9 Greek hero of the Iliad (4)11 Land bridge that linked Alaska and Siberia…
Sound Tracks
REVIEW BY RUPERT TILL I first came across Graeme Lawson’s work about 16 years ago. He is a pioneer in exploring musical instruments in the archaeological record. His work is always highly detailed, applying an archaeologist’s methodological rigour to provide…
Close to the Edge: Excavations of Five Cornish Coastal Barrows
REVIEW BY JODIE LEWIS This monograph presents the results of excavations at five Bronze Age round barrows located on or near the north Cornish coast, undertaken by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit. Each barrow has a separate chapter, allowing readers to…
Laurence Rees
The award-winning author and documentary film-maker on the Nazis, neuroscience, and why he doesn’t really like war movies.
Mesolithic microwear: Exploring spatial organisation within the Star Carr structures
Analysis of flint tools found within Britain’s earliest-known post-built structures has revealed intriguing evidence of the tasks that they were used for, and how activities were undertaken in specific areas. Carly Hilts spoke to Jessica Bates to find out more.
The North Pennines from Prehistory to Present
REVIEW BY MARK BRENNAND The North Pennines is a bleak old place. I absolutely mean no offence, but its barren, windswept moors, studded with disused mines, are not an easy place to make a living. And yet there is rich…
Bronze Age brutality? Exploring evidence for interpersonal violence at Charterhouse Warren
Why were the remains of dozens of men, women, and children thrown into a deep shaft in Bronze Age Somerset? They had suffered violent deaths, after which their bodies were butchered and probably partly consumed in an act unprecedented in British prehistory. Carly Hilts describes recently published research into possible motivations behind these events.
In the Darkest of Days: exploring human sacrifice and value in southern Scandinavian prehistory
REVIEW BY MARIANNE HEM ERIKSEN Human sacrifice constitutes a perennially fascinating topic for scholars and general audiences alike. It is also a research area where the risk of leaning into sensationalism and exoticisation can be relatively high. In the Darkest…
Current Archaeology’s January Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home
There are lots of great historical and archaeological events coming up over the next couple of months, from exhibitions and lectures to archaeology days and conferences. Or, if you would prefer to get your heritage fix at home, there are many opportunities to do so, including virtual site-tours, digital resources, TV shows, and games. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.
Gertrude Caton-Thompson at Hemamieh
Celebrating the work of the British pioneer of Egyptian prehistory.
Star Carr: Excavating the CA archive
After more than 50 columns exploring the archaeology of the British Isles through a geographic lens, I begin here a new thematic focus: that of ‘great’ sites visited by Current Archaeology down the years. As I neared the end of my tour of the four nations, I reflected on the enduring power of a ‘great’ site.
Artefact
REVIEW BY CH Corinium is how the Romans knew Cirencester; today it is the name of the Cotswold town’s museum. Its displays include a wealth of Roman finds, as well as artefacts spanning prehistory to the present day – and…
The Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune, and the Story of St Kilda
REVIEW BY CH Located more than 100 miles from the Scottish mainland, the cluster of islands collectively known as St Kilda have variously been mythologised as a romantically remote place whose hardy inhabitants were torn from their traditional way of…
Edinburgh: A New History
REVIEW BY CH The earliest surviving written reference to Edinburgh is found in a charter of 17 July 1124 – and, to celebrate the city’s 900th ‘birthday’, Alistair Moffat has written an engaging biography of the Scottish capital. He begins…
Stonehenge and the moon: Exploring a Neolithic monument’s lunar links
Stonehenge is famous for its association with the sun, and particularly with the summer and winter solstices – but did the movement of the moon also influence its design? Carly Hilts spoke to Dr Amanda Chadburn and Dr Heather Sebire about an ongoing project exploring the impact of a once-in-a-generation lunar event.
Stepping stones: Travelling on the trail of the Stonehenge bluestones
Professor Keith Ray completed his 222-mile journey from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge on Sunday 21 April. Carly Hilts joined him for the final few miles of his adventure.
Excavating the CA archive
In my columns to date I have barely mentioned Stonehenge. This is deliberate: for all that I worship archaeology, I am an atheist about this most famous of sites.
The Naked Neanderthal
REVIEW BY MATTHEW POPE From the start, Slimak is clear that The Naked Neanderthal is a very personal book and offers his own individual views on the archaeology of Neanderthal people. And this is an important point to make. The…
Living in the Ice Age
REVIEW BY AB What was life like for the inhabitants of Europe in the last Ice Age? How did they make their clothes? Did children play with toys? What was their relationship with dogs? These are just some of the…
Wolf Road
REVIEW BY KK Wolf Road is Alice Roberts’ first foray into children’s literature. Drawing on archaeological and anthropological evidence, the book tries to provide as accurate a window as possible into the world of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, and into how they…
Places for the living, places for the dead: archaeological discoveries on the N25 New Ross Bypass
REVIEW BY CH The N25 New Ross Bypass in Co. Wexford was designed to alleviate the notorious peak-time tailbacks that were known to extend for miles on either side of the historic town of New Ross. Its 14km route, stretching…
Mapping histories: Recent fieldwork at Jebel Hafeet
An international team of archaeologists specialising in early prehistory has undertaken pioneering survey work in and around one of the tallest mountains in the United Arab Emirates. George Nash, Genevieve von Petzinger, Aitor Ruiz, Juan F Ruiz López, and Yamandu Hilbert explain how their work unfolded and what they discovered.
Rethinking migrations in late prehistoric Eurasia
REVIEW BY MS Migrations are back. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, large-scale population movements were frequently the go-to explanation for the appearance in the archaeological record of new ways of doing things – be it novel building styles,…
Gloucestershire
The Cotswolds these days have a reputation as a playground of the rich and famous. The Roman occupation of this area certainly had its social high society too.
Prehistoric Sussex
REVIEW BY AB In the 1990s, archaeologists excavating in West Sussex made a remarkable discovery: human remains belonging to ancient humans who lived around half a million years ago. These discoveries from Boxgrove continue to represent the oldest human remains…
Forum: Comments and conundrums
Newgrange and Michael O’Kelly Re: ‘Clare Tuffy and Newgrange’, CWA 117 I had the privilege of working with Professor O’Kelly at Newgrange in 1969. The restoration was just starting, and we were excavating around the exterior of the mound. O’Kelly…