Several recent reports have suggested that participation in cultural activities is good for one’s well-being. Under the headline ‘Daily dose of art as important to health as 5-a-day’, The Telegraph reported that cultural engagement not only slows down ageing, but is a ‘human necessity’.
Many studies have been carried out into the impact of smoking on the human body, and one need only to glance at a pack of cigarettes to be confronted with imagery detailing some of the consequences in gory detail. In…
The London we know today traces its roots directly back to the modest settlement developed on the banks of the Thames in the late 9th century, in the time of the Saxon king Alfred the Great. In spite of fires,…
The remains of a Victorian bathhouse have recently been discovered beneath a car park in the Mayfield area of Manchester. The site was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Salford’s Centre for Applied Archaeology in advance of the development…
Excavations in Bath have revealed the remains of one of the earliest Victorian wash houses. Constructed during a time of revolutionary social reform and seismic shifts in attitudes towards poverty and public health, what can it tell us about how local authorities and community campaigners strove to improve the well-being of the poor following the arrival of a devastating pandemic? Current Archaeology explores recent research by Cai Mason.