• Deliberately deformed sheep horns have been found in a burial at Hierakonpolis: the mutilation may have been to prevent the animals from injuring each other and their human handlers. • New research from Johns Hopkins University in the USA…
Dating analysis of a monument on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall has revealed that it may be 4,000 years older than previously imagined. King Arthur’s Hall – comprising 56 standing stones set within a rectangular bank of earth and stone measuring…
Painted throne room discovered in Peru Excavations in a large square-pillared Moche building in Peru have uncovered a painted room which is believed to be the throne room of a previously unrecognised female ruler, dating to around AD 650. The…
Excavations in the ancient city of Artaxata have uncovered the remains of a church dating to the early days of Christianity in Armenia. Artaxata was the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from the early 2nd century BC, and remained…
Excavations at a Moche site in north-central Peru have uncovered a throne room believed to belong to a previously unrecognised female ruler. The site of Pañamarca was first rediscovered in the 1950s, and since 2018 has been the subject of…
Excavations on Islay, in the Inner Hebrides, have uncovered the archaeological remains of an early medieval metalworking workshop. Finds of flint had been emerging from the plough soil for some time, hinting at the area’s archaeological potential, but this was…
Human remains discovered on Lindisfarne in 2022 have been identified as disturbed burials that were potentially associated with an early medieval chapel and cemetery at the island’s famous medieval monastery. The bones were initially discovered during a watching brief undertaken by AOC…
A specialist grant that helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds has reached a significant milestone after funding 100 radiocarbon dates in the last nine years. Emma Aitken discusses key results from projects supported by the CARD Fund in 2023, as well as providing details of its 2024 funding cycle and an event celebrating the 100th date.
East Africa’s earliest farming Excavations in Kenya have uncovered equatorial east Africa’s earliest evidence for plant farming. Working in Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria Basin, archaeologists have discovered remnants of the legume crop cowpea (black-eyed pea) in a hearth,…
Archaeologists excavating an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Cookham have unearthed 23 intact human burials, along with the disturbed remains of multiple other individuals. The site, which has been excavated by the University of Reading since 2021 (see CA 392) with permission…
In 1418, Captain ‘One-eyed’ Zarco sailed out from Lisbon to plant the flag of Portugal on the islands first of Porto Santo and then of Madeira. In doing so, he not only claimed for Portugal a useful harbour and a staging post that would enable explorations further out into the Atlantic – first to the Azores and then to Brazil – he also secured a fertile, well-wooded, and well-watered island where sugar cane flourished, making Madeiran landowners and the Portuguese Crown extremely rich for a century by selling ‘white gold’ through the markets of Venice, London, and Antwerp.
Excavations in south-eastern Norway have uncovered a unique prehistoric burial field containing graves belonging almost exclusively to children. In November 2023, archaeologists from Norway’s Museum of Cultural History working in the municipality of Fredrikstad came across 41 circular formations composed…
Cutting-edge scientific research indicates that a stone at the centre of Stonehenge may have travelled hundreds of miles from north-east Scotland to Salisbury Plain. Carly Hilts reports.
Dozens of Anglo-Saxon burials have been uncovered on the site of the Old Bell Hotel, which is located next to Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. Some 24 articulated skeletons and the disarticulated remains of 22 more individuals were excavated by Cotswold…
Excavations ahead of a new housing development in Banbury, Oxfordshire, have uncovered a previously unknown Anglo-Saxon cemetery of more than 50 burials, many of them richly furnished. These findings were recently announced by Border Archaeology, who excavated the 8,300m2 Calthorpe…
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.
The most intensive excavation to take place at Sutton Hoo in two decades has revealed new aspects of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery pre-dating the site’s famous royal burial ground, as well as recovering more pieces of the Bromeswell Bucket, an enigmatic artefact first identified in the 1980s. Carly Hilts visited the dig to learn more.
A mammoth discovery A remarkable collection of mammoth bones has been found in a wine cellar in Lower Austria. Excavations at the site in Gobelsburg, carried out by archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), have revealed a dense…
DNA analysis of human remains from a mass burial at Chichén Itzá in Mexico is revealing new details about the ritual practices of the ancient Maya, as well as their genetic links to modern populations. In 1967, the remains of…
Archaeologists working in Villedieu-sur-Indre in central France have uncovered a remarkable set of pits filled with the remains of c.2000-year-old horses. The excavations were carried out over an area of 1.3ha by a team from Inrap in advance of a…
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The skeleton of an Iron Age woman found in Winterborne Kingston, Dorset, has revealed rare material evidence of possible human sacrifice from this period. The site has been extensively excavated by Bournemouth University teams for more than 15 years, owing…
The University of York’s Department of Archaeology has uncovered a large timber hall in Skipsea, dating to the early medieval period, among other finds of ‘national significance’. Measuring 6m wide and 16m long, the hall is a rare find, thought…
Radiocarbon dating of crop remains excavated at the Graeco-Roman site of Karanis (in the Fayum) shows that the town was inhabited at least into the middle of the 7th century AD – 200 years after it was thought to have…
Radiocarbon dating at Woodhenge has revealed that it was built at almost exactly the same time as the circle at neighbouring Stonehenge. This exciting new data shows that Stonehenge was not a one-off in its original landscape. Woodhenge lies just…
What is it? This small, intricately decorated cylindrical vial, measuring 6.7cm long and 1.9cm in diameter, is made of a greenish chlorite-schist and contains a deep red cosmetic mixture believed to be lip paint. The container, which comes from Iran,…
Excavations in the highlands of northern Peru have identified a circular plaza that may be among the earliest examples of monumental megalithic architecture in the Americas. The Callacpuma archaeological site, located in the Cajamarca Basin, has been the subject of…
New discoveries on a small Australian island are rewriting our understanding of the culture and technology of the country’s early people. It has long been believed that the ancient Aboriginal peoples of Australia did not have pottery. A few examples…
Recent excavations by Gahan and Long Archaeological Services in advance of the construction of a new retail store in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, have unearthed a previously unknown medieval cemetery. As work began on the site in December of last year,…
Ritual practices in prehistoric Poland A considerable number of large Bronze Age and early Iron Age artefacts have been unearthed by archaeologists in a dried-up lakebed at the site of Papowo Biskupie in north-central Poland. It is believed that members…
The traditional portrayal of post-Roman Britain as a landscape in decline, devoid of the cultural richness that had been infused into it by the presence of the Empire, was turned on its head in 2020, when a mosaic at Chedworth…
Recently published research has revealed that the location of a new housing development in Larkhall in South Lanarkshire was already popular in prehistory. The discoveries were made during archaeological excavations undertaken by GUARD Archaeology prior to the construction of new…
In 2021 and 2022, archaeological work along a headland near Felton in the Coquet Valley of Northumberland revealed evidence of early medieval activity, including a late 6th-/early 7th-century sunken-featured building (SFB), as well as evidence for the presence of the…
Archaeologists from Archaeology South-East, part of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, have uncovered remains from early medieval London during excavations in advance of the National Gallery’s redevelopment project. The investigations were carried out along Jubilee Walk, the north of Trafalgar…
REVIEW BY ROB IXER Over the decades, O’Brien has recorded, in intense detail, the earliest prehistoric copper mining in south-west Ireland, namely Beaker People’s Chalcolithic to early Bronze Age exploitation at Ross Island (now known for its massive contribution to…
With a diameter of 60m, the burial mound of Herlaugshaugen is one of the largest in Norway. New research has now revealed that it is older than was previously thought. The site on the island of Leka was excavated on…