Review by Duncan W Wright. The fens of eastern England are usually characterised as unremittingly flat, with big skies but little topographical variation. This (frankly lazy) assumption fails to account for the subtle differences in geology and height above sea…
It appears that, starting from now, it will become extremely difficult to accurately date certain objects based solely on 14C levels.
The abandonment of environmentally fragile Irish uplands like Slieveanorra – a remote site with a small raised bog – has previously been linked to socio-economic problems driven by climate change.
Scientific analysis of sediments, pollen, and ancient DNA preserved at Blick Mead in Wiltshire has revealed a detailed picture of the Mesolithic landscape close to Stonehenge. David Jacques and Sam Hudson report.
Review by C McSparron. This book is a comprehensive catalogue of finds of artefacts made by archaeologists, antiquarians, and members of the public over centuries in Northern Ireland. It records discoveries from excavations, field-walking, stray finds, and material from museum…
Artefacts made of non-local materials indicate that the quarry may have been the source of much of the ochre found across the American midcontinent
Raiding parties often consisted of genetically similar people, suggesting that they probably came from a single community or were members of the same family, such as the four brothers in one boat burial in Estonia who died on the same day.
The site at Eccles in Kent was excavated on a shoestring from 1962 to 1976 by Alec Detsicas with the Lower Medway Archaeological Research Group and then the Eccles Excavation Committee. Lack of funding hampered post-excavation, and while Alec Detsicas…
A team of researchers have identified two individuals excavated at the Neolithic site of Tell Qarassa in modern-day Syria as dating to the Umayyad Period (AD 661–750), and found evidence that they could represent some of the earliest examples of…
Radiocarbon analysis of well-preserved bison bone fragments revealed the earliest phase of red ochre mining began around 12,840 to 12,505 years ago.
Analysis of the Pompeian individual's skeletal remains revealed they likely suffered from spinal tuberculosis.
Excavations at the site have revealed traces of a significant Mesolithic ‘home base’, including evidence of extensive flint-tool manufacturing and major feasting events.
It is a question that has been debated by archaeologists and historians for decades: to what extent can one of the worst disasters in human history, the catastrophic volcanic eruption in c.1600 BC that devastated the ancient Aegean island of Thera (now known as Santorini), be linked to the mysterious collapse of one of the first European cultures, the once-dominant Minoan civilisation centred on the nearby island of Crete?
Fresh traces of urban life spanning almost three millennia are coming to light in central Rome. New Danish-Italian excavations have uncovered far more than Caesar’s monumental forum project. Delving through archaeological layers, while travelling back in time from Mussolini’s 1930s constructions, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Rubina Raja disentangle the complex urban stratigraphy of the Eternal City.
This discovery demonstrates that this calendar system has been in operation for at least 2,200 years.
A round-up of the some of the latest archaeological discoveries from across the globe.
Prehistoric heathlands Plans to expand fragments of Neolithic heathland on Brownsea Island in Dorset (below) have been announced by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust as part of a project to restore the island’s habitat. England’s south coast was…
The researchers examined the isotopic properties of their samples and were surprised to find strontium and oxygen ratios in the tooth enamel which indicated that some of the Cramond individuals were brought up hundreds of miles away
Hundreds of stone artefacts, including finely worked arrowheads likely used for hunting, were also unearthed.
Two stelae are examples of some of the oldest artistic expressions in the Middle East.
Review by George Nash. The concept of a ‘Mesolithic’, a Middle Stone Age, has been with us since the early 1930s, and many thousands of sites dating to this period have been discovered since, some submerged under our coastal waters.…
Archaeologists also found three pieces of late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art bearing cup marks and spiral designs
Recent geochemical research has found that most of the sarsen stones come from the same geographical area
These beads are some of the world’s oldest fully manufactured ornaments
The vertebrae-on-posts, which have been found at indigenous burial sites around the Chincha Valley, are believed to be connected to ideas about bodily integrity after death
Radiocarbon dating of a bone from the Burton Agnes burial suggests that all of these objects were created approximately 500 years earlier, c.3000 BC.
A round up of some of the latest archaeological stories from across the globe, including the discovery of a tudor coin found in Canada, evidence of leprosy in the Caribbean, an ancient murder victim in China.
Review by Peter Halkon. Chariot burials are icons of Iron Age Britain. Apart from those found near Edinburgh and in Pembroke, they are clustered in eastern Yorkshire, with an outlier at Ferry Fryston in West Yorkshire. The most spectacular were…
The earliest evidence of settlement at the site consisted of postholes marking out the footprints of two large roundhouses
Prehistoric anthropomorphic items made of wood represent rare finds in British archaeology.
The sculpture had been placed in a Neolithic grave containing the remains of three children.
Southern Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone is home to many megalithic stelae that reach up to 6m in height, with an estimate of more than 10,000 across some 60 sites. Some resemble phalluses, others have faces or anthropomorphic designs, while some are…
The substantial figure, measuring 67cm in height, was discovered in July 2021 in Buckinghamshire, southern England
Hopewell archaeological sites stretching across the Ohio River Valley were exposed to fires and extreme heat.
The researchers discovered that there were at least four phases of alternating Neanderthal and modern human occupation in the rock shelter.
A new investigation has now seen an international team of more than 200 geneticists and archaeological scientists discover aDNA evidence for a second significant and hitherto unknown Bronze Age migration into Britain