An assemblage of objects discovered at Peñico on the north-central coast of Peru, dating to 3,800 years ago, provides new evidence for the continuity of the Caral culture. Caral is considered the oldest known ‘advanced’ civilisation in the Americas, emerging…
A Roman relief of a Genius – a protective guardian spirit – has recently been found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, hidden underneath the floor of a barracks. While inscriptions dedicated to genii have been found across Roman Britain,…
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
Beheaded, bound, or partially burnt – Leif Inselmann examines irregular burials from the ancient Near East.
Excavations in Colchester have unearthed a rare and exceptionally well preserved lead coffin, housing the remains of a woman who lived and died during the later Roman period. Recent analysis has now provided new insights into the experiences of this…
Iron age mining rituals in Germany Evidence of Iron Age ceremonial activity associated with quartz mining has been discovered at the Bruchhauser Steine, a prominent rock formation in the Sauerland region of western Germany. This natural landmark comprises four massive…
Evidence of Iron Age ritual activity has been discovered at the Bruchhauser Steine, a prominent rock formation in the hilly Sauerland region of western Germany. This natural landmark, which comprises four main rocks that can be seen for miles around,…
Excavations at the ancient Egyptian port city of Pelusium have identified a unique 2,000-year-old temple believed to be dedicated to the local deity Pelusius. In 2019, archaeologists from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities working at the site of Tell el-Farama…
An exhibition at the James Simon Gallery – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin explores the art and architecture of the first settled cultures in south-eastern Turkey.
An ancient Egyptian pleasure barge (thalamagos in Greek) has been discovered by Franck Goddio and his team from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). The 35m-long boat was found submerged off the coast of Alexandria in the Eastern Harbour,…
Diarmaid MacCulloch, the eminently readable author of numerous books on ecclesiastical history, gave his bestselling work on the history of Christianity the provocative subtitle ‘The first three thousand years’, making the point that there is much in Christian ritual and iconography that is drawn from pre-Christian practice.
REVIEW BY FINBAR McCORMICK This book is the first interdisciplinary analysis of early Irish kingship based on both historical and archaeological sources; it was formerly the preserve of just historians. This new approach is a fresh contribution to our understanding…
Iván Ghezzi, Alcides Alvarez, and Cecilia Camargo discuss the unique site of Chankillo in Peru.
A c.12,000-year-old stone pillar decorated with a human face has been found at the archaeological site of Karahan Tepe in Turkey. Karahan Tepe is a Pre-pottery Neolithic ritual complex that forms part of the Taş Tepeler group of prehistoric sites…
Earthen platforms uncovered at a site in eastern China are believed to reflect efforts by early states to use ritual events as a way to unify their expanding territories. The three large platforms were discovered during excavations of the site…
Around 130 dodecahedra have been found across the northern Roman Empire, but the purpose of these ornate objects is unknown, and few have been recovered from datable contexts in modern excavations. An important exception forms the focus of an exhibition exploring the archaeology of Potter Hill, Lincolnshire. Carly Hilts visited the displays and spoke to Chris Clay, Richard Parker, and Clare Pickersgill to learn more.
REVIEW BY MIRANDA ALDHOUSE-GREEN This monograph examines the important, yet underestimated subject of the magical objects that form part of the archaeological footprint left by Roman Britons. It focuses on – so often neglected – small objects that form a…
Stone tools on Sulawesi Excavations at a site called Calio, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, have found new evidence of the island’s occupation by early hominin species. Carried out between 2019 and 2022 by a joint team from Indonesia…
Philippe Rosset explores the iconography of this ceremonial weapon, which marks a transitional moment in Egyptian kingship.
In the 3rd century AD, the possessions of an entire army were deposited in a lake in Jutland. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, Rowan S English, and Rubina Raja examine what was found, and what it reveals about Iron Age military might in southern Scandinavia.
Analysis of wild boar remains discovered at a site in the Zagros Mountains in Iran points to long-distance transport of animals for a ceremonial gathering in the Early Neolithic. The animal remains were discovered in 2016 when excavations at the…
REVIEW BY EMMA LOUISE THOMPSON From Norwegian courts to Icelandic households and British burial grounds, the lives of Viking women were as intricate as the worlds they inhabited. The Hidden Lives of Viking Women offers a ‘kaleidoscopic review’ drawing on…
French researchers using AI to analyse more than 500 intact early graves at the cemetery of Adaïma (8km south of Esna) have revealed an evolution in funerary practices that helped to shape early Egyptian statehood. The earliest First Dynasty burials…
In the second of her articles describing the practice of tattooing in ancient Egypt and Nubia, Renée Friedman looks at the surviving evidence from the New Kingdom onwards.
I have already described here the new discoveries at Sanxingdui, the great city that commanded the Sichuan Plain in China from 1200 BC (CWA 110). However, I cannot refrain from returning to it, because a couple of months ago a most welcome and unexpected email arrived.
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…
New analysis of an ancient Egyptian ritual vessel is shedding light on the complex concoction it once held. Bes vases are a type of ceramic vessel decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient Egyptian guardian figure associated with protection,…
REVIEW BY HILARY WILSON Amandine Marshall’s book, originally published in French in 2015, is a companion to her Childhood in Ancient Egypt (AUC, 2022). In the foreword to this English-language edition, Salima Ikram suggests that, despite limited source material, Marshall’s…
REVIEW BY GEORGIA FRANK This rich collection of essays explores the behaviour, experiences, and memories of travellers who visited shrines and sacred centres around the Mediterranean in antiquity. Looking beyond literate travellers’ descriptions of sacred places, these essays also attend…
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions: send them to cwaletters@world-archaeology.com
A collection of shallow pits carved into a rock ledge, believed to be mancala game boards, have been identified in central Kenya. Mancala is a group of two-player strategy games that involve moving tokens across rows of shallow holes in…
REVIEW BY MICHELLE GAMBLE This book is the culmination of almost two decades of research on Bronze Age burial practices and the social context of the body by Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, evolving from a wider corpus…
Analysis of the contents of a Ptolemaic Bes-shaped jug from the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida has revealed a complex concoction of fermented fruit, psychoactive plant-based substances, and human fluids that include breast milk, oral and vaginal fluids, and…
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological discoveries from around the globe.
The burial was found to contain a pair of scissors, a folded sword, the remains of a shield and a spearhead, a razor, and a fibula (clasp).
The ancient Maya ballgame, known as pelota or sometimes pok-ta-pok, played an important ritual and symbolic role in the Mesoamerican culture.