A Roman mosaic thought to be the most westerly example of the polychrome style yet found in Britain is among the discoveries emerging from a large Roman villa complex near Halberton in Devon. Excavations by the SHARE project (Saving Halberton’s…
Highdown Hill is an extraordinary place. It stands detached from the great chalk spine of the South Downs, dominating the coastal plain across to the English Channel. The Bronze Age saw the hill crowned with an enclosure, perhaps a redistributive…
For the first time, non-invasive technology has been used to recover a title from the ancient papyri from Herculaneum carbonised in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Earlier this year, scans of the scroll in question, known as PHerc.172,…
Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery in Truro is undergoing a major transformation. Carly Hilts visited the recently refurbished ‘Heart of Cornwall’ archaeology displays.
A Roman lime kiln – possibly one of the first to be excavated in Gloucestershire – was discovered during excavations at Horsbere Brook at the Centre Severn development in Barnwood, a suburb of Gloucester. Excavations of the site were carried…
Archeoscan provides opportunities for public involvement in archaeology, including giving people the chance to participate in archaeological excavations at exciting sites in the Cotswolds area. They also assist communities in conducting geophysical surveys of sites of interest to them, and visit…
Two decades of excavations in East Sussex farmland have uncovered the remains of an unusual enclosed settlement linking the Roman road network with the River Ouse. Rob Wallace and David Millum explain more.
These photographs show a colourful mosaic at North Leigh Roman Villa: the only example in Oxfordshire that remains in situ. The villa was excavated in 1813 by Henry Hakewill, and originally boasted at least 19 geometric mosaics. Today, only one…
Excavations in Wiltshire’s Chalke Valley have uncovered the remains of a large Roman villa – the first complex of its kind to be found in this part of the county. Clues to the villa’s presence had been emerging over a…
The Culver Archaeological Project has been running for almost 20 years. Carly Hilts reviews a new exhibition exploring its discoveries at two major Roman sites in Sussex’s Upper Ouse Valley.
Archaeology students from the University of Leicester have uncovered the remains of a Roman villa in Leicestershire, near Loughborough. Clues to the villa’s presence had been surfacing for years, in the form of small finds such as coins, brooches, and…
Around 20 Roman villas have been excavated in the Limburg region of the Netherlands. The heyday for this work came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a succession of sites was investigated with antiquarian zeal. Now fresh research in the field, archives, and find stores is shedding intriguing new light on these villa estates and their inhabitants, as Jasper de Bruin told Matthew Symonds.
Archaeological work in rural Oxfordshire has uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa, as well as echoes of activities ranging from agriculture and industry to more enigmatic practices. Carly Hilts spoke to Louis Stafford to learn how the site’s story is evolving as investigations continue.
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…
With one of the UK’s oldest commercial units recently celebrating its 50th birthday, Carly Hilts spoke to its founding director, Tom Hassall, and current CEO, Ken Welsh, about how the archaeological profession has changed over this period – and what the future might hold for the ways in which we engage with the past.
More than 20 years ago, CA 175 described the investigation of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Winterton Vale. Since then, interpretations of the finds have changed and understanding of their significance has grown. Now, with the excavation report about to be published and the full data made available online, Kevin Leahy shares the illuminating early medieval story that has come to light.
Roman villas are rarely excavated these days, because we already ‘know about them’. Yet when a villa is excavated – in part or as a whole – what we find defies what we think we know. The report on Druce Farm Roman villa, excavated between 2012 and 2018 by volunteer members of the East Dorset Antiquarian Society, has been published in quick time and in exemplary form. As Chris Catling discovers, it makes us think again about what defines a villa.
Review by Simon Esmonde Cleary The excavations at Druce Farm in Dorset were carried out by local volunteers between 2012 and 2018, along with geophysical, drone, and laser surveys of the environs. The full publication of the results only four…
We’re getting ready to hear leading experts discussing archaeology from across the UK and abroad, and we hope you can join us on 25 February (Saturday) for another stimulating and enjoyable conference. Tickets are selling fast, so book now.
In 2020, we reported on intriguing discoveries emerging from a Roman villa site near Corby, Northamptonshire. Now further excavations have been carried out at Priors Hall, illuminating the area’s industrial heritage, its interconnectivity with other villa sites, and its Iron Age origins. Paddy Lambert reports.
This past summer, the team returned to explore other buildings on the site, in order to learn more about the complex as a whole.
Small finds included 3rd- to 4th-century Roman pottery – comprising local coarse ware, Oxfordshire ware, and a few shards of Samian ware – as well as a small number of 4th-century Roman coins.
Between 2016 and 2018, Cotswold Archaeology’s excavation of disused rugby pitches in Stoke Gifford, just north of Bristol, provided the opportunity to explore the layout of a Roman villa estate. Clare Randall describes some of the key findings.
Almost 2,000 images taken by Harold Wingham (1924-2021), an unsung pioneer of archaeological aerial photography, have been made available to the public for the first time in a new project by Historic England. CA explores his life and work.
Chedworth Roman Villa, near Cirencester, has been open to visitors since its discovery 158 years ago – but, until today, the site never had a formal academic publication. A new monograph has now drawn together decades of research, as Simon Esmonde Cleary, Jason Wood, Emma Durham, Martin Papworth, and Julie Reynolds report.
The Canterbury Archaeological Trust team have been working to rediscover and document the mosaic, which had not been seen since it was covered over in the 1950s.
Review by Simon Esmonde Cleary. Excavations in 2012-2013 on the north-eastern edge of Bristol revealed an area of landscape with evidence of human activity from the Neolithic to the recent past, but the most-plentiful evidence – which was excavated in…
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…
Earlier this year, CA reported the discovery in Rutland of a stunning Roman mosaic featuring scenes from the Trojan War. It was inside the opulent dining room of ‘a sprawling late Roman villa complex, complete with barns and potential bathhouses’,…
Burials near Whitminster villa Ten human burials have been uncovered at a development site near Stroud in Gloucester (below), which Cotswold Archaeology is investigating ahead of the construction of new training pitches for Forest Green Rovers FC. Excavations at the…
The programme kicks off this weekend with an extended three-part extravaganza covering Time Team’s excavation of an Iron Age settlement in Cornwall.
It appears that, in one burial, the skull of the deceased was positioned between their legs.
One of the finest collections of Roman emperors is to be found far from Rome in the Musée Saint-Raymond in Toulouse. But where did they come from, and how did such a magnificent gathering of Roman emperors come to lose their heads? The late Roman Empire was a time of growing religious intolerance. In the East, a Christian mob destroyed the Serapeum temple at Alexandria: did a similar outburst of violence take place in south-western France? Andrew Selkirk investigates.
An intricate Roman mosaic depicting the triumph of the Greek warrior Achilles over Hector of Troy, recently unearthed in Rutland, has been hailed as the region’s most stunning archaeological discovery to-date. Hazel Blair spoke to John Thomas, Anthony Beeson, David Neal, and Peter Kruschwitz to find out more about the meaning behind its motifs.
The excavation has unearthed a large mosaic in what is thought to be the dining room or entertaining area of the villa, which was occupied between the 3rd and 4th century AD.
The stunning mosaic depicts the concluding scene of the Trojan War, in which Greek hero Achilles battles Hector, the leader of the Trojans.