A joint Egyptian-Chinese mission documenting the Temple of Sekhmet at Mit Rahina (ancient Memphis) has uncovered the remains of a mud-brick residential complex in the area surrounding the temple. The team also found a limestone wine press (with grape seeds…
The intact burial of a male horse dating to the New Kingdom has been uncovered by an Egyptian team at Tell el-Abqain in Beheira, within a military fortress on Egypt’s western borders. The burial was associated with a large residential…
An Egyptian mission excavating at Kom el-Khilgan in Dakahlia Governorate has uncovered an ancient necropolis with evidence of use from the Predynastic Period through to the Graeco-Roman era. The earliest burials appear to be Maadi-Buto culture (c.4000-3500 BC), and are…
A Roman marching camp covering c.7.4ha has been found near the town of Šurany, in south-western Slovakia. The discovery – which came about through an extensive ongoing archaeological project carried out by the Archaeological Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences,…
Castlehill Wood, located south-west of Stirling, has historically been labelled a ‘dun’ – a poorly defined term that is usually used to describe an unroofed enclosure that is smaller than a hillfort but more fortified than a farmstead. Situated within…
Although there is a rich source of archaeological evidence for towns and cities in ancient Egypt, research into urbanism has, according to Nadine Moeller, often avoided mention of it, because many of the settlements could be regarded as anomalous, not…
An Egyptian mission excavating the Byzantine-era city at Ain el-Sabil in the Dakhla Oasis has uncovered the overall plan of the settlement and several new mud-brick structures. The city was built on a grid pattern with two main streets running…
Strap-ends from belts and other attachments are common finds from the early medieval period. This example was found by Cotswold Archaeology during an excavation in the market town of Halesworth in Suffolk in 2024, with recent conservation revealing its lovely…
Recent excavations at Milestone Ground on the eastern edge of Broadway have revealed one of the most intriguing archaeological landscapes yet found in Worcestershire. Beneath quiet pasture lay evidence of human activity stretching back 8,000 years, including Mesolithic flint tools, Bronze Age burials, hundreds of Iron Age storage pits, a Roman farmstead, and the largest late Roman cemetery known in the county. Constance Mitchell reports.
Archaeological work at Eilsleben, in northern Germany, has uncovered unexpected evidence of connections between the early farmers living at this site and the pre-existing hunter-gatherer communities of the region. Eilsleben was discovered in the 1970s and has since undergone extensive…
First excavated in the 1970s and now mostly eroded into the sea, the settlement of Buckquoy in Orkney has frequently been used as an example of how the Pictish-Viking transition occurred in the Northern Isles. New radio-carbon dating of artefacts…
Excavations at Harden Quarry, an active hard-rock quarry that is operated by Tarmac at Biddlestone in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland National Park, has revealed a near complete view of Bronze Age life in this area: where people lived, where…
Excavations along the A66 in Cumbria are revealing how this area formed a vital corridor for transport, travel, and trade over millennia. After an initial evaluation in 2022-2024 and ahead of proposed upgrades to the route, Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA,…
Recent excavations at Brusselstown Ring, a prehistoric hillfort in County Wicklow, Ireland, have confirmed that many of the anomalies found in previous surveys of the site are roundhouse structures. With more than 600 possible examples identified across the hilltop, the…
A major excavation, undertaken in advance of the East Anglia TWO and ONE North developments by ScottishPower Renewables, has uncovered 6,000 years of human activity within an East Anglian landscape, including a previously unknown Anglo-Saxon settlement. The initiative represents the…
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS ‘Without the Nile Delta, ancient Egyptian culture could not have emerged’. This bold statement begins the first of a new series of volumes that aims to publish more rapidly the fieldwork reports from sites across north…
A well-preserved military fortress dating to the New Kingdom has been discovered by an Egyptian team at the site of Tell el-Kharouba, near to the coast in Sinai. Constructed close to the ancient ‘Way of Horus’ military road (connecting Egypt…
Excavations at Tell Nabasha are shedding new light on life in a delta city, and the death of its great temple. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Nicky Nielsen.
REVIEW BY ANDY CHAPMAN This monograph does everything that it says on the packaging in the quoted book review. It contains, ‘high quality data with extensive and thorough reporting by artefact/ecofact specialists’. Unfortunately, with one outstanding exception, the archaeology itself…
A major new exhibition explores the impact of the Viking Age across northern England. Carly Hilts visited the displays and spoke to Adam Parker to learn more.
We first brought you news of the discovery of two Neolithic halls at Carnoustie, Angus, back in 2019 when the first radiocarbon dates had come through, confirming their prehistoric date (see CA 350). Now the post-excavation analysis has concluded, revealing…
Research in the Bolivian Andes has identified a previously unknown Tiwanaku ceremonial complex. The Tiwanaku civilisation (c.AD 500-1000) was a pre-Inca culture centred around the southern shores of Lake Titicaca, in western Bolivia, but their influence is believed to have…
The discovery of a rare enamelled brooch at an Iron Age settlement site in Curragh, South Ayrshire, has revealed interesting insights into how the Britons of south-west Scotland and the Roman army interacted in the late 2nd century AD. The…
Structural remains believed to represent the largest Viking Age hall yet found in Britain have been uncovered at High Tarns farm in Silloth, Cumbria. The site lies close to Holme Cultram Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1150, and cropmarks…
Karl Harris sets off on two wheels to visit the site of Amenhotep III’s palace on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor.
A large Viking Age burial ground has been discovered in Halland, western Sweden. Archaeologists Anders Kjellin and Petra Nordin tell us about their findings.
Around 2000 BC, a successful and prosperous Bronze Age culture in Southeast Arabia suddenly collapsed. Traditions and settlements that had developed over centuries disappeared, apart from in one small enclave towards the north of their former territory. Derek Kennet told Matthew Symonds how attempts to hold on to the past ushered in a new era.
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT For those undertaking formal or informal study of Egyptian archaeology, a number of key textbooks focusing on the social lives of the ancient Egyptian people will always be on the reading list – Barry Kemp’s seminal…
REVIEW BY DENNIS B BLANTON This new book from William Kelso is in the tradition of popularised portrayals of archaeological discoveries linked to the ‘Virginia adventure’. Beginning in the 1960s, Ivor Noël Hume published several evocative, book-length accounts of studies…
A large cemetery dating to the 6th-7th centuries has been discovered on the Fonmon Castle estate – a fortified castle just to the north-west of Cardiff Airport. The project, led by Dr Andy Seaman, began in 2021 when the team…
An Early Bronze Age sanctuary that functioned as a solar calendar has been discovered in the Netherlands. Cristian van der Linde tells us more.
Excavations in China have uncovered a set of ceramic pipes that represent the oldest water-drainage system ever found in the country, and appear to have been the product of impressive community efforts. Pingliangtai is a Late Neolithic site in what…
Following his articles in AE 127 and AE 135 exploring Predynastic sites in Egypt’s Western Desert, Julian Heath now looks at archaeological evidence for occupation of the Nile Delta during the Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods
The ancient East Delta city of Pithom mentioned in the Bible was an important hub for international trade according to new discoveries made at Tell el-Maskhuta (Ismailia Province). The Italian-Egyptian mission excavating there has uncovered a large collection of pottery…
I doubted if Daeng would find anything of interest within. An hour later, she was revealing the smallest skeleton I have ever seen.
The complex dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.