Iron Age Britain Quiz
When is the Iron Age usually said to have begun in Britain...?
settlement
Seasonal Settlement in the Medieval and Early Modern Countryside
Review by Stephen Mileson. This latest, well-produced, and richly illustrated contribution to the Ruralia series tells us much about medieval and early modern use of the mountains, moorlands, forests, and remote coastlines that lay beyond Europe’s more populous lowland valleys…
Thousands of amphibian bones discovered at Late Iron Age site in Cambridgeshire
Excavations at Bar Hill in Cambridgeshire yielded almost 700kg of animal bone – including over 8,000 amphibian bones.
News in brief: Second World War graffiti and treasure found in Wales
A round of some of the latest archaeological news stories from the UK.
Greenlandic Vikings traded walrus ivory with Ukraine
Historians have long believed that walrus ivory traded throughout Ukraine and Russia during the Middle Ages came from the Barents Sea.
Bronze Age spearhead unearthed among other prehistoric finds in Gloucestershire
Six Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age timer-posted roundhouses and an array of animal bone and pottery fragments were also uncovered.
This week: Ancient immigration
While the subject of immigration remains perennially high up the modern political agenda, there is a tendency still in Britain to view the movement of people to these shores as a relatively recent phenomenon – as if it only began in the post-war period, with the arrival of the 'Windrush generation' and other migrants from countries that once were part of the British Empire. But multiculturalism has been a fact of life for much longer than that, of course.
The archaeology of Black Cat Quarry: farming, flooding, and fighting in the Great Ouse valley
Recent excavations at Black Cat Quarry in Bedfordshire have revealed a story of farming communities spanning the Neolithic to the early medieval period, as well as the possible remains of an important Viking encampment described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Ben Dyson, who supervised the majority of excavations and undertook the post-excavation analysis for Archaeological Research Services Ltd, explains more.
Silures: resistance, resilience, revival
Review by Miranda Aldhouse-Green. Ray Howell’s new book focuses on the Iron Age and the transition to the Roman period as experienced by one particular tribe (or polity), zooming in on the Silures of south-east Wales. In 11 succinct chapters,…
Butser Ancient Farm launches latest reconstruction
The structure is based on archaeological remains discovered close by at Church Down, Chalton.
The Archaeology of Merseyside in 20 Digs
Review by AB. Archaeological investigations have been taking place in Merseyside, in north-west England, since the 19th century, shedding light on the many communities who have inhabited the area over the last 10,500 years. In this brief but engaging publication,…
The Shaping of the English Landscape: an atlas of archaeology from the Bronze Age to Domesday Book
Review by Andrew Tibbs. As a collection of maps covering almost every imaginable aspect of landscape-usage, from the Bronze Age to the early medieval period, this book covers many types of ancient landscape-use, including settlement, foodways, belief, mobility, defence, and…
This week: Britain and Brittany
Boris Johnson is not, of course, the first political leader to take a dim view of the free movement of people and goods between Britain and the Continent. More than 2,000 years earlier, Julius Caesar ordered the destruction of ships…
Middle Bronze Age and Roman Settlement at Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire
Review by Andrew Tibbs. Over a decade of excavation has taken place at the Manor Pit quarry site in Baston, Lincolnshire, and this volume details the archaeological work undertaken at the site, and subsequent analysis. Initially occupied in the Neolithic…
Excavating Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Dramatic evidence was found here for Iron Age ritual practices: parts of at least five human bodies were discovered, arranged round the western edge of a shallow hollow filled full of articulated animal bones.
Roman furniture-making in rural Cambridgeshire
MOLA Headland Infrastructure uncovered c.300 pieces of animal bone and deer antler while excavating a small Roman settlement between 2016 and 2018 as part of the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme.
Highways to the past: excavating the A428 in Bedfordshire
The earliest evidence of settlement at the site consisted of postholes marking out the footprints of two large roundhouses
From tents to towns: tracing Torksey after the Vikings
In AD 872-873, a Viking army spent the winter at Torksey in Lincolnshire. Their camp is now well known, but the team that discovered it have since turned their attention to what happened after the Vikings left. Dawn Hadley, Julian D Richards, Gareth Perry, and Elizabeth Craig-Atkins explore the evidence for the town that was left behind, and discuss the significance of this Viking legacy for Anglo-Saxon England.
Excavation at Melksham reveals evidence of Iron Age, Roman, and medieval activity
The team found Iron Age and Roman settlement phases with rubbish pits, postholes, and boundary ditches.
Roman roadside life and death near Aylesbury
Around ten percent of the excavated individuals were missing skulls, with many clearly decapitations, evidenced by visible cut marks and placement of the head between the legs.
Oldest ink pen found in Ireland
Its discovery is significant because while there is archaeological evidence for secular literacy in the Roman and early medieval periods in Britain, this is not really the case in Ireland
Henry VII coin unearthed in Canada
The coin is a Henry VII ‘half groat’, believed to have been minted in Canterbury, UK.
Culduthel: an Iron Age craftworking centre in north-east Scotland
The rapid suburban expansion of Inverness in recent decades has led to a patchwork of prehistoric sites being discovered through developer-funded excavations. In 2005, however, Headland Archaeology hit the motherlode at Culduthel. They had discovered a multi-period prehistoric site whose…
New discoveries at Pen Dinas Iron Age hillfort
Geophysical survey revealed previously unrecorded outer defences at the site
This week: Cladh Hallan
Archaeologists have long been drawn to the Outer Hebrides, the windswept island chain that lies off Scotland's north-west coast. For decades, the chief source of their fascination was to be found on the Isle of Lewis, where a number of prehistoric ritual sites were found to be clustered around the village of Callanish. More recently, however, attention has also been diverted to the island of South Uist, where in 2003 an extraordinary discovery was made.
Landscapes Revealed: geophysical survey in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Area 2002-2011
Over the past 50 years or so, archaeologists have managed to hone their focus on several areas of Europe that show clear advances in social and ritual development: areas such as the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, the Newgrange complex…
Viking settlement in Canada dated to exactly 1,000 years ago
The latest research has used a newly developed approach to radiocarbon dating, which is capable of dating objects to an exact year.
Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago, study confirms
Discovered in 1960 and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is the first and only base established by the Vikings in North America.
Little Hadham’s road to the past
The team uncovered evidence of farming activity within the enclosure, alongside the foundation walls of a late Roman ‘tuning fork’ corn-dryer.
The Viking Great Army
In AD 865, a Viking army landed in eastern England. For more than a decade, it raided across the country, but contemporary documents tell us little about it. Dawn M Hadley and Julian D Richards use the latest discoveries to track down the Army and see the changes it brought about, not just as raiders, but also traders and artisans who gave rise to an industrial revolution.
This week: Rapa Nui
For centuries, the work of archaeologists has allowed us to piece together a picture of the past, and to understand our ancestors' place in the universe. Without it, we would not know what life was like in Pompeii, or how the Ancient Egyptians buried their dead, or what role the sun and stars played in the building of Machu Piccu.
Rich bronze artefact deposits found at ancient French settlement
Two deposits of spectacular bronze artefacts dating back to the 9th century BC represent the latest discoveries made during a series of archaeological excavations and surveys conducted in the Allier department of central France since 2019.
Hunter-gatherer settlements excavated in Russia
A vast number of flint artefacts – including scrapers, arrowheads, and axe fragments – were recovered from all five settlements.
The Viking Great Army and the Making of England
Whether you like this book will depend on whether you like archaeology. If you do – as well as liking military history – and you therefore choose to read it, you will discover something quite extraordinary. Let me explain. Generally…
Graeco-Roman settlement and artefacts unearthed at Alexandria
The most exciting discovery was that of an intricately sculpted and well-preserved alabaster bust of Alexander the Great.
The Viking Great Army and the Making of England
The arrival of the Viking Great Army on British soil in AD 865 had an immeasurable impact on England. No longer content with hit-and-run raids, this force – which was far greater than any previously seen in Britain – aimed…