Pain relief in ancient Egypt: Part 2 – Physical and magical interventions
Having explored herbal pain-killing remedies in the last issue of AE, Ira Rampil now looks at the physical and magical interventions used to relieve pain.
skeletal remains
Evidence of an early medieval execution?
Re-examination of an early medieval burial found at Bull Wharf in the City of London suggests that the probably female individual may have been the victim of an execution, and that she had perhaps been placed on the Thames foreshore…
Polio in medieval Sweden: Three burials and a dangerous disease
Burials found in three different cemeteries in Sweden defied explanation until a connection with polio was proposed. Caroline Arcini and Emma Karlsson weigh the evidence and look at how the impact of this disease has changed over the centuries.
Inclusive pyramids
Research from Leiden University in the Netherlands has revealed that pyramid burials may not have been exclusively for the elite. The pyramid burials of ancient Egyptians at the site of ancient Tombos in northern Nubia, near the Third Cataract, were…
Execution in the absence of imprisonment: An archaeology of capital punishment in Sweden
Excavation of execution sites in Sweden has shed light on the realities of capital punishment in the country. Caroline Arcini and Emma Karlsson explain what can be revealed by examining the skeletons of those condemned to death and the sites where their sentences were carried out.
Malmesbury’s first confirmed Anglo-Saxon burials discovered near abbey
Dozens of Anglo-Saxon burials have been uncovered on the site of the Old Bell Hotel, which is located next to Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. Some 24 articulated skeletons and the disarticulated remains of 22 more individuals were excavated by Cotswold…
Early rheumatoid arthritis
One of the world’s earliest cases of rheumatoid arthritis has been found in the skeletal remains of a Nubian woman from the Pan-Grave culture (c.1800 BC) by the Aswan–Kom Ombo Archaeological Project (AKAP). In a recently published paper, the joint…
Predynastic warfare – No eden: violence and warfare in the Nile Valley
Continuing his series of articles on Predynastic Egypt (see AE 127, 135, and 137), Julian Heath now looks at evidence for the disputes that arose between different groups of early settlers.
Secrets of a secluded life: updating the story of the All Saints ‘anchoress’
When an unusual female burial was discovered in the apse of All Saints Church, York, it was interpreted as possibly representing the remains of a religious recluse. Since then, archaeological science and historical research have given new perspectives on the woman’s life, as Carly Hilts reports.
The man in the parcel: explaining a puzzling burial rite
The discovery of a burial in pride of place in Gårdby Church, Sweden, marked the beginning of an archaeological detective story. What could explain the unusual treatment of the man’s body? Caroline Arcini investigates.
How the Black Death altered our genetic makeup
Although people with this variant would have been better able to survive a Y. pestis infection, it overlaps with alleles that are associated with an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease,.
Dying Young: a bioarchaeological analysis of child health in Roman Britain
Review by Claire Hodson Over the last decade, numerous studies have challenged the traditional assumptions that the words ‘Roman Britain’ may incite. Included within this re-evaluation has been the increase in osteological analyses to reveal further insights into those working,…
World news in brief: Morocco, China, and the United States
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the world, including: evidence of an ear infection identified in 100,000-year-old remains; analysis of ancient Chinese bronze formulae; and a rethinking of how Cahokia's North Plaza was used.
Analysis identifies earliest evidence of ear infection
The infection was identified in a hunter-gatherer who lived c.100,000 years ago, and was excavated from a cave in Morocco.
Evidence of Mesolithic mummification discovered in Portugal
Until now, the earliest evidence for intentional human mummification came from the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, c.7,000 years ago.
Early evidence of leprosy identified in the Caribbean
Radiocarbon dating has indicated that the skull is c.220 years old, making it possibly the earliest example currently known from the region
Examining a shackled Roman burial at Great Casterton
The skeleton of a Roman man with iron shackles locked around his ankles has been described as ‘perhaps the most convincing candidate for the remains of a Roman slave yet to be found in Britain’. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports on recently published analysis illuminating this unique burial.
Letters from CA – June 2021
Your views on past issues of Current Archaeology.
This Week – The Mary Rose
Almost four decades have elapsed since the Mary Rose was raised and an astonishing array of new research techniques have revolutionised our thinking about the ship’s make-up, her calamitous final moments, and perhaps most poignantly, the skeletal remains of her 500-strong crew.
Life and death in medieval Cambridge
Analysis of more than 300 human skeletons, recovered from three different medieval burial sites across Cambridge, has provided interesting new details of the city’s inhabitants, and the individual risks they may have faced based on their position in life. The…
Leprosy: past and present
More than a decade in the making, this book was well worth the wait. It is a thorough compendium of knowledge on not only the history and (bio)archaeology of leprosy, but also its epidemiology and evolution. At its heart, it…
Face to face with Cheddar Man
A team from UCL and the Natural History Museum has successfully sequenced his DNA for the first time, revealing a wealth of details about his physical appearance.
Vampires or victims?
The 17th- to 18th-century graves contain features designed to stop the deceased returning after death, such as a sickle across the neck or body, and a stone beneath the chin.
Q&A with Lauren McIntyre – an introduction to human osteology
That's why skeletal remains and mummies are so popular in museum exhibitions - people can relate to them in a way that not everyone can relate to other archaeological finds such as pottery.
The Brochtorff Stone circle, at Xaghra, Malta
The great Neolithic temples on Malta are among the oldest temples in the world, most of them erected before even the pyramids were built. Yet what were they and how did they work? The most important and illuminating excavations of this period were those that took place at the Brochtorff’s stone circle, at Xaghra, from 1987-1994.