The Community Archaeology Radiocarbon Dating (CARD) Fund, which helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds, has opened applications for its 2026 funding cycle. Kimberley Teale discusses key findings from some of the projects supported by the CARD Fund in 2025 – and how to apply this year.
Examination of surgical tools from a Ming Dynasty tomb reveals evidence of early anaesthetic use in 14th-century China.
Recent research at several heritage sites in Tanzania suggests that they may
be under threat from the very organisations tasked with protecting them.
Excavations at Bulford have revealed the remains of a 5,000-year-old structure suggesting that the solstice was celebrated on Salisbury Plain centuries earlier than thought. CA reports.
A new study is investigating the architecture of a Pacific society after European colonialisation.
In 1920, a collection of antiquities and antiques was thrown away, and most of its contents remain lost more than a century later. Martin A Timoney describes recent efforts to piece together clues to their whereabouts and appeals for more information.
The walls of Pompeii are littered with messages left behind by the city’s inhabitants two millennia ago. Recent research is shedding new light on one of the richest concentrations of these ancient inscriptions.
A routine excavation on the site of a west Norfolk housing development has uncovered a metalwork hoard including two extremely rare Iron Age artefacts: a near-complete carnyx and a boar standard. Conservation and analysis of these fragile objects is ongoing; Carly Hilts reports on the preliminary findings.
New research is shedding light on the possible function of a mysterious site in southern Peru.
A recent study has successfully carried out full genome sequencing of a person from ancient Egypt for the first time.
The British Museum has launched a £3.5 million fundraising campaign to acquire a unique pendant associated with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, and with the wider political ambitions of 16th-century Europe. Carly Hilts reports.
An innovative study has brought to life Late Bronze Age warfare to test the utility of a 3,500-year-old suit of armour.
Detailed archaeological analysis and archival research has revealed the identity of a mysterious ship whose timbers were recently exposed on an Orkney beach. Carly Hilts spoke to Ben Saunders to learn more.
A new technique is offering fresh insights into ancient tattoos.
New research is exploring the sophisticated metalworking involved in the creation of the famous Nebra Sky Disc.
The emergence of bipedal walking has long been recognised as a central aspect of hominid evolution, but much less is known about the development of running. Recently, a team of researchers from the UK and the Netherlands set out to…
A new, more precise way of analysing historic ancestries has revealed previously unknown waves of human movement during the 1st millennium AD. Carly Hilts and Rebecca Preedy report.
Rubina Raja and Julia Steding discuss a collaboration between the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions and the NGO Videnskabsklubben that has resulted in a brand new, first-of-its-kind archaeological outreach programme for schoolchildren in Denmark.
Analysis of arrowheads from Bronze Age Europe is uncovering new details about an ancient battle that took place in the Tollense Valley.
The prompt reporting and careful recovery of a Bronze Age hoard has enabled expert analysis of its contents. CA reports on the potential of the Peebles Hoard to transform our understanding of Bronze Age Scotland.
New research indicates that windows with glass panes may have been present in Viking Age buildings in Scandinavia.
Mesoamerica is often considered the ‘homeland’ of chocolate due to its significance for many ancient cultures in this region, but the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao, in fact originated in the tropical rainforests of South America. Until now, though, our understanding…
Personal ornamentation is a powerful form of self-expression, often used to send messages about the wearer’s social identity, even today. But could such objects hold the key to understanding the cultural landscape of Palaeolithic Europe?
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings are offering an important opportunity to identify variations in the Earth’s magnetic field thousands of years ago.
Analysis of early Viking Age combs from Hedeby has revealed new evidence of links between the town at the base of the Jutland peninsula and distant upland regions of northern Scandinavia.
Analysis of paper money produced by Benjamin Franklin is shedding new light on the monetary history of Colonial-era America.
A specialist grant that helps volunteer and community groups to date their finds has opened applications for its 2023 funding cycle. Robin Holgate discusses some of the key findings from the projects supported by the CARD Fund in 2022 – and how to apply this year.
A recent study has used geochemical analysis to compare brass manillas traded with West Africa in the 16th-19th centuries with the materials used to make the famous Benin Bronzes, in order to find out more about their possible origins.