UK

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Sifting through the remains of Scotland’s kelping industry

For a brief period, from around 1750 to 1820, the west coast and islands of Scotland experienced a boom in demand for kelp, a seaweed-derived substance used in the soap and glass-making industries. Kevin Grant – formerly St Kilda Archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland, now Archaeology Manager at Historic Environment Scotland – has been studying the fragile and elusive remains of this once-thriving industry, as Chris Catling reports.

The origins of Old St Oswald Church, Fulford

Many a church guide claims that their present building sits on the site of a more ancient structure. But how accurate are these claims? Recently the Fishergate, Fulford, and Heslington Local History Society (FFH) – a community group with a long-standing and very active interest in their historic landscape – decided to try to find out whether this was true of the deconsecrated medieval church, dedicated to St Oswald, that sits on the east bank of the River Ouse, in the village of Fulford, some 2km south of York. Chris Catling reports.

IMAGES: Tom Ferraby; Rose Ferraby, using data from Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire, CC BY SA 3.0

Illuminating Isurium: exploring Aldborough’s Roman remains

Isurium Brigantum was a thriving and prosperous Roman town in what is now North Yorkshire, but it has attracted relatively little modern archaeological attention. Now, though, a decade of geophysical surveys have shed vivid light on its make-up, and a wide-ranging new book presents a compelling narrative for how the once-bustling settlement evolved. Carly Hilts reports.

Below Containing at least 453 bronze and copper objects and fragments, the Havering hoard is the largest Bronze Age hoard to be found in London, and the third largest known in the whole United Kingdom. This is only a selection of its contents and its story is now being told at the Museum of London Docklands.

The Havering hoard

Two years ago, London’s largest Bronze Age hoard was discovered on the eastern fringe of the city. It is now on display at the Museum of London Docklands. What do its contents tell us about life in the Thames river valley 3,000 years ago? Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts visited the exhibition to find out.

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Investigating the age of the Cerne Abbas hill figure

The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55m-tall chalk hill figure depicting a nude man, has been in the care of the National Trust for 100 years. To mark this anniversary, small-scale excavations retrieved dating samples from the Dorset landmark – and, although the present lockdown has put analysis on hold, intriguing clues are already beginning to emerge. Mike Allen and Martin Papworth report.

PHOTO: © The Trustees of the British Museum

News in brief

British Museum revamps Collection Online The British Museum has recently launched a new version of its Collection Online website, featuring over half its collections, making it one of the largest such databases of any global museum. The updated resource encompasses…

BELOW The primary burial was found with a range of high status grave goods. RIGHT The site of the skatepark excavation is located within a wider ceremonial landscape.

Bronze Age burials at Lechlade skatepark

Archaeological investigations in Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, have revealed two very unusual Bronze Age burials in an extensive ceremonial landscape spanning many phases of prehistory. The excavations were carried out by Foundations Archaeology in 2017, in advance of the construction of a…

PHOTO: Gerald Ponting

Letters from CA May 2020/June 2020

Early insights into Callanish Site XI I was an active amateur archaeologist on the Isle of Lewis between 1975 and 1984, working with Margaret Curtis, who was then my wife. She remained on the island when I relocated to my…

OPPOSITE Testing a reconstructed chariot revealed that the charioteers had to be highly skilled and that the horses had to be intensively trained. Here, Jonathan Waterer drives a pair of Fiord ponies while Mike Loades tests the stability of the ride.

Bring me my chariot: investigating burial practices in Iron Age Yorkshire

What sparked the unusual chariot burials associated with the Arras Culture in East Yorkshire? Migration has been proposed as an explanation, but a new book asks whether there are other ways by which chariot-making knowledge and burial practices could have been transferred. The reality is perhaps more mundane but, at the same time, highly informative about the diversity of lifestyles and burial practices in the British Iron Age and the ways in which people expressed their regional identity. Chris Catling reports.

LEFT Around 600 beer bottles were found stacked beneath the stairs of a building next to Scarborough Castle Inn in Leeds. BELOW A set of six ducts were uncovered beneath the floor of South Terrace.

Urban insights at Leeds’ Tetley’s Brewery

Excavations on the site of Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds have revealed intriguing insights into the 18th- and 19th-century development of the city. Carried out by Archaeological Services WYAS, the investigation explored buildings along Hunslet Lane, including the location of the…

PHOTO: The British Museum

News in brief

British Museum launches protective platform The British Museum has launched a global platform called ‘Circulating Artefacts’ (CircArt) to fight against the looting and trafficking of antiquities. This initiative combines a restricted object database with an online public service where users…

Peterloo R Carlile

Letters from CA April 2020/May 2020

Remembering Richard Carlile I thought this little-known fact about the Peterloo Massacre (see CA 357) really important when I came across it recently. It raises the whole issue of how / why people are remembered, and the frequent unfairness of…

The Herefordshire Viking Hoard: unpicking the story of a stolen treasure

Last year, four men were jailed for stealing and selling one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in western Britain. To date, only a few of its contents have been recovered. What can these objects, and the landscape in which they were buried, tell us about the area’s early medieval history? Tim Hoverd, Peter Reavill, Judy Stevenson, and Gareth Williams report.

Right Found at the Housesteads Mithraeum, this partially reconstructed relief shows Mithras’ slaughtering of the bull as an act of creation.

Great North Museum: Hancock

From Roman temples dedicated to Mithras to Anglo-Saxon stone crosses, Newcastle’s Great North Museum: Hancock explores an array of beliefs and ways of life in the north of England, as Lucia Marchini found out.

Above The building that has become the symbol of just how impressive crucks can be is Leigh Court Barn, in Worcestershire, now in the care of English Heritage. It was built by Pershore Abbey from timbers felled in 1344.

Cruck construction: an uncouth and rudimentary building technique?

Dr Nat Alcock is a pioneer of the study of medieval cruck-built structures. To honour his contribution and mark his 80th birthday in 2019, a new survey has just been published that charts our growing understanding of cruck construction. It also highlights the remaining areas of uncertainty and debate about the social status of these buildings, when and where crucks originated, and what their distribution means. Chris Catling reports.