Current Archaeology 435
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An enduring landscape: Uncovering 8,000 years of life and death on the Cotswold Edge
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.
Llanbedrgoch: Exploring a unique early medieval trading centre on Anglesey
Ninth-century Carolingian coins from the reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald are not the sort of objects you would expect to find on a remote farm on the Isle of Anglesey, so, when metal-detectorists began reporting these and other exceptional artefacts from the early medieval period, the National Museum of Wales (now Amgueddfa Cymru) sent Mark Redknap, then Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology, to investigate. Between 1994 and 2012, Mark led ten seasons of fieldwork on the site, revealing the remains of a trading settlement with a form unparalleled in Wales. With the full report recently published, Chris Catling describes its key findings.
Bath Quays Waterside: the archaeology of industry, commerce and the lives of the poor in Bath’s lost quayside district
To any well-read person, mention of Bath conjures up a Regency vision of elite spa bathing which makes it hard to think of the place as the abode of poverty or of
Digging up memories
An immersive online exhibition hosted by the Vindolanda Trust uses the extraordinary range of wooden artefacts excavated at the Roman fort to evoke memories and forge connections with communities who lived 2,000 years ago. CA reports.
Aerial archaeology
The distinctive lozenge-shaped ramparts of Whitley Castle Roman Fort, situated north-west of Alston in Cumbria, survive as earthworks that are clearly visible in aerial photographs like this one.
Clerical sinners and forgeries
Quarreling was commonplace, especially over who was entitled to sit in ‘the best’ pews. Clergy complained about being assaulted: one Kentish aristocrat took his hawk to church in 1514 and punched the vicar in the face when chastised for doing so.
Roman villa and mosaic depicting Homer’s The Iliad discovered in Rutland
The stunning mosaic depicts the concluding scene of the Trojan War, in which Greek hero Achilles battles Hector, the leader of the Trojans.
England’s largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard unearthed
The trove consists of 131 gold coins and four gold objects
World News in Brief
CA explores the latest archaeological news from across the globe, including the discovery of the world’s oldest Christian monastery.
Over 90 burials discovered in Deal
Most of the later burials were found outside the ring ditch, but inside the prehistoric enclosure the archaeologists found the c.AD 550 grave of a warrior.
St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire: archaeological investigations and historical context
his Archaeopress volume represents the long-awaited full publication of Philip Rahtz’s 1994-2004 investigations at Kirkdale parish church, where the famed sundial records Orm Gamalson’s c.1060 rebuilding of a ‘broken and fallen’ minster.
Iron Age shrine unearthed in the Yorkshire Wolds
Excavations on a hill in the Yorkshire Wolds have uncovered the remains of a 24m2 Iron Age shrine packed with cow skulls, deer antler, and other animal bones. The site appeared as
Excavating Scotland’s earliest railway
A community project excavating Scotland’s first railway has uncovered three 18th-century phases of timber construction layered on top of each other. The unprecedented discovery was made in East Lothian by the 1722
A Mighty Capital Under Threat: the environmental history of London, 1800-2000
The London we know today traces its roots directly back to the modest settlement developed on the banks of the Thames in the late 9th century, in the time of the Saxon
Experimental ‘Bronze Age roundhouse’ unveiled
The new roundhouse was built almost entirely by 33 volunteers from Operation Nightingale, a charity assisting the recovery of wounded and traumatised military personnel and veterans through archaeology.
Roman Venus figurine found in Gloucester
Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD, the moulded statuette is just 17cm high and has been interpreted as a religious icon, probably imported from elsewhere in the Roman Empire
Church Communities and Heritage
Churches are significant repositories of community history; they contain rare and precious objects; they are, in a very real sense, museums at the heart of every community. They are also places of reflection and spiritual sustenance…
From aurochsen to abbey tiles: uncovering Mesolithic and medieval finds at Blick Mead
Excavations at Blick Mead, a significant Mesolithic occupation site close to Stonehenge, continued this autumn. Carly Hilts travelled to the site to learn more about prehistoric hunters and traces of a priory associated with a medieval queen.
Iona in the Viking Age: laying a ‘zombie narrative’ to rest
The traditional story of Iona’s early medieval monastery ends in tragedy and bloodshed, with the religious community wiped out by vicious Viking raiders. Increasingly, though, the archaeological and historical evidence does not support this persistent narrative, as Adrián Maldonado, Ewan Campbell, Thomas Owen Clancy, and Katherine Forsyth report.
A lost monastery revealed? Investigating an Anglo-Saxon community at Cookham
In the 8th century, Cookham minster was the focus of a decades-long power struggle between early medieval kingdoms, but over time the religious community’s location faded from memory, despite its association with a powerful Anglo-Saxon queen. Now excavations in Berkshire are thought to have brought its remains to light once more. CA Editor Carly Hilts spoke to Gabor Thomas about what has been found.