When news about Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City), the capital of the Aztec Empire, started to reach Europe around the time of the conquest by the Spanish Conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés, the city was soon labelled the ‘Venice of the New World’.
Archaeologists from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities have uncovered the remains of a residential city dating to the 4th and 5th centuries AD at the Ain Al-Sabil archaeological site in the Dakhla Oasis, New Valley Governorate, in Egypt’s Western Desert.…
Although there is a rich source of archaeological evidence for towns and cities in ancient Egypt, research into urbanism has, according to Nadine Moeller, often avoided mention of it, because many of the settlements could be regarded as anomalous, not…
Most CWA readers will have visited some ruined cities for one reason or another; the majority of us will have let ourselves be fascinated by imagining how life in the past might have been, and how much or how little it would have resembled the modern equivalent, with its venues for leisure and work; for sleep and entertainment; for labour and exploitation; for aesthetically pleasing and artistic expressions
Mohenjo-daro (c.2600-1900 BC) has long invited questions about the relationship between urbanisation and social inequality. With an estimated population of 40,000 at its peak, it was one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation. However, unlike other ancient…
Maiken Mosleth King explores life in Terenouthis, an important mining and trade centre that rose to prominence in the Graeco-Roman era.
At the time of writing, I am anticipating a memorable occasion in December: the 6th Shanghai Archaeology Forum. These meetings begin with the announcement of the winning nominees in two categories: field discovery and research achievement.
A little urbanism can be a dangerous thing. Sometimes all it takes is a patch. In the modern world, for all its cities, there are still many places where one does not need to travel far to meet landscapes of villages, fields, and farm animals.
On 1 August 1960, I visited Mycenae for the first time. In my diary I described it as a terribly moving experience, seeing the shaft graves and the famed treasuries of Atreus and Clytemnestra. Looking back, what I recall most clearly was the romance of it all.
the modernist society (the lack of capitals is deliberate, in line with the modernist philosophy of embracing innovation and seeking freedom from traditional forms and established rules) is the meeting place for all those who are interested in the often-derided…
REVIEW BY NEIL HOLBROOK It is always instructive to look at the areas surrounding famous archaeological sites, as they can provide valuable context for the well-known remains. So it is with Silchester in Hampshire, where a late Iron Age oppidum…
When I think of spring, one of the first images that comes to mind in the depth of winter is the carpet of flowers at Byllis, high above the Vjosa valley. This is, in all but name, arcadia. No crowds.…
Excavations at the largest Maya site in Belize have uncovered a tomb believed to belong to the city’s first king.
Pompeii reoccupied after eruption Excavations at Pompeii have uncovered evidence that certain areas of the city were reoccupied after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. This had been suggested before, but previous excavations focused on reaching Pompeii’s pre-destruction levels…
A High Street highlight Kathryn Morrison’s Chain Stores in the Golden Age of the British High Street, (‘Cathedrals of commerce’, Chris Catling, CA 426) excellently complements books on other types of buildings such as bandstands, the co operative movement, and…
To conclude my mini-series on the towns of Roman Britain, I will head to what may be the most famous Romano-British city of all: Verulamium, modern-day St Albans. With much of the city surviving, unexcavated, beneath modern-day park- and farmland, and upstanding elements visible alongside the award-winning museum that was founded by Tessa Verney Wheeler and Mortimer Wheeler in the 1930s .
In CA 310, we reported on surveys undertaken by the Community Archaeology Geophysics Group (CAGG) of the Roman city of Verulamium (St Albans, Hertfordshire). At that time, the group, led by Dr Kris Lockyear, had mainly worked in the site’s…
The first research excavation to take place at Wroxeter in more than 30 years has illuminated a previously unexplored area of one of the largest urban centres in Roman Britain. Peter Guest, Roger H White, and Mike Luke report.
Surveying an area of remote Mexican jungle that was previously devoid of Maya sites has produced remarkable results. Ivan Šprajc told Matthew Symonds how he set about discovering lost settlements in an archaeological black hole.
Ancient city culture was inescapable in the societies where it prevailed. It suffused life to encompass almost everyone. Even the dead.
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT For those undertaking formal or informal study of Egyptian archaeology, a number of key textbooks focusing on the social lives of the ancient Egyptian people will always be on the reading list – Barry Kemp’s seminal…
Rubina Raja & Søren M Sindbæk on managing ressources in urban African societies.
REVIEW BY JOHN BINTLIFF This is a rather frustrating volume, although we need to know more about ancient Thessaly, a land of fertile plains in north-central Greece. The book focuses on 22 ancient cities in western Thessaly, typical for the…
Rubina Raja & Søren M Sindbæk on the complexities of communal living.
REVIEW BY ECKART FRAHM Mesopotamian history, Amanda Podany argues in the introduction to her new book, ‘is more of a weathered mosaic than a grand narrative’. What she provides in her long but never boring account, which covers events and…
Rubina Raja & Søren M Sindbæk on heterogeneity.
A recent exhibition at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, explores the art and culture of the Bronze Age city of Anyang in China. We spoke to curator J Keith Wilson to find out more.
The European Research Council has awarded an ERC Consolidator grant of nearly $2 million to Dr Artur Obłuski, director of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw (PCMA UW), for a project exploring the site of Tungul (or…
The human ape, with our big, social brain, is well suited to a life of dense social interaction. So, when faced with limited resources and growing populations, similar solutions tend to present themselves – in very different corners of the planet.
Review by Jennifer A Baird. Palmyra has long been considered the jewel of Syria. In recent years, the site – which is internationally well-known for its monumental remains – has become infamous after those remains were targeted for destruction, casualties…
Remains of a palace at the site emerged from the waters in 2010, and in 2018, when water levels were again low, archaeologists carried out a short campaign, documenting the palace.
The contents of those two pits amaze. They include some of the most remarkable bronzes from the ancient world: human face-masks with protruding eyes, thought to depict Cancong, the mythical first king of Shu.
The Archaeology of Medieval Towns is an interesting proposition: a book which aims to act as a bridge between the medieval worlds of Europe and Japan, introducing each to the specialists of the other. The editors are careful to make…
One of the most breathtaking experiences in my archaeological life was to mount the steps and look out over the assembled ranks of the terracotta army.
City walls are the largest structures associated with cities in the Roman Empire, but they seem still to be far from understood – maybe simply because they are such large structures and dating is a topic open to discussion and…
When hotel construction work unearthed extraordinary mosaics, the owners decided to create a new archaeological park. It showcases what is believed to be the largest known surviving Roman mosaic, as well as some stunning mythological scenes. Anthony Beeson puts us in the picture.