A recent geophysical survey in Margam Country Park, near Port Talbot in South Wales, has revealed the clear outline of a large Roman villa. The building’s footprint was identified during a geophysical survey carried out as part of the ArchaeoMargam…
Christopher Catling, Contributing Editor for CA, delves into the eccentricities of the heritage world.
Also recently declared as treasure in Wales was a hoard of Roman coins, found between 2014 and 2022
Medieval monasteries and their communities have been (and continue to be) well studied, but not so the structures associated with those who chose a more solitary route to salvation: hermits and anchorites. Dr Simon Roffey’s new book, An Archaeological History of Hermitages and Eremitic Communities in Medieval Britain and Beyond, sets out to remedy that omission, as Chris Catling reports.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from around the UK.
This January, conservation of the roughly 2,500 timbers recovered from the wreck was completed – a process that took 14 years
The cave was first excavated in 1958, when a Bronze Age urn and some human skeletons were discovered, but more recent work has shed vivid light on its contents.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news in the UK.
The title of The First Stones, a newly published book edited by William Britnell and Alasdair Whittle, proclaims a bold new thesis: that the Neolithic long cairn at Penywyrlod, in the Black Mountains of south-east Wales, is one of the earliest of its kind. With the benefit of 50 new radiocarbon dates, and new ways of modelling those dates using Bayesian analysis, its authors revisit excavations that first took place in the 1970s – and argue that this distinctive monument represents the birth of a new tomb-building tradition, as Chris Catling discovers.
Review by Al McCluskey The Roman Frontiers in Wales is one of the latest tranche of publications in the ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ series. Co-authored by David Breeze and Peter Guest, this neat, informative, and accessible volume brings a…
Findings show that there were at least two genetically distinct Late Upper Palaeolithic populations present in Britain after the last Ice Age, around 15,000 years ago.
Review by George Nash L ittered throughout much of southern Britain are stark reminders of the later prehistoric landscape: the Iron Age hill enclosure (or hillfort). As the generic name – ‘hill enclosure’ – suggests, these enigmatic features are located around…
The plan now is to fully preserve the roundhouse and leave it open so that people may appreciate the scale of erosion that is occurring at this site.
Review by Andrew Tibbs. A nalysis of ‘big data’ (large datasets of information) is a technique used to expose patterns for archaeologists to interpret, and it is utilised effectively in this book to undertake a detailed study of the rural…
The newly discovered structure sits within view of Caerau Hillfort, one the largest Iron Age hillforts in south-east Wales.
There will be opportunities for storytelling, pottery making, and guided walks, which will culminate in a weekend festival.
A collection of ten silver coins minted during the reigns of Edward I and Edward II were among the finds.
In response to the Black Lives Matter protests of June 2020, influential voices within the Anglican church called for the removal of every monument and stained-glass window commemorating people connected with slavery and empire. Ideologically motivated change on such a scale might seem unprecedented, but it has happened time and again throughout history, not least in the 16th and 17th centuries when wall paintings were obliterated and rood-lofts demolished. New discoveries remind us what we have lost, as Chris Catling reports.
Geophysical survey revealed previously unrecorded outer defences at the site
Suppressed in 1537, the abbey was plundered for its stone and five out of the 14 delicately carved 13th-century arcades ended up beautifying the church at Llanidloes, some ten miles distant.
A project that initially set out to study rock art on a c.5,000-year-old monument has uncovered what could be the earliest direct evidence of dairy farming in Wales. George Nash, Carol James, and Thomas Wellicome from the Welsh Rock Art Organisation (WRAO), and Julie Dunne and Emmanuelle Casanova from the University of Bristol, explain more.
On 28 July, UNESCO added the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales to its list of World Heritage sites, which currently number 1,154. Chris Catling reports on the reasons for this inscription and marvels at the human ingenuity that has left us with a remarkable landscape combining natural and man-made features – fully worthy of being included in the top tier of all heritage sites in the world.
'The locations of these hoards are being carefully mapped to provide another piece of information in this jigsaw, so these finds are really important.’
Its alphabet represents a written language ancestral to Scottish Gaelic, modern Irish, and Manx
There are plans for the redecoration of Caerphilly’s Great Hall to restore its original medieval splendour, and for the installation of new interpretations offering enlivened insights into the history of the castle...
Underpinning this comparatively slim volume is a remarkable archaeological programme. The South Wales Gas Pipeline was constructed in 2005-2007, extending from the Pembrokeshire coast to Gloucestershire. It was not a direct route: the Brecon Beacons lay in the way. So…
The installation of the South Wales Gas Pipeline allowed archaeologists to investigate a 317km corridor stretching from the Pembrokeshire Coast to Gloucestershire. Their finds have illuminated more than 10,000 years of human history, including the previously unknown remains of Britain’s most south-westerly Neolithic henge. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
The county is one that historically suffers from being overlooked: its proximity, and partial absorption, into Greater London risks obscuring its significance.
This work was deemed particularly important, as the building had been identified as one of the 16 most important synagogues at risk in Europe.
Patrick Mercer begins an occasional series looking at some of history’s less well-known battles.
After this first discovery, further finds were unearthed from the warrens, including large pieces of pottery that have been identified as part of an Early Bronze Age vase urn, usually associated with cremation burials
This publication features, among other highlights, the extraordinary, emotive survival of a series of footprints made by a Mesolithic child.
Straddling the border between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire in the lee of the Black Mountains, the parish of Longtown has the remains of two castles. One is a popular visitor attraction in the care of English Heritage, with a stout-walled round keep. Half a mile away is another, in the form of a large earthen mound. When the members of the Longtown & District Historical Society decided to investigate, they realised that little was known about either castle, so they set out to find out when they were built, by whom, and why there were two in such close proximity. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.
The artefacts, dating from the 9th-17th century AD, all once belonged to wealthy members of Welsh society.
Evidence of Late Mesolithic and Bronze activity has been discovered on a Welsh island.
This revealed much about life in ‘Roman’ Wales, in both its modest urbanised centres and its wider hinterlands.