Embroidering history: Reconciliation and recrimination on the Bayeux Tapestry
As the Bayeux Tapestry goes on show at the British Museum, Matthew Symonds explores some of the enigmatic messages encoded in its exquisite needlework.
World Archaeology
Calling all photographers! Current World Archaeology Photo of the Year 2027
As summer comes to an end, it is the perfect time to reflect on your heritage-filled travels, archaeological projects, and visits to historical sites around the world. Dig out your best photos on an archaeological theme – these can be…
The frontier in Raetia: Heritage on the edge of the Roman World
From serving as the edge of an empire to falling within no fewer than three modern World Heritage Sites, Raetia's Roman frontier has long been a place of consequence. David J Breeze introduces the ancient and modern significance of this remarkable monument.
CWA 139 crossword, and answers to crossword #138
Across 8 Greek island, location of the Loizos Cave archaeological site (6)9 ___ limestone, sedimentary rock made of small grains of calcium carbonate (7)10 Kathleen ___, British archaeologist, author of Ancient Sparta (8)11 Location of a Makah village site in…
Castles in the cliffs: Archaeology and myth in the Pyrenees.
In the 12th century, the counts of Foix began creating a unique network of fortifications using caves and other natural features in their part of the Pyrenees. Colin Duncan Taylor explores their origins and reveals how, starting in the 19th century, these castles in the cliffs were ransacked by early archaeologists and fortune hunters in search of fabled Cathar treasure.
The view from Vienna
Last year, in Vienna, we visited the salt mines at Hallstatt and the site beside the Danube where the Venus of Willendorf was discovered.
Amphibious cities
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’.
Becoming America: How science shaped a nation
What role did science play in the emergence of the United States of America? Matthew Symonds spoke to Elissavet Ntoulia about scientific knowledge and its practical applications as a nation was born.
Giove: In Jupiter’s shadow
I first came to the Umbrian hilltop village of Giove half a lifetime ago. I was seeking sanctuary in the real Italy as I navigated potential closure of the British School at Rome (where I was director) at the hands of Mrs…
Riches from the sea
Bronze Age sailors, metal prospectors, and traders regularly travelled between northern and southern Europe – a distance of more than 2,000 miles – according to new research looking at similarities in the depiction of boats in rock carvings in Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal.
Ritual offering at Peñico
An assemblage of objects discovered at Peñico on the north-central coast of Peru, dating to 3,800 years ago, provides new evidence for the continuity of the Caral culture. Caral is considered the oldest known ‘advanced’ civilisation in the Americas, emerging…
Byzantine city discovered in Egyptian oasis
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.…
Ancient answers to climate crises
The wetlands of La Mojana in northern Colombia are home to an ancient raised field system made up of canals and ridges (camellones) covering a vast area of c.500,000ha. Often called the Zenú hydraulic systems, after the pre-Hispanic societies who…
A sacred well
An ancient votive well has been discovered at the Etruscan city of Kainua in northern Italy. Kainua, located on the outskirts of modern-day Bologna, was founded in the late 6th century BC. Situated next to the Reno river, along thriving…
Miniature masterpieces
Two remarkably detailed bird figurines have been discovered at Hohle Fels cave in south-western Germany. The cave, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura’, has produced an array of…
CWA news in brief
Beneath Grønhaug In 1902, investigations of the Grønhaug burial mound on Karmøy, western Norway, revealed the poorly preserved remains of a Viking Age ship dating to the mid-9th century. Now archaeologists have returned to the site. They have determined that…
The Glozel controversy
Janice Kinory looks back on the curious case of the clay tablets from Glozel.
Analysing ancient anaesthetic
Examination of surgical tools from a Ming Dynasty tomb reveals evidence of early anaesthetic use in 14th-century China.
Creatures of myth and imagination
An exhibition at the Met Cloisters explores depictions of fantastical hybrid creatures from medieval Europe and the ancient Americas.
Digging into Paris’ past
Excavations on the Île de la Cité are uncovering thousands of years of Parisian history. Amy Brunskill spoke to Julien Avinain and Lucie Altenburg to find out more.
Bell Beakers and the Mediterranean: maritime connections and networks
This handsome 158-page volume focuses on the Mediterranean and its role in the Bell Beaker phenomenon. Throughout the book, the sea emerges both as an inhabited space and as a medium for communication and circulation. This maritime perspective shifts attention…
Hunting: the pursuit that shaped humanity
This sweeping history of hunting is the archaeologist and anthropologist Brian Fagan’s final book, helped into publication by his friend and collaborator Nadia Durrani. Fagan was an extraordinarily prolific writer, and his ability to communicate with popular audiences is much…
Sunken treasures
The identity of a 17th-century shipwreck containing hundreds of gold coins has been revealed, three decades after its discovery. The wreck, which lies at a depth of c.18m in Salcombe Bay, off the south coast of England, was discovered in…
Medieval notebook
We can see Latin, scratched into the book’s wax 700-800 years ago. What is it? This well-preserved medieval ‘notebook’ dates to the 13th or 14th century. Measuring 10cm by 7.5cm, the book comprises ten wooden tablets covered in wax –…
Terror or tolerance? Taking a new look at the Mongol Empire
The conquests of Genghis Khan are traditionally associated with horrifying brutality, but this reputation has overshadowed another side to the empire that he forged. Matthew Symonds spoke to Marie Favereau to find out more.
Homage to Gallarus Oratory
Fifty years ago, one of the most daring expeditions in modern times left Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula. Tim Severin set out with a crew of three in a curragh – a skin-boat shaped like a banana – from Brandon Creek to…
The copper road
For the first time in human experience, a substance could be melted and converted into something new. If you set off by car from the Volga River to Hungary, you will have to drive for 32 hours and cover a…
Transparent desires: Delving into the Roman lapis specularis mines
A new project is examining the traces of Roman mining associated with extracting
a particularly prized stone. Guillermo León, Catalina Urquijo, Dionisio Urbína,
José Luis Córdoba, and the spelunkers of the Cuenca Ara Club of Speleology describe the demands of archaeological investigation deep within the bowels of central Spain.
From the fringes of the Roman Empire: Locally crafted empires
In our high-speed modern world, it can be easy to forget that the ancient world was experienced at a slower speed. Rubina Raja shares the insights that can spring from exploring the edges of the Roman world on foot.
Technological evolution
A study of human remains from two cemeteries in Bulgaria, all buried with distinctively ‘Gothic’ jewellery, brooches, and belt buckles, suggests that the ancient Goths were ethnically diverse and not a single homogeneous community.
In a matter of minutes, his life was over: The violent death of a Mesolithic man
A recent discovery in Sweden has revealed details about the final moments of a Mesolithic man. Caroline Arcini, Ann Westmark, Gracijela Bozovic, and Marie-Louise Aurumskjöld take us through what unfolded.
Living among ruins
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
Gold filigree fitting
It was found by a walker in a rock crevice. What is it? This spectacular sword scabbard fitting dates to the 6th century, during Norway’s Migration Period. The rectangular object measures 6cm wide by c.2cm high and is just a…
Place of empires
Janice Kinory examines an early photograph of a Roman emperor’s palace.
Mohenjo-daro: an egalitarian urban centre?
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…
The plaster casts of Pompeii
The first permanent exhibition of the plaster casts of Pompeii has opened at the Archaeological Park.