World Archaeology

Oasis of archaeology

AlUla is an oasis town in north- western Saudi Arabia with a deep historic past as a major stepping stone for the traders who brought frankincense and myrrh north into Egypt and the Levant.

Silver-gilt vessel

The vessel was… packed with precious objects and placed upside down. What is it? This lidded, silver-gilt vessel is c.150mm tall, and 92.4mm in diameter at the rim. It was discovered as part of the Viking Age Galloway Hoard, filled…

Affresco scavo Ippolito e Fedra

Petite but picture perfect

A small, ornately decorated house has been uncovered in Pompeii during ongoing excavations of the Insula of the Chaste Lovers, in the centre of the ancient city. Archaeological investigations of this newly discovered residence are still under way, but it…

Collapse and decline

Few experiences seem to bring us closer to people in the past than literally following in their footsteps on the streets of abandoned ancient cities, among the ruins of what they once called home. The effect can be dampened, though, when we reflect that these remains only exist because at some point the population left their houses, temples, palaces, and plazas for better or – more likely – worse.

CWA news in brief

A curious composition New analysis of an inhumation burial unearthed in the 1970s at a Gallo Roman cemetery in Pommerœul, Belgium, has revealed that this ‘individual’ in fact comprises bones from at least four different Late Neolithic people, as well…

Silk at Sanxingdui

A specialised analytical approach has identified the first archaeological evidence for silk at the Bronze Age site of Sanxingdui. The settlement, which lies in the Sichuan Basin in south-western China, is believed to have been the capital of the ancient…

A parasitic passenger

Between the 12th and the 16th centuries, the city of Bruges in Belgium was an important commercial hub, home to a number of foreign merchant communities, several of whom set up their own ‘nation houses’, which served as administrative seats…

The art of fishing

Analysis of engraved stone slabs from the 15,800-year-old site of Gönnersdorf, located on the banks of the Rhine in west-central Germany, has identified a set of carvings that appear to depict fish nets or traps. Gönnersdorf has produced a rich…

An ancient Egyptian ritual blend

New analysis of an ancient Egyptian ritual vessel is shedding light on the complex concoction it once held. Bes vases are a type of ceramic vessel decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient Egyptian guardian figure associated with protection,…

A gathering place by the water

The remains of a unique Neolithic ceremonial site have been uncovered in the province of Skåne, in southern Sweden. Investigations were carried out in 2024 in the village of Hammar, outside Kristianstad, by archaeologists from the country’s National Historical Museums…

On the trail of the legions: A Roman conflict landscape in Switzerland

The discovery of a Roman fortification high in the Alps is the most recent development in a remarkable series of findings that allow us to trace the progress of a legionary battlegroup in the 1st century BC. As well as following part of their march, we can see how they sought to control this mountainous terrain, and where they clashed with local forces, as Hannes Flück told Matthew Symonds.

Ocomtún: Discovering a Maya city

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.

Bomarzo and its Pyramid

In a deep valley below Bomarzo’s Orsini palace lies the so-called ‘Monster Park’ – the Sacro Bosco, a Mannerist gem from the later 16th century. It is surely one of the most remarkable Renaissance gardens in Italy, if not Europe.…

Dolmen wikimedia2c tony makepeace

Feats of engineering

Stonehenge is often portrayed as if it were a unique monument, which in some respects it is. No other surviving monument uses mortise-and-tenon joints to lock the lintels to the uprights that form the massive stone circle and the inner trilithons (though this kind of joint was probably used in similar monuments built from timber that have not survived).

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A city of temples by the Pacific Ocean

For the first time in 40 years, a new effort is under way by archaeologists from the University of Toronto, in collaboration with local scholars, to document the pre-Hispanic city of Pacatnamu in the Jequetepeque Valley of northern coastal Peru.…

The salt sellers

My first experience of fieldwork in Southeast Asia found me in Roi et province of Northeast Thailand. It was a total accident that led me to this spot. The mighty Mekong River was then in the early stages of being seriously affected by the construction of hydro dams on its tributaries.

Rune-inscribed knife

What is it? This broken knife blade is almost 2,000 years old. Currently preserved at a length of c.8cm, its original length is unknown, but was probably just slightly longer than this. On one side, the iron blade is incised…