Here at Current Publishing we often take on interns to help with various parts of the publication process, across all three of our magazines. If you would like to get experience behind the scenes of magazine production, and you’re happy to get stuck in wherever, let us know! Please email a copy of your [...]

Could an unsung and overgrown site on the Channel Islands really be one of the best-preserved military structures surviving from the Roman period? Jason Monaghan has been investigating. The tradition that Alderney’s oldest surviving fortification is a small Roman fort has proved persistent. Now known as ‘the Nunnery’, the site lies on a wide, flat expanse of sand overlooking [...]

Roman ‘Service station’ excavated at Syon Park Just 10 miles west of Central London, a Roman service station has been excavated at Syon Park, near Brentford. Just what would a Roman soldier expect to find when he dropped in on his journey to the west country? It is a familiar feeling. You have been on [...]

Uncovering the secrets of Cashel Man Cashel bog in Co. Laois is locally known as a source of peat moss for farmers and gardeners. But recently the peat millers harvested something rather more unusual: an Iron-Age human sacrifice. Dubbed ‘Cashel Man’, the adult male was found lying on his right side, knees tightly bent up, [...]

Unearthing the personal beliefs of Medieval monks   There are many qualities you might associate with a Medieval monk, but a superstitious belief in elves probably isn’t one of them. Yet a community dig at Kilwinning Abbey in North Ayrshire has uncovered an intriguing clue about the possible personal beliefs of one of the monastery’s [...]

The publication of Gathering Time marks a turning point in our understanding of the early Neolithic, and a revolution in dating methodology. New radiocarbon techniques have resulted in a more precise chronology for causewayed enclosures in southern Britain and Ireland than was ever thought possible. Christopher Catling summarises 1,000 pages of data to explain why [...]

Archaeologists lead underwater investigation to uncover the century-old secrets of RMS Lusitania On May 7th 1915 the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania was nearing the coast of Ireland on the return leg of her 101st voyage between Liverpool and New York. It would prove to be her last. At 14.10pm she was torpedoed by the German submarine [...]

Uncovering seven centuries of cemeteries The largest area excavation ever undertaken in Aberdeen has disclosed astonishing details about the Church of St Nicholas, also known as the Mither Kirk, and its congregation. Alison Cameron, of Cameron Archaeology Ltd, reveals four medieval churches and seven centuries of funerary fashion. In 1874 disaster overtook Aberdeen’s Kirk of St [...]

Neolithic clay figurine found during Orkney excavation Meet the newest member of a small and very special family: the ‘Brodgar Boy’. Archaeologists found this tiny clay figurine while working on a spectacular Neolithic settlement complex between two stone circles on the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney. Measuring just 30mm long with a clearly-defined head, body, [...]

  Whirlow Hall Farm is a working farm on the western edge of Sheffield. Every year over 10,000 children visit it from inner city areas to learn about various aspects of agriculture. But on 19th July archaeological excavations began, marking the culmination of a community-orientated survey project carried out through spring and summer by local [...]

Unearthing an English institution Excavations in Liverpool Street have revealed a post-Medieval cemetery. Could it contain the dead of the world’s first lunatic asylum? Jay Carver and Nicholas Elsden spoke to Matthew Symonds. In 1247 Simon Fitz-Mary, an Alderman and Sheriff of London, financed a new priory on the outskirts of the city. The site he [...]

The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey Today the word graffiti carries unpleasant connotations. Articles tackling both graffiti and churches are normally reports of destruction and wanton vandalism. For one community archaeology project, however, church graffiti has shone new light on the Medieval parish, as Matthew Champion reveals. In 2010, a volunteer-led community archaeology project was established to [...]

Nothing beats the excitement of hands-on archaeology, and with the new digging season almost upon us, there is no time to lose. This is a chance to get practical experience, either before heading off to university, or putting into practice what has been studied in theory. But for most, this is simply a glorious way [...]

Excavating the Age of Steam St Pancras station famously escaped demolition in the 1960s, but what happened to the bit Betjeman did not save? Louise Davies and Hana Lewis from Museum of London Archaeology share the secrets of the Somers Town Goods Yard with Matthew Symonds. The 1960s were not kind to London’s Victorian heritage. [...]

New evidence of an Iron Age hillfort at war Excavation at a Derbyshire hillfort has thrown up unique evidence for the massacre of women and children during the destruction of the fort. Clive Waddington discusses the dig, and what this discovery means for the continuing debate about the function of these sites. Iron Age hillforts [...]

  A new generation of castleologists believe that castles were about much more than trebuchets, portcullises, galloping hooves, boiling oil, and the clash of swords on armour: instead, castles were centres of lordship, symbols of wealth, and expressions of status, alluding to the past and expressing poetic ideals. Chris Catling reports. Forget what you were [...]

Lisa Westcott Wilkins chats to Matthew Symonds, Acting Editor of Current World Archaeology for the past year, who is just about to take up the editorial reins at CA. Why did you become an archaeologist? I’ve loved archaeology for as long as I can remember. I think it started with reading archaeological fiction, like Rosemary [...]

  As Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s nuptials this month stir up feverish national excitement, what light can archaeology shed on the pomp and pageantry of the most magnificent of Royal occasions? Brendon Wilkins goes in search of the evidence. The sound of smashing porcelain paralysed us with fear. Looking down at the kitchen floor, [...]

Scotland’s Stirling Castle has been yielding Renaissance secrets. Gordon Ewart and Dennis Gallagher of Kirkdale Archaeology report on the fashionable grandeur in which the 16th century kings of the northern realm clothed their power. Stirling Castle is one of Scotland’s most iconic sites. Perched on its great rock, it represents a sequence of fortification from obscure [...]