Roman treasures in the heart of the City
About Carly Hilts
Carly studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at St John’s College, Cambridge, before becoming a journalist. Quickly realising she preferred covering history and archaeology stories above all others, she joined Time Team as a researcher, later working for Horrible Histories and helping create an ancient Egyptian-themed computer game. At CA she is responsible for news and book reviews and is always delighted to receive suggestions for either section.
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Walbrook channel: mystery panel
June 6, 2013 By Filed Under: News
A 6-month excavation in the heart of London has revealed thousands of artefacts illuminating the city’s Roman past – including a unique sheet of decorated leather. Working ahead of construction on the Bloomberg site, home to London’s Temple of Mithras, MOLA archaeologists have recovered around 10,000 objects spanning the whole period of Roman occupation in [...]
Current Archaeology 280 – out now!
June 6, 2013 By Filed Under: Issues
Comparisons with Pompeii or Tutankhamen’s tomb are easily overused when attempting to convey the excitement of a new archaeological discovery. Recent media reports labelling an excavation at the new Bloomberg Place in the heart of London the ‘Pompeii of the North’ could risk dooming the results, however exciting, to disappointing comparisons with the Bay of [...]
After the Ice: exhibiting life at Star Carr
11,000-year-old artefacts from Star Carr, Britain’s largest-known Mesolithic settlement, will go on display for the first time tomorrow (24 May), with the opening of a new exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum. With highlights including deer skull head-dresses, bone harpoons, and amber and shale jewellery, preserved by the peaty environment of the lakeside camp where they were [...]
Digging London’s past: Syon Park excavation
This summer the Museum of London will return to Syon Park, Hounslow, with digging opportunities for adult and children, it has been announced. Having previously focussed on investigating the house of Sir Richard Wynne, a Parliamentarian on whose land the 1641 Battle of Brentford was fought as anti-Royalist forces tried to stop Prince Rupert’s troops reaching [...]
Current Archaeology 279
What was life really like for Medieval peasants? Renowned as the epitome of poverty, they appear as stock images performing hard manual labour in the margins of illustrated manuscripts. With the squalor they faced memorably lampooned by Monty Python, among others, it has always been assumed that the ramshackle hovels they called home have long [...]
VIDEO: The search for Richard III – Richard Buckley at CA Live! 2013
May 1, 2013 By Filed Under: Articles, Live, News, Richard III
Cradle of Stonehenge: interview with David Jacques
April 29, 2013 By Filed Under: News
In CA 271 we brought you news of astonishing Mesolithic finds at Vespasian’s Camp on Salisbury Plain, a potentially game-changing site for our understanding of the Stonehenge landscape. With the site about to star in the first episode of a new BBC archaeology series, we caught up with project director, Buckingham University’s David Jacques, to find [...]
Scale models: George and the dragon
April 23, 2013 By Filed Under: News
Standing just 4cm high, St George raises his lance to strike a fatal blow against the tiny dragon staring back at him. His outstretched hand probably once gripped his scaly foe by the tail, though they have since broken apart. Discovered by a metal detectorist in the Carlisle area last April, these silver gilt figures [...]
Roman in the snow: hundreds visit NW Cambridge Site open day
Almost 500 people braved the snow to visit the Northwest Cambridge Site’s extensive archaeological remains during an open day last month. A 14ha excavation by Cambridge Archaeological Unit has revealed Roman activity spanning four centuries, as well as archaeological features stretching back to the Middle Bronze Age (c.1500 BC), suggesting that the rolling green farmland northwest [...]
Cambridge’s Roman development
April 18, 2013 By Filed Under: News
The rolling green farmland northwest of Cambridge was once crowded with bustling Roman settlements and industry, recent excavations suggest. Cambridge Archaeological Unit has investigated 14ha outside the city, revealing Roman activity spanning four centuries, as well as archaeological features stretching back to the Middle Bronze Age (c.1500 BC). Zig-zag ditches thought to represent practice trenches from [...]
Murmillo magic
April 11, 2013 By Filed Under: News
A tiny amber amulet shaped like a gladiator’s helmet has been discovered in the Walbrook area by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). Measuring just over 1cm across, the object was found amongst the remains of a demolished Roman building, together with large amounts of pottery and animal bone. It is hoped that analysis of these [...]
London’s roaming temple – new parts of the Mithraeum found
April 11, 2013 By Filed Under: News
Britain’s most-moved Roman site, the Temple of Mithras in London, is one step closer to returning to its original location after recent work by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). Since it was uncovered in the 1950s the third-century temple has been completely dismantled, shifted 90m, rebuilt, taken apart again, and is currently in storage in [...]
The Kilkenny Workhouse mass burials: an archaeology of the Irish Potato Famine
April 4, 2013 By Filed Under: Features
Current Archaeology 278
April 4, 2013 By Filed Under: Issues
The Irish Potato Famine, or Great Hunger, took a terrible toll. Between the million who died and the million more who emigrated to escape, it cost Ireland a quarter of its population. Now, excavations at the former Kilkenny Workhouse have unexpectedly unearthed a cluster of long-forgotten mass graves holding famine victims. Providing a rare opportunity [...]
Time Team: the end of an era?
As Time Team ends its run, Jim Mower – an archaeologist and producer for ten years on the programme – reflects on two decades of television archaeology and asks: what’s next? Time Team is the longest running history/archaeology strand in television history. Although often criticised over its lifetime, this is, by any reckoning, a remarkable [...]
