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
May 2, 2013 By Filed Under: News
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
ArchaeoHaiku
We challenged the archaeological world on Twitter to come up with heritage-themed haiku… and they didn’t disappoint!
Time Team final episode – review
So that’s it! Last night saw the screening of the final episode of Time Team, notwithstanding a few ‘specials’ next year and a new project called ‘Dig Village’ currently in development. Sunday tea-times will never be the same again. Rather than one of the three-day digs for which the Team has become famous, this was a compilation [...]
Brecon Beacons National Park
Location: Various locations around the Brecon Beacons National Park |
Dates: Throughout 2013 |
Cost: Free - suggested donation for each walk is £3 per person
The Brecon Beacons National Park has volunteer opportunities in both archaeology and heritage. Those involved will work alongside park officers in on-going projects such as helping with the production of the Local List and helping to record and conserve archaeological remains. No previous experience is necessary. Projects tend to be more suitable to those aged [...]
Advance Archaeology
Location: Cumbernauld, and site near Stirling |
Dates: 19 August-30 August 2013 |
Cost: £550.00
This August, Advance Archaeology will be investigating and recording two conflict sites. The first is a WWII ‘Starfish’ Command Bunker located in Westfield, which was built as part of the Clyde Anti Aircraft Battery. Participants will help identify the extent of decoy defences in the local area, and establish why the bunkers were placed a [...]
Mick Aston’s latest dig
March 12, 2013 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk, News, Time Team
Mick Aston is best known as the leader of the Time Team, running around telling other people what to do and where to dig. But Mick is someone who practises what he preaches and for many years now he has been investigating his home village at Winscombe, near Western-Super-Mare in Somerset. Here he practises ‘total [...]
