CA recently interviewed Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, on challenges facing the heritage sector, and the new draft National Planning Framework. The National Trust is extremely worried about the new draft National Planning Framework. Do you share their concerns? Absolutely, and we are delighted that the NT is making a [...]
Simon Thurley: Heritage Guardian
October 14, 2011 By Filed Under: Featured, Features, Special Features
When the Celtic Tiger roared: the golden years of commercial archaeology in Ireland
January 25, 2011 By Filed Under: Features
During the Celtic Tiger economic boom, Ireland experienced a period of prosperity which led to an unprecedented ‘golden age’ for commercial archaeology. In a four-part series, Brendon Wilkins examines the top sites, finds and controversies that defined over a decade of discovery. Imagine a place where the term ‘millionaire archaeologist’ would not sound ridiculous, and [...]
After the Cuts: Scorched earth, or clean slate? (Part I)
As the government threatens to cut all its budgets, CA decided to ask a tough question of our colleagues: `The budget cuts have major implications for archaeology. But is it all bad news? Instead of just being about mass unemployment, lower wages, and fear, could it be that this is a chance to repurpose, do [...]
After the Cuts: Scorched earth, or clean slate? (Part II)
January 4, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk, Features, News
Editor-in-chief, Andrew Selkirk offers his insight on some issues raised by spending cuts. How will universities fare under the new regime, where funds will go to students rather than to universities? Archaeology is not exactly a subject that will set you up to become a big earner, so will archaeology inevitably go into decline? I [...]
UnRoman attitudes: exposing the myth of Britannia
December 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
We traditionally see Roman Britain from the Rome-centred view; but how did the Britons really react? Now, a new book by Miles Russell and Stuart Laycock explores a different perspective, asking: what did the Romans truly ever do for us? In 2010, 1600 years after the traditional date when Rome cut the province of Britannia [...]
Vikings: Raiders and traders
August 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling, Features
A group of 51 fit and battle-ready Scandinavians met a brutal death in the years between AD 910 and 1034; crudely beheaded, their remains were thrown into a mass grave near Weymouth in Dorset. Chris Catling asks how this discovery fits in with our picture of the Vikings. Recent discoveries such as the Dorset Ridgeway [...]
Conservation in the community
August 24, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
American-born conservator Dana Goodburn-Brown has worked around the world and made numerous appearances on television. Now, her infectious enthusiasm is inspiring a band of volunteers based in the unlikely location of a Kent shopping centre. CA’s Caitlin McCall went to meet her. What does a conservator do? A conservator is responsible for the care, preservation [...]
Liquid History: Excavating London’s great river, The Thames
July 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
Prehistoric forests, the skull of a child, the slipway of a Victorian engineering masterpiece and part of a Tudor palace jetty: all have emerged from the mud and gravel on the foreshore of the Thames, thanks to an exciting new project to record the archaeology of London’s great river. Nathalie Cohen tells CA about the [...]
Howburn Farm: Excavating Scotland’s first people
June 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
At Howburn Farm in South Lanarkshire, a scattering of flints, discovered by the Biggar Archaeology Group, turned out to be evidence of the earliest human habitation in Scotland. Tam Ward and Alan Saville explain. How far north did Palaeolithic people settle in Britain? The general belief is that they did not go much further than [...]
Dark Satanic mills? The archaeology of the world’s first industrial city
May 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
By 1850, Manchester had a population of 300,000, and most of its 172 textile mills had already been built. Cotton goods were known simply as ‘Manchester goods’. Now, archaeology is adding new insights. We report on ten years’ digging of Manchester’s industrial history. In 1814, Johann Georg May wrote: ‘Manchester is famous throughout the world [...]
Lanton Quarry: New evidence in northern Northumberland
February 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
A routine investigation ahead of gravel quarrying has turned up some exciting results: has the ‘support centre’ for the elite Anglo-Saxon settlement of Yeavering been found? Clive Waddington discusses the evidence. In the very north of Northumberland lies an old, dried-out glacial lake that is surrounded by raised gravel terraces, known as the Milfield Basin. [...]
Magic and Mining at Alderley Edge
January 28, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling, Features
Listening to tales told by his blacksmith grandfather in the semi-darkness of his fire-lit forge, Alan Garner absorbed the Cheshire folklore that he then transformed into a classic work of fiction – The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Inspired by Garner’s story, archaeologists have recently begun to unravel the truth behind the legends of Alderley Edge, as [...]
Magic and Mining; the Alderly Edge Landscape Project
January 5, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
Listening to the tales told by his blacksmith grandfather in the semi-darkness of his fire-lit forge, Alan Garner absorbed the Cheshire folklore that transformed into a classic work of fiction – The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Inspirred by Garner’s story archaeologists have recently begun to unravel the truth behind the legends of Alderly edge, as Chris [...]
Archaeology Awards
December 17, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
Last year in Cardiff, we launched the Current Archaeology Awards to resounding success. We’re excited to open this year’s competition and look forward to your votes – just CLICK HERE; these awards are our way of hearing back from all of you who have helped to make CA such a great success over the past 41 [...]
Ice Age: archaeology and the climatic rollercoaster
November 9, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
We still live in the Ice Age that began around 2.5 million years ago. Our present time is an ‘interglacial’: a relatively warm period between two big freezes. Global warming looks set to change the pattern forever. In this major feature, we examine the new book by Brian Fagan and review the latest findings of [...]
Bamburgh Castle: digging the home of Northumbria's kings
November 9, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
The Bamburgh Research Project is picking up the pieces of the archaeological work started by legendary eccentric Dr Brian Hope-Taylor, who had left virtually no record of his excavations – or so it was believed. The story of Bamburgh is two-fold: before properly investigating the site, the team must first excavate the archaeologist who worked [...]
The End of Roman Verulamium
November 9, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
Landmark excavations at St Albans in 1955-1961 transformed ideas about Late Roman towns. Excavator Sheppard Frere claimed that urban life continued well into the 5th century AD. Now, Neil Faulkner and David Neal’s fresh study of old records is re-dating the discoveries and reversing the conclusions.
Bluestonehenge: Landscape of ancestors
November 9, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
The Stonehenge story continues to evolve: a whole new chapter has just been added after the remarkable discovery this summer of a second bluestone circle, located at the point where the Avenue joins the River Avon. Chris Catling reports.
The Hallaton Treasure: evidence of a new kind of shrine?
September 30, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
In CA 233 we reported on the discovery at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, of a rare Roman cavalry parade helmet. It was just one of a number of items of treasure found at a pre-Roman shrine that continues to excite debate. Frank Hargrave, Project Officer at the Harborough Museum describes the other finds.
Water-power in Medieval Greenwich
September 30, 2009 By Filed Under: Features
Last summer, digging through 3.5m of riverside mud at Greenwich in London, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a huge timber watermill of the 12th century. The wheel, part of which survived, would have been more than 5m across. We report on an extraordinary example of Medieval engineering for industrial-scale production.
