Dendrochronology (dating timbers by analysing tree-rings) is a vital weapon in the archaeological arsenal, and one that is often mentioned in CA. This month’s ‘Science Notes’ features a new approach, using stable isotopes, which could help date samples that cannot normally be analysed using traditional methods. We will be looking at how this method was able to shed light on the history of construction at the Tower of London.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has launched an emergency package of support to protect heritage sites and organisations during the COVID-19 outbreak.

A Second World War landing craft, originally reported to have sunk near the Isle of Man, has been found off the coast of Wales. The discovery was made by researchers from Bournemouth University and Bangor University as part of a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Prehistoric earthworks at Bosigran, in west Cornwall, have been directly dated for the first time, shedding new light on the area’s ancient field systems. 

Analysis by X-ray of three copper-alloy artefacts recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose has offered new insight into their construction and the success of conservation efforts undertaken on them. 

Archaeological investigations in Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, have revealed two very unusual Bronze Age burials in an extensive ceremonial landscape spanning many phases of prehistory.

Over recent decades, developments in radiocarbon dating techniques have revolutionised our ability to establish the age of archaeological material and to interpret the past (see CA 359). In this month’s Science Notes we will be exploring how, thanks to further advances in this field, ‘the most significant group of Early Neolithic pottery ever uncovered in London’ has shed intriguing light on the capital’s prehistoric past.

Archaeological investigations at a moated site near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, have shed light on the original extent of the medieval enclosure, as well as uncovering material spanning the 12th century almost to the present day.

A possible 14th-century shrine adorned with medieval carvings has been discovered in a cave following a landslip near Guildford.

An archaeological project on Alderney has uncovered information about the labour and concentration camp of Sylt that once stood on the island, shedding light on the lives of prisoners during the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War.