The many achievements of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) cover archaeology, travel, political administration, and more. She was a key figure in the formation of the modern state of Iraq and founded what became the Baghdad Archaeological Museum, yet – almost a century after her death – she is lamentably overlooked.

What were Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall for, and how did they influence everyday life in their shadow? As questions about modern borders continue to make the headlines, Matthew Symonds investigates Rome’s land frontiers in Britain. Borders are big news at the moment. We all know that a ‘great wall’ is planned along the US […]

One of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects brought with it one of the most extensive archaeological programmes ever undertaken. Lucia Marchini takes a trip through London’s buried past at the Museum of London Docklands’ exhibition of highlights from the Crossrail excavations. Tens of thousands of artefacts were unearthed at 40 construction sites dotted across London between […]

What are borders for? It is a question that has recently gone mainstream. Debate about ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ borders finds a parallel in attempts to determine whether Roman borders blocked or simply regulated movement. In this regard, the true nature of Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall remains a mystery. As the modern world is reminding us, though, the nature […]

Birthdays rarely pass without a moment of introspection. As CA reaches its golden anniversary, Joe Flatman reviews the fluctuating fortunes of archaeology in Britain through the lens of the magazine that has faithfully chronicled it since 1967. A selection of issues discussed by Joe Flatman in this month’s article can be accessed for free for […]

For more than 20 years, Cambridge Archaeological Unit has been excavating fields lining either side of the Great Ouse, at Barleycroft Farm and Over, in the Cambridgeshire Fens. This cluster of ancient mid-river islands and ridges turns out to house surprising secrets: they seem to have been the focus of some intriguing Iron Age mortuary […]

This month CA turns 50 and we are taking the opportunity to celebrate. Alongside the usual array of fascinating archaeological discoveries, we have sprinkled a selection of offerings with an anniversary theme. Our special wraparound cover pays homage to the very first issue, giving a modern and CA 1-style treatment to the excavations at the […]

The museum at Norton Priory, an extensively excavated monastic site in Cheshire, reopened last summer after a major programme of redevelopment and expansion. Lucia Marchini pays a visit. Excavation of the Augustinian priory founded at Norton in 1134 began under Patrick Greene (CA 31). In 1971, a team of local volunteers and prisoners set to […]

The great archaeological bake-off   Thank you to all of you who entered our competition to bake CA a 50th birthday cake. Your creations looked fantastic. The winner is Hazel Mosley, with this detailed depiction of an archaeologist taking a break with CA 310 (typically, all the finds are hidden under the spoil heap!). Thanks to our friends at Oxbow Books for providing […]

In a major new volume on the archaeology of Pembrokeshire, Tim Darvill argues that monument typologies do not help us understand how people viewed rocks and the landscape in the past. We need to think less like archaeologists and start asking questions about the meaning of stone and what these monuments might have signified to […]