Roundhouses
In 1970, writing in CA 21, architect-turned archaeologist Chris Musson estimated that there were perhaps 200 roundhouses known in archaeological literature. The result of recent work is that now, 30 years after Musson’s estimate, we can suggest that the number of excavated roundhouses in Britain must be rapidly approaching 4,000 – a staggering 20-fold increase […]
Egypt: Mons Claudianus marble
How the Roman emperors quarried their marble. High in the mountains of Egypt’s eastern desert, one of the world’s most magical marbles is to be found: porphyry. Porphyry is a red marble which the Roman Emperors thought was extremely beautiful and they reserved it for their palaces. Porphyry is only found in the eastern […]
Calling all independent archaeologists!
The Council for Independent archaeology is holding its annual get-together at Monmouth on Saturday the 30th August, and all archaeologists are invited to attend.
A new exhibition on Hadrian has just opened at the British Museum. At the same time, an exhibition on Skeletons has opened at the Wellcome Collections. Current Archaeology has visited them both. We report back
Lost and Found: Conesby Moat
The moated site at North, or Little, Conesby was seen as being one of Scunthorpe’s ‘most charming beauty spots’. It was probably built by the d’Arcy family who owned the manor for over 300 years after acquiring it in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.
Cod Bones and Commerce
Historical sources show that the expansion of cod fishing from the 15th century onward played in important role in European colonisation of the North-West Atlantic. It is also known that fishing was important earlier in the medieval period, but the records usually go back no further than the 12th century at the earliest. By then, […]
Roman Britain's Great Plague?
{mosimage}When archaeologists began work at 120-122 London Road, Gloucester, in August 2004, it was the site of a disused service station. Oxford Archaeology had been called in to excavate what was known to be part of the Wotton cemetery, one of several on the roads leading out of Roman Gloucester. .
Gwithian: Dark Age secrets from the dunes
Interviewed by The Cornishman in 1954 shortly after setting up his excavation at Gwithian, Charles Thomas, a young graduate of the Institute of Archaeology in London, explained his ambition: ‘A dig such as this, systematically developed through the years, is going to provide a background to Cornish history such as has never been worked through […]
World Archaeological Congress part 3
Day three at WAC and the conference mates are well.Following our prehistoric musical interlude yesterday afternoon, I attended a session on development-funded archaeology in Ireland. As you can imagine, following the massive building boom in Ireland, the amount of such archaeology has climbed dizzy heights.
As I type, it is lunch time. One thousand delegates are thronging around the coffee and sandwich tables. Suddenly, into the crowd emerge two archaeo-blokes (sandals mandatory) carrying a 5 foot-long curving metal object. One of them is blowing enthusiastically, and continuously, down the back end of the metal object. The crowd is stunned. How […]