Current Archaeology: Volume XII, 1993 - 1995

For Volume 12, abstracts of the articles in Current Archaeology have been arranged in groups, as follows:

• Prehistoric
• Roman
• Saxon
• Medieval
• Post Medieval
• Industrial Archaeology
• General
• Foreign

Prehistory

Boxgrove Man

The recent discovery of 'Boxgrove man' revealed a leg bone of a man who may have lived half a million years ago. Current Archaeology went behind the scenes to tell of the fiasco of the press launch, and then estimate the real importance of the discoveries. (CA 138)

Waverley Wood

Waverley Wood once stood by the banks of the great river that flowed across the Midlands before it was truncated by the ice sheets. Here prehistoric man dropped a couple of fine handaxes: Philip Wise describes how these have now been dated to half a million years ago. (CA 133)

Ballygalley

At Ballygalley, in Northern Ireland, a neolithic 'house' is being excavated. However the site is producing so much pottery and so many exotic stone axes that it must have been something rather special, and perhaps rather more than just a 'house'. (CA 134)

Walton

At Walton, on the Radnorshire borders of Wales, an important Neolithic/Bronze Age ritual centre is being revealed by aerial photography. Numerous monuments are being discovered, but when a mound was excavated, it proved to be not a burial site at all, but something rather different ... (CA 143)

Druim Dubh

Cranborne Chase

On Cranborne Chase in Dorset, numerous prehistoric ritual sites cluster round the Neolithic site knows as the 'Dorset cursus'. Down Farm is one of the farms that covers the end of the cursus, and here the farmer, Martin Green, decided to give up farming and do archaeology instead. He has therefore put his entire farm into 'intervention' - courtesy of the EEC - and devotes himself to archaeology. His excavations have revealed a pond barrow, a ring ditch, a henge monument, a timber avenue, a middle Bronze Age settlement and many other sites, and he has been able to build up one of the finest small museums in the country in an old henhouse. (CA 138)

Neolithic on the A41

To the surprise of the archaeologists, work in advance of a new road, the A41 in Hertfordshire, lead to Neolithic discoveries including apparently a Neolithic village. This is in the wrong place. Neolithic man was not supposed to live on heavy clay lands of Hertfordshire, only on the chalk downlands of Wessex. Perhaps Neolithic man was rather tougher than we have believed. (CA 136)

Bronze Age barrows

When is a barrow not a barrow? The Bronze Age is still producing surprises, and in CA 146 threre were two articles, both written entirely independently of each other, which both end up with the same message; that some barrows, at least do not appear to have any primary burials, and may have been used mainly as places of celebration and feasting - not unlike the henge monuments!

The Lockington barrow

Buckskin

And then there is the surprising story of the Buckskin barrow. In 1967, a barrow was excavated at Buckskin, just outside Basingstoke. At the time it appeared to be a rather boring barrow, with no central burial, but it was very carefully excavated, and soil samples were meticulously collected. Now the samples have all been analysed, and the barrow re-interpreted. It was not a burial barrow at all, argue Mike Allen and Barbara Applin, but a feasting centre surrounded by stake circles: a place where agreements were made, contracts drawn up and friendships established and cemented. (CA146)

The Brecon Beacons

Corn Du and Pen-y-fan are two cairns sitting on top of the Brecon Beacons. Unfortunately both are threatened by tourists, who are wearing them away, so they had to be excavated and re-instated. Yet when excavated, they proved to be Bronze Age: the grass was still green underneath, preserved by the compaction of the overlying cairn. (CA 133)

Blawearie

Blawearie is a Bronze Age cairn in the bleak Northumberland uplands, originally excavated by Canon Greenwell. Stan Beckensall describes how the site was tidied up by a team of volunteers, but in the process a completely new archaeological interpretation emerged. (CA 143)

A Face from the past

A cairn near Callanish

In the course of road straightening near Callanish in the Isle of Lewis, a Bronze Age cairn was discovered. This lay a mile away from the famous stone circles, but it was on the alignment of the main avenue. Was it significant? There has been considerable discussion - and indeed controversy - about this; here we present the basic 'facts'. (CA 147)

Linga Fold

In the Orkneys there are large numbers of Neolithic chamber tombs. At Linga Fold, Jane Downes has been excavating Orcadian tombs, but these are not Neolithic but Bronze Age. In addition she has also found what she believes to be a 'mortuary chapel'. (CA142)

Pict's Knowe

Pict's Knowe, near Dumfries, is a large henge monument situated in a rather damp valley bottom. Excavation revealed extensive timber deposits in the waterlogged ditch that surrounded it, including what appeared to be an ard, that is a primitive plough, which has subsequently been radiocarbon-dated to the Iron Age. (CA 141)

The Dover boat

How did prehistoric man cross the channel? In the heart of Dover the first cross channel ferry has been discovered - a Bronze age boat with the timbers "sewn" together. A similar "sewn" boat was discovered at North Ferriby before the war but the architecture of the Dover boat is rather different. It was perhaps a little precarious by today's standards, but it offers a fascinating insight into how Bronze Age man crossed the Channel. (CA 133)

A Bronze Age miner's shovel

On Alderley Edge, in Cheshire, there was a wooden shovel, hanging on the wall in the schoolroom, said to come from one of the old mines. What was its date? In 1953, Alan Garner, then a 17-year old schoolboy, became convinced that it was Bronze Age, but no-one would believe him. Now, 40 years later, radiocarbon dating has proved him right, and Alan Garner, now a famous author, here tells the story of the shovel and how his youthful hunch was vindicated. (CA 137)

Flag Fen

Flag Fen near Peterborough has featured in a number of articles in Current Archaeology. Originally this was thought to be a Bronze Age Lake Village, but this story is too simple. Large numbers of ritual objects have been discovered together with an alignment of timber posts running across the fen. Francis Pryor takes us back into the Bronze Age to read the environment and he then suggests that the site was important as an element of stability in times of change. (CA 137)

A Bronze Age Saltern

One of the most neglected forms of prehistoric industry was salt working. Extensive traces of salt working are known from the Iron Age, but now an extensive saltern has been discovered at Tetney in Lincolnshire dating to the Bronze Age. (CA 136)

The East London Trackways

In East London the Thames foreshore is being tidied up and Tescos are moving in. At two of their stores and at a number of other sites, timber trackways are being discovered in the peat. What were they doing there, leading down to the shore of the Thames? (CA 143)

The White Horse

The White Horse is a prime example of Celtic art, carved into the hillside in Berkshire and scoured white from time immemorial. David Miles has been investigating and the Oxford Laboratory has come up with some new dates based on the new technique of silt dating, which suggest that the White Horse is Bronze Age. Which do you believe? Do you believe in science? Or do you believe that such an obvious example of Celtic Art could not possibly date to the Bronze Age? (CA 142)

Vitrified forts

In Scotland there are a number of hillforts which have been 'vitrified', their ramparts turned glassy by intense burning. Archaeomagnetic dating of six of these forts demonstrated that they had been destroyed between the 2nd century BC and the first century AD. (CA 133)

Navan fort - Emain Macha

In 94 BC Cathbad the Druid decided to immolate the warriors of his tribe. He built a grand wickerwork image in which to burn them but the warriors objected and insisted on a substitute. So they quarried away an old cairn, built a new cairn inside the structure and this cairn was immolated instead. The farmers then came and made offerings of soil and there the cairn remained until it was excavated between 1965 and 1971.
The site is Navan fort, the Emain Macha of the Irish epics. We know the druid's name, because he is named in the Irish epics; we know the precise date, because it is given by tree-ring dating; and at the site itself a new visitor centre has now been opened. Chris Lynn who is writing up the excavation now has a more imaginative story to tell as well as a precise date. (CA 134)

The Snettisham Torcs

The most spectacular Iron Age treasure ever discovered in this country has recently been excavated by the British Museum at Snettisham. This consisted of a large number of torcs, the neck rings that perhaps formed the regalia of one of the royal tribes of the Iceni. But why was it buried? The latest work suggests that it was surrounded by a ditched enclosure, apparently constructed 150 years after the treasure had been deposited. Is this a co-incidence? Or did the treasure really retain its awe and sanctity 150 years later? (CA 135)

The Ratcliffe on Soar shield

A most unusual recent discovery is of an Iron Age shield from Ratcliffe on Soar in Leicestershire. This is not exactly a new discovery - in fact it was discovered almost a century ago in 1895 and has lain in the reserve collections of Leamington Spa Museum. When the reserve collections were recatalogued .... (CA 141)

Brochs and Wheelhouses on the Valtos peninsula

The archaeology of the Western isles (the Outer Hebrides) is dominated by the mysterious and exotic structures known as brochs and wheelhouses. On the Cnip peninsula, on the Isle of Lewis, Edinburgh University, under Professor Dennis Harding has been carrying out long term excavations to investigate these structures: a broch on the Loch na Berie, an island dun on Loch Varavat, and a wheelhouse at Cnip. These are currently the subject of special colour pages on this web.

The Romans

The London amphitheatre

The Roman Amphitheatre has been discovered in London, right in front of the medieval Guildhall. Work has revealed not only the foundations of the amphitheatre, but also some splendid wooden drains. However the latest work, in what was the arena of the amphitheatre, has also revealed that a somewhat squalid late Saxon settlement. But is it just coincidence that the medieval Guildhall overlies the Roman Amphitheatre? Excavator Nicholas Bateman suggests that there might have been a Saxon palace in the vicinity. (CA 137)

London

A major Roman excavation is currently taking place in the heart of Roman London. This is at No1, Poultry, where Peter Palumbo has long wanted to erect a spectacular new building. However the archaeologists have been given £2million to excavate the site on condition that they dig down while the building goes up. The preliminary results have already suggested that there is a depth of archaeology, but this is a good example of just what is involved in a £2million excavation. (CA 143)

Tripontium

At Tripontium, Jack Lucas and the Rugby Archaeological Society have been excavating a Romano-British small town, a posting station on the Watling Street, and here we learn how they found a new fort, the site of the town hall, the Roman baths, and even succeeded in re-naming the local tribe, who now it appears should not be called the Coritani, but the Corieltauvi. (CA145)

Heybridge, Essex

Scole

Another Roman small town has been that at Scole, in East Anglia. Here a modern bypass sweeps around the town, and the discoveries included a temple, some interesting carpentry, and last, but not least, the excavation of what has been called the Scole Roman brewery . . . (CA 140)

The Piddington Roman Villa.

The excavation of the Piddington Roman villa is perhaps the finest example of a purely 'amateur' excavation - indeed I cannot think of a better example anywhere in the world.

The current big story is the discovery of the late Roman 'squatters' living in the ruins of the villa. The main villa was destroyed comparatively early - at the end of the 3rd century - but during the 4th century a number of 'family units' have been discovered, where squatters were living in the ruins.
The villa itself was quite a grand affair, ranged round three sides of a courtyard. Last year a second bath-house was discovered - quite a large one, possibly that used by the estate workers, while the family used the smaller bathhouse at one end of the main range of villa buildings. (CA 146)

The Crofton Villa

At Crofton Road, Orpington in Kent, there is a Roman villa sliced in half by the railway. Brian Philp and the Kent Archaeological Unit carried out a major rescue operation and then provided the site with a cover building at half the estimated cost. (CA 135)

A Roman village

At Charlton Down on Salisbury Plain one of the largest Romano-British villages known has recently been surveyed by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. It lies in the middle of the impact zone of the army training area, where since 1894 more 4 million shells have rained down on it. Despite this, it is still better preserved any other Roman village site in Europe. There may even have been an aqueduct! (CA 135)

Roman fort at South Shields (Arbeia)

In the fourth century AD a troop of boatmen were transferred from the river Tigris in sunny Mesopotamia, to South Shields, where the climate is somewhat more temperate. The commander of the fort at Arbeia was determined to show the ignorant barbarians just how a Roman gentleman should live, so he built one of the finest examples of a classical Roman house yet discovered in this country. (CA 133)

The Hoxne treasure

A spectacular treasure of late Roman jewellery and coins was recently discovered at Hoxne - and splashed on the front page of the 'Sun' newspaper. It is the biggest hoard of late Roman gold and silver coins ever discovered ever anywhere in the whole Roman Empire, and there is also a fine collection of spoons and jewellery including a fine pepper pot. Catherine Johns and Roger Bland of the British Museum here provide a preliminary assessment of this fascinating hoard. (CA 136)

On Blagan Hill

In Wessex a late Roman hoard has been found on Blagan Hill: this appears to be a strong box of a late Roman official, which was buried and never recovered. Interestingly it overlies a late Bronze Age 'midden'. (CA 134)

Roman Reconstructions

Why are there so few reconstructions of Roman buildings in this country? David Johnson, one of the leading authorities on reconstructions has been looking at the situation in Europe and here he takes a colourful trip down the Rhineland inspecting some of the numerous German reconstructions. Underlying his description is a serious problem: are we being too restrictive, and too purist? (CA 143)

Roman baths

How do you stoke a set of Roman baths? Tony Rook recently spent a week as a 'furnace slave' at Xanten, in Germany, where there is a replica set of baths. Here, in an appalling display of most dreadful puns, he describes his experiences which he subtitles 'The Confessions of a Fornacator'. The word means a furnace-man, and should not be confused with a word with a similar spelling! (CA 135)

Next section: The Saxons

Saxon

One of the most important and impressive AngloSaxon cemeteries was that discovered at Buckland, just outside Dover, and the superb cover photo shows a gold pendant recently excavated there. The cemetery was cut in half by the railway, and half of it was excavated by Vera Evison in 1951-3 in advance of a housing estate. Now houses are being laid out on the steep hillside on the other side of the railway, and an equally rich other half of the cemetery has been discovered. (CA 144)

The Llandough dark age cemetery.

The church of Llandough in the suburbs of Cardiff has long been considered of great potential importance because of its dedication to the mysterious St Docco and because of the presence of a 10th century carved cross-shaft in the churchyard. Recent excavations revealed a cemetery of over 800 burials dating from the late Roman period through to the Norman conquest. Was this the site of a major dark age Monastery, the companion to the princely site of Dinas Powys only 2 miles away? (CA 146)

Canterbury Cathedral

A major recent surprise was the discovery of the Anglo Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury. The Anglo Saxons are always thought to be poor builders compared to the Normans, but when the floor of the nave of the present Cathedral was lifted, there were the foundations of the Anglo Saxon Cathedral, only slightly shorter in size than its Norman successor. We must reassess the architectural prowess of the Anglo Saxons. (CA 136)

Hoddom

What did an Anglian monastery look like? Hoddom in south west Scotland is the site of very early monastery associated with St Mungo (alias St Kentigern), later the patron saint of Glasgow. Quarrying some way away from the centre revealed the outskirts of the monastery and the kitchen areas - where the baking took place.

'Recessed Platforms'

What is the date of the 'Recessed Platforms' of the west of Scotland. In its recent survey of Argyle, the Royal Commission put these recessed platforms down as being charcoal burners' platforms. Betty Rennie however thinks they look just like hut platforms. Here she puts her case and reveals the very interesting radiocarbon dates from her excavations. Are they Picts? Scots? or are they the real natives? (CA 138)

The Clonmore shrine

At Clonmore, a remarkable 'houseshrine' in the purest Celtic art style has been dredged out of the River Blackwater. This must date to around 600 AD, right at the beginning of the explosion of Irish 'Celtic' art, before it merged with Anglo-Saxon influences. (CA 134)

Next section: The Middle Ages

Medieval

Hereford Cathedral

At Hereford Cathedral, a large number of burials have been uncovered. Following the controversy over the proposed sale of the Mappa Mundi, a new building was to be erected to display their treasures and it was thought that there might possibly be a few burials for excavation. In the event they discovered over a thousand - to say nothing of the charnel pit from the building of the Norman cathedral. We even indulge in some Old Straight Trackery. Alfred Watkins, inventor of ley lines (whom all true archaeologists condemn) lived in Hereford, and the site lies on one of his predictions: did it come true? (CA 142)

The Udal

One of the major long running excavations and landscape projects in the British Isles is that of Iain Crawford at The Udal, where he has been digging for 33 consecutive seasons. This is a magnificent example of landscape archaeology: the excavator began by learning Gaelic to study the historical records, and he then excavated a deserted medieval village, then down to the Vikings, with a unique Viking fort, then jelly-baby houses of the Picts, then three wheelhouses of the Iron Age, and finally coming down to burials of the Bronze Age and a series of Neolithic houses of Skara Brae type. Visit the special colour pages of first the Medieval and Viking site, and then the Prehistoric site. (CA 147)

The Hemington bridges

At Hemington, near Nottingham, the remains of three successive medieval bridges were discovered in a gravel quarry, where they had been buried when the River Trent changed its course. The bridges have much to tell us about medieval carpentry; indeed the earliest bridge, which was Norman in date, is made up of huge timbers surpassed only by those forming the roof of Lincoln Cathedral. (CA 140)

The discovery of the bridges was largely due to the work of Chris Salisbury, a retired GP, who has been working for many years rescuing the archaeology from Gravel quarries in the Nottingham area. The remains of many fishweirs were discovered and noted, and by radiocarbon-dating these, it was possible to determine the shifting course of the river. His discovery of three medieval bridges at Hemington was merely the culmination of many years' work (CA 145).

Wood Hall

Wood Hall, near Doncaster, is a medieval manor house surrounded by a moat. However it is destined to be covered by an ash dump from the near-by power station, and this has led to extensive long-term excavations which have revealed a spectacular sequence of bridge foundations perfectly preserved at the bottom of the moat. (CA 141)

York

At York, the York Archaeological Trust has followed up its success with the Jorvik Viking Centre, with the restoration of a medieval hall in the city, now known as Barley Hall. They have also continued to excavate a lot of sites in the city and its region, such as Iron age roundhouses at Easingwold, the waterfront of York at North Street, the Hospital of St Nicholas, a manor house at Rawcliffe, and the Roman signal station at Filey. (CA 140)

Monmouth

The Monmouth Archaeological Society have just completed three years' rescue excavations on a single site where they found three successive defences one of which appears to be the first archaeological evidence for the Welsh quisling kingdom of Archenfield. This is one of the most active archaeological societies in the country and we look at their total work around the town. (CA 138)

Kellington church

At Kellington, in Humberside, the church is not quite what it seems: the tower has been completely rebuilt at the expense of British Coal, so that the coal underneath can be mined out. Excavation revealed the long history of this 'typical' parish church. (CA 133)

Cressing Temple

At Cressing Temple in Essex there are fine timber barns built by the Knights Templars. What were their date? It was long thought to be built around 1500, but tree ring dating has now shown that one was built around 1220, the other about 50 years later. (CA 135)

The lost village of Eccles by the Sea, Norfolk.

The village of Eccles by the Sea was swallowed up in the great storm of 4th January 1601.However the church tower remained standing on the beach till it too fell in the storm of 1895. Recently however the sand has been shifting, and the Eccles Lost Village Research Group has been finding traces of the medieval village, buried under the sand. (CA 146)

Channel Islands

In the Channel Islands, work has taken place on two important medieval sites. On the tiny island of Les Ecréhous, there are the remains of a mediaeval monastic cell with underlying it a large stone: was this originally a Bronze Age menhir? (CA 137)

Bristol

At Bristol, a Medieval tower called Tower Harratz has been discovered, part of the medieval defences. (CA 142)

Next section: Post-Medieval

Post-Medieval

Old Basing House

On the morning of 14th October 1645, Oliver Cromwell and his troops stormed Old Basing House and put the defenders to the sword. One of the defenders has just been recovered with a sword mark across his skull. David Allen and Alan Turton describe the background to Old Basing House, and their latest discoveries. (CA 142)

Garden Archaeology: Kirby Hall

Garden archaeology is one of the most fashionable new forms of archaeology. where archaeology is used to recover the original garden layouts of some of the great gardens of the late 17th/early 18th century. Perhaps the best example of this has been at Kirby Hall, in Northamptonshire, a fine Elizabethan house with a renowned Jacobean garden. In the 18th and 19th centuries both house and garden were neglected and then abandoned, but archaeology has been able to recover the original layout. (CA 140)

Garden Archaeology: Hampton Court Palace

Even more spectacular is the garden at Hampton Court Palace laid out by William III so that he could get a view of the River Thames from his window. Brian Dix, of Northamptonshire Archaeology, has been able to recover the design in all its glory, which is now laid out in a spectacular new presentation of the original garden. (CA 140)

Vernacular architecture in Jersey

In Jersey, a major study of Vernacular Architecture has been undertaken with the 'excavation' of a standing building at Hamptonne, recently opened as a living museum. (CA 137)

The Herefordshire Field name Survey.

In the 1830s, the church of England was in the process of reform. The old tithe system had become obsolete, and so tithes were replaced by a rent charge. In order to calculate the value of this, tithe maps were drawn up, and the names of the fields in all the parishes were listed. The Herefordshire Field Name survey has been recording all these field names in Herefordshire, some 125,000 in all, and many interesting discoveries have been made. For instance, although we know that 'chesters' and 'camp' often refer to Roman remains, so too do the 'cinders' place names, many of which refer to the sites of the Roman iron-working in the Forest of Dean. (CA 145).

Next section: Industrial archaeology

Industrial Archaeology

Bersham Ironworks

The world's first excavated railway has recently been discovered at Bersham in North Wales.Like all the early railways it was a waggonway made of timber. Most of these early waggonways have inevitably perished, but here the wood became carbonised and was re-discovered in the excavations of the iron works at Bersham. (CA 141).

Coleorton coal mine

At Coleorton, in Leicestershire, a medieval coal mine has been excavated. Here coal was mined 100 ft underground but modern open cast mining has removed all the overburden so the Medieval coalmine was somewhat unexpectedly exposed to the open air. (CA 134)

Belfast potteries

Belfast had its first industrial revolution early in the 18th century, when superb Delft ware pottery was manufactured there. Recent excavations have rescued evidence for some of the finds. (CA 134)

Limekilns in the Sedbergh area

In the moors around Sedbergh, there are numerous limekilns: what is their date? and why were they built? The Sedbergh Archaeological society, under the direction of the Very Reverend Ingram Cleasby, the former Dean of Chester, has been studying these lime kilns, and has been able to provide a typology for the kilns. More importantly, they have also found some interesting reasons why they were built, tying them in the Great Rebuilding: the new houses of the 18th century could not have been built without the help of lime mortar! (CA 145)

Next section: General

General Articles

Current Archaeology has a number of more general articles, dealing with subjects ranging from Aerial archaeology up in the sky, right down to the Feet on the ground

Aerial Archaeology

Feet

An arcticle that has caused a lot of interest has been that on 'Feet'. Victorian archaeologists used to examine skulls in order to determine the typology of the skeleton. Were they, however, looking at the wrong end of the body? Phyllis Jackson is a retired chiropodist who has spent fifty years looking at Feet. Recently she has turned her attention to looking at the feet of skeletons and has been discovering just how interesting they all are. Here she explains just what she can decipher by looking at prehistoric feet, and how regional varieties of feet persist through the millennia. (CA 144)

Pen up your Kids!

How to Pen up your Kids: in North Wales special kid pens have been discovered where kids were penned in to lure in their mothers.

The Pitt Rivers awards for amateurs

In archaeology we are always looking for the unexpected. Some of the most lively and unusual archaeology is that carried out by the amateurs who can follow their own star and produce work of the highest possible standards. Two recent issues of Current Archaeology have therefore been devoted to the winners and finalists in the Pitt-Rivers Award of the British Archaeological Awards. (CA 138 and CA 145))

An Archaeological Centre at Bagshot

The Surrey Heath Archaeological and Heritage Trust took over a disused police station and turned it into an archaeological centre. They were awarded the 'Graham Webster laurels' for their work in the presentational and educational aspects of archaeology. (CA 138)

Tephra dating

One of the latest dating techniques is to analyse the tephra, produced by huge volcanic eruptions, and spread over the world. The Palaeoecology Laboratory at Queens University, Belfast is one of the foremost archaeological dating laboratories and Mike Baillie describes how they are using tephra, the volcanic dust produced in volcanic eruptions as a dating marker. (CA 134)

The Stonehenge roads

The roads that run past Stonehenge present a problem tackled with great emotions. It is once again in the news with proposals to turn the road that runs passed it into a dual carriage way: we take an objective look at the various options.

Next section: Archaeology abroad

... And Foreign archaeology, too!

Our friendly colleagues on the academic journal Antiquity recently launched an Antiquity prize for the best article published during the year. The winner was Bruno David for his study of Rock Art in Australia. Chris Chippindale, the editor of Antiquity, suggested that we might like to present his work to a wider public. Here therefore Bruno David introduces Australian rock art: it is very much older than expected, and it changed its style 5000 years ago. (CA 144)

Gao

At Gao, in the Mali, evidence of the medieval town have been discovered, showing that it was once a rival to neighbouring Timbuktoo. (CA 142)

Israel

In Israel, Derrick Riley has carried out extensive aerial photography, mostly of Roman sites. Sadly he died while this article was in the press, and we include a brief obituary of the war time flier who made his career in the steel industry and then in his retirement took up flying once again and became the epitome of what can be achieved after one has officially retired. (CA 136)

France - neolithic tombs

What was the origin of megalithic tombs? The conventional wisdom suggests that they began in Brittany, but recent work in France suggests a new source: Normandy. Ian Kinnes, of the British Museum, describes some of the latest discoveries at Rots, Colombiers, and Ernes, and some of the revolutionary implications. (CA 133)

Archaeology in Italy

Italian Archaeology was the subject of a special issue of Current Archaeology, number 139. This included a number of major discoveries. The British School in Rome is currently carrying out one of the largest and most important excavations in Europe, at the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. This was one of the largest and most important monasteries in Carolingian Europe, at a time when Charlemagne was using the monsasteries to hold his new empire together. Most of the other major monasteries are covered by later buildings, but now San Vincenzo is emerging dramatically from the ruins and has been described as 'the Pompeii of the Middle Ages'.

When did Rome become Rome? This is always a difficult question to answer as Ancient Rome is concealed under a large modern city. The best answer therefore may come from the nearby cemetery at Osteria dell' Osa. This flourished in the 9th and 8th century BC but was then abandoned when the inhabitants of the village moved to the nearby town of Gabii - at precisely the time that the villagers around Rome were moving in to the newly founded city of Rome.

We then go on to one of the greatest of modern excavations in Rome itself, those carried out by Professor Andreas Carandini at the point where the Sacra Via leads out of the Forum and up on to the Palatine Hill. Here he has uncovered a magnificent palace of late republican Rome - with a honeycomb of slaves cells underneath the dining room floor. But the earlier history runs back to the very foundations of Rome: has the very wall built by Romulus been discovered?

New discoveries about Rome come thick and fast. There's Rome's first colony at Cosa, founded in 273 BC, but never a success: it had to be constantly refounded virtually every other century, right down into the Middle Ages.

And then there's Trajan's column, now emerged gleaming white after its renovation: but were the famous friezes carved under Trajan, or under Hadrian?

And then we go down to the seaside with Pliny the Younger, and discover what a Roman seaside town looked like - now preserved in the President of Italy's private boar-hunting park, at Castelporziano.

Abandoning the Romans for a moment, Italy too has its Deserted Medieval Villages. The best known of these is Rocca San Silvestro, a mining village where many of the houses still survive up to their eaves.

Finally, the Neolithic. Neolithic Europe was dominated by three great 'religions'. The megalithic religion of the north and west, and the 'mother goddess' cult of the Balkans are well-known; now a third great religion is coming to light, the 'Hidden Religion' of Neolithic Italy. In a dramatic new book, Ruth Whitehouse tentatively reinterprets our whole way of thinking about Neolithic Europe. (CA 139)

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