After last month’s scramble through Stonehenge, this month I turn north to amble around Avebury. I know I am not the only one to hold this site in high affection. Even on its busiest days, the circle there is rarely too crowded since it is so spread out, and, if you have the time, you can easily head out into the larger landscape. AVEBURY VILLAGE AND HENGE The Stone Circles at Avebury made the ‘Context’ in CA 332. For many people, Avebury means the Neolithic stone circle located in the Wiltshire village, and as such I commence there and work my way outwards. Alexander Keiller, the ‘Marmalade ..read more

Roman tile production in the north Wiltshire countryside A community excavation in the small village of Minety has found a Roman tile kiln, which marked its products with a series of stamped letters. As the investigation, led by Cotswold Archaeology, revealed, this industry was of more than just local importance – and with another season of digging set to take place this summer, Neil Holbrook and Peter Warry report on the story so far. Overlooking the community excavations at Brandier Farm, near Minety in north Wiltshire, which have uncovered the remains of a Roman tilery. The main kiln (Kiln ..read more

This month’s cover feature tells the ‘story so far’ of a Wiltshire community excavation that is uncovering the remains of a Roman tilery with an impressively far-reaching tale to tell. We then travel to early medieval Ipswich, where analysis of bone- and antler-working evidence has shed vivid light on the evolution of this craft within a single settlement – with some Viking Age surprises thrown in. Next come the results of a Leicestershire excavation from the 1990s, recently brought to publication, which offer invaluable insights into an Anglo-Saxon community, and much more. Our fourth featu ..read more

Submitted by Paul Townson I would like to preface this text by saying that I am an English teacher and am in no way a qualified historian or archaeologist, however I do have an interest in history, specifically the Ribble Valley in Lancashire around 900AD when the Vikings were up to their shenanigans travelling along the Ribble Valley between Dublin and York.  However, for the purposes of this article we must go back even further, to the Bronze age. While doing my Viking research, I came across a curious description of two Bronze age logboats that were found in gravel in the River Ribble ..read more

Almost a decade ago, I stood on a viewing platform at Must Farm in Cambridgeshire, spellbound by the Bronze Age settlement spread before me. We first featured its astonishing archaeology in CA 312, so it feels fitting that it is issue 412 that returns to this unique site now that analysis has been published in full. Still in Cambridgeshire, our next feature explores thought-provoking research into medieval cemeteries, asking: when faced with uniform ranks of anonymous skeletons, how do you restore their individuality? We then travel to the famous White Cliffs of Dover, where long-buried Seco ..read more

Extraordinary insights into everyday Bronze Age life Between 2015 and 2016, Cambridge Archaeological Unit excavated Britain’s most completely preserved prehistoric settlement outside Whittlesey, near Peterborough. As a time-capsule of late Bronze Age life, Must Farm is unique; now, with post-excavation analysis published in full, Carly Hilts explores how the site’s significance lies in its ordinariness. Such was the vibrancy of this material assemblage, there was a sense upon excavating the settlement that the Bronze Age people had only just left; that you could almost sense the smells, colou ..read more

Stonehenge In my columns to date I have barely mentioned Stonehenge. This is deliberate; for all that I love archaeology I am an atheist about this most famous of sites. I do not denigrate the emotion that it arouses, but personally it leaves me cold. There are so many other prehistoric places that I prefer. But to tell the story of the archaeology of the British Isles and conclude in Wiltshire without speaking of Stonehenge is impossible, and it is by sheer volume the single most mentioned location in the history of the magazine. Below, therefore, I provide some highlights from this coverage ..read more

Uncovering luxury living and ‘ritual activity’ in Roman Oxfordshire Archaeological work in rural Oxfordshire has uncovered the remains of a winged corridor villa that was occupied for much of the Roman period. Carly Hilts spoke to Louis Stafford to learn how the story of this long-lived, high-status residence is evolving as investigations continue. The remains of a Roman villa are being excavated on the outskirts of Grove, near Wantage in Oxfordshire. Although most of its buildings appear to have been systematically demolished and their materials recycled elsewhere in the late Roman period, vi ..read more

Excavating around Salisbury Plain Last month I began a tour around the final county of the UK that I had yet to visit in these pages: Wiltshire. I began in the north and headed south as far as the Vale of Pewsey. This month I will continue into what is popularly seen as the most fertile of all archaeological hunting grounds, the county’s central belt around Salisbury Plain. I will devote future columns specifically to Stonehenge and Avebury, so we will pass through these on this occasion in order to commence a stone’s throw from the former’s eastern edge, in Amesbury. THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF ..read more

This month’s cover feature takes us into rural Oxfordshire, where archaeological investigations ahead of the construction of a housing estate have uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa. The site’s story is still developing, but finds already paint a picture of an elegantly appointed residence, as well as activities ranging from the agricultural to the industrial – and hints of some rather more enigmatic practices. The subject of our next feature is also unusual. In the mid 1990s, MoLAS (now MOLA) uncovered a unique burial ground in Westminster, used to dispose of the rema ..read more