News Round Up

The 73-mile length of Hadrian’s Wall, as well as the forts and structures associated with it, has yielded thousands of intriguing objects shedding vivid light on life on the Roman frontier. Here are 13 key finds that highlight how the material…

Next week commencing 8th July 2019, a team from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute will return to dig at the fascinating Skaill Farmstead site on the Orkney island of Rousay. The team of UHI students, Rousay… Continue…

Ongoing research into Winchester Cathedral’s mortuary chests – one of which is shown – is providing vital new evidence about the identities of the individuals interred within them, it has been announced. The post Unlocking the secrets of the…

Post-excavation analysis of an Iron Age bark shield – the only one of its kind ever found in Europe – is greatly enhancing our understanding of how such objects were made and wielded during this period. The post Unique Iron Age bark shield found in…

In what is thought to be the first excavation of its kind, the remains of a 19th-century Scottish whisky distillery have been uncovered in Cabrach. The project, undertaken by Peter Bye- Jensen from the Cabrach Trust along with Cameron Archaeology…

A recent project analysing food residue on pottery from a medieval rural settlement in Raunds, Northamptonshire, has yielded detailed new information on the diet of peasants between the late Anglo-Saxon period and the 15th century – a vital aspect…

A previously unknown Roman marching camp has been discovered in Ayr, adding new evidence to our understanding of the Roman conquest of Scotland. The post Roman marching camp revealed in Ayr appeared first on Current Archaeology.

In CA 338, we discussed proteomics – the study of proteins – and how it is quickly growing as a new way of analysing archaeological remains. That month’s ‘Science Notes’ explored how it had been applied to dental calculus, or plaque build-up, to…

New DNA research into the evolution and spread of the plague has shown that during the first documented pandemic (AD 541-750) there were several different strains of the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, affecting different parts of Europe during…

In 1849, John Collingwood Bruce led an expedition to Hadrian’s Wall to tour the Roman remains. Since then, this trip – known as the Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall – has been repeated every ten years, and in recent decades CA has marked the anniversary…

Day 13 turned out to be unlucky for us as the weather closed in and torrential rain set in, meaning that we had to leave site early. There is always tomorrow! So today on site we were subject to some… Continue reading →

LEIPZIG, GERMANY—The Great Lakes Ledger reports that early humans may have obtained iodine, a nutrient required for cognitive function, from green aquatic plants. It had been previously suggested that early humans experienced major evolutionary…

DALLAS, TEXAS—Science News reports that evidence of skull shaping dating back perhaps as long as 12,000 years ago has been discovered at an archaeological site in northeastern China. Bioarchaeologist Quanchao Zhang of Jilin University and…

NICOSIA, CYPRUS—According to a Cyprus Mail report, excavations on a hilltop at the site of Akrotiri overlooking Dreamer’s Bay, which is located on the coast of the southernmost point of the island of Cyprus, have uncovered commercial and industrial…

PARIS, FRANCE—Reuters reports that the government of France has handed over more than 400 artifacts, including terracotta busts, vases, urns, and goblets, to officials at Pakistan's embassy in Paris. French customs officers seized the objects at…

We are pleased to welcome international students from around the world at The Cairns and today it is the turn of Mickey Van Lit from Leiden University to walk us through the day at The Cairns…… Mooing cows and squeaking… Continue reading →

University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology student Alanis Buhat writes our blog today from a wind and rain battered site. What an exciting start to the third week of the Cairns 2019! Despite the wind and rain, fresh new… Continue reading →

TOKYO, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that Jun Ohashi of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues have used genetic analysis to find evidence of a decline in population that occurred in Japan several thousand years ago. The team analyzed the…

BOULDER, COLORADO—According to a report by The Denver Channel, Paola Villa of the University of Colorado Boulder and her colleagues detected residues of adhesives on 10 of more than 1,000 stone tools recovered from two caves on the coast of western…

WARSAW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, archaeologists led by Kamil O. Kuraszkiewicz of the University of Warsaw uncovered dozens of poorly preserved 2,000-year-old mummies in the area of the so-called “Dry Moat,” which surrounds…