This month’s cover features an image of Newgrange, one of Ireland’s most famous Neolithic passage tombs. Recent analysis has shed intriguing light on the people who were buried within these grand monuments – and on the structure of the societies that they belonged to.
Questions of identity also lie at the heart of our next article, which examines recent research into the impact of Viking attacks and Scandinavian settlement across the north of England.
From raiding to trading, we then trace the heritage of the British High Street, offering new insights into these familiar environments.
Finally, we leap back in time to explore the remarkable artistic outpouring that Britain and Continental Europe witnessed towards the end of the last Ice Age.
Adding to the above, extended news reports cover a pair of Roman cavalry swords from the Cotswolds; and recent work that has revealed the identity of a 250-year-old shipwreck discovered on an Orkney beach.
Finally, I would like to offer my warmest wishes to Amy Brunskill, who is leaving CA to work for our sister-magazines Current World Archaeology and Military History Matters. Amy first joined our team for CA 356 (November 2019), and she has made an invaluable contribution over the last few years, including her ingenious invention of ‘Heritage from Home’ during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Thank you, Amy, and good luck with your future endeavours!
In this issue:
FEATURES
A GAME OF TOMBS?
Rethinking what the dead can tell us about Neolithic society in Ireland
It was long supposed that the people laid to rest within Ireland’s Neolithic passage tombs represented members of a ruling elite, and in 2020 aDNA analysis appeared to confirm this, revealing that some were related to each other. New analysis placing these findings within a wider archaeological context presents a more nuanced view, however, shedding intriguing light on the social structure of Neolithic Ireland.
A VIKING NORTH
Tracing Scandinavian influences in early medieval England
A new exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum highlights the enduring legacy of Viking activity across northern England, exploring its impact on language, place names, and the archaeological record, and examining ideas of identity.
‘CATHEDRALS OF COMMERCE’
A guide through the Golden Age of the British High Street
With fears that the British High Street is dying, a new book traces its beginnings, demonstrating how department stores evolved into grand ‘cathedrals of commerce’. Does the solution to revitalising the High Street in the future lie in examining its past?
LANGUAGES WITHOUT WORDS
Exploring art from the last Ice Age
Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley is currently home to a new exhibition that examines Ice Age art not just from an archaeological perspective, but from an artistic one as well, revealing how these artefacts speak of a timeless humanneed to express ourselves creatively.
LETTERS
Your comments, complaints, and compliments
NEWS
Generations of first farmers congregated at Carnoustie; Evidence of an early medieval execution?; Fengate Ware found at Fordingbridge; Surveying Skomer Island; Big feet at Magna Roman Fort; Science Notes; Barbican uncovered in Chichester; Finds Tray
NEWS FOCUS
Straight to the point: investigating Roman swords and extensive settlements in the Cotswolds
SPECIAL REPORT
From warship to whaler: solving the mystery of a Sanday shipwreck
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
CONTEXT
Researching Wrest Park: Silsoe, Bedfordshire
REVIEWS
Stone Lands: a journey of darkness and light through Britain’s ancient places; Forgotten Forests: twelve thousand years of British and Irish woodlands; Repast: the story of food; The Great Museum of the Sea: a human history of shipwrecks; Producers, Traders, and Consumers in Urban Societies in Southern Britain and Europe: post-excavation and museum studies presented to Professor Mark Brisbane; Ice Age Art Now
EXHIBITION
Gladiators: heroes of the Colosseum and Gladiators of Britain at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Northampton Museum & Art Gallery
EXHIBITION
The World of King James VI & I at National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait
MUSEUM NEWS
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
LISTINGS
Our selection of exhibitions and events, as well as historical, archaeological, and cultural resources online
SHERDS
Chris Catling’s irreverent take on heritage issues
ODD SOCS
The Great War Aviation Society
