This month’s ‘cover star’ is a medieval cameo that may have been lost by a pilgrim visiting Leiston Abbey in Suffolk. It is just one of a dazzlingly diverse range of finds and features that have been uncovered so far during extensive excavations ahead of the construction of the Sizewell C power plant. This is archaeology on a landscape scale, illuminating thousands of years of human activity – and the landscape itself plays a role in our understanding, too. Our first feature examines what people were doing in this area and how we know this, while also considering a geological ‘why’.
Our next article tells the story of the Temperance movement, exploring its lasting architectural legacy and the other material traces that we can still encounter in our day-to-day lives, from monuments to water fountains.
We then turn to Caistor St Edmund, near Norwich, where long-running investigations have been shedding new light on the regional capital of Venta Icenorum, including intriguing activity outside its walls. CA visited the Caistor Roman Project’s most recent dig last summer; here we share some of the latest findings, including a series of enigmatic burials discovered within the monumental triple ditches that encircled the settlement.
Our last two articles focus on experimental archaeology, highlighting what hands-on research can tell us about prehistoric practices. The first offers insights into the diverse uses of Late Bronze Age woodworking tools, while the second turns the spotlight on ancient arrowheads.
In this issue:
FEATURES
SIZEWELL C: THE STORY SO FAR
Who did what, where, when – and why?
Ongoing excavations in advance of the construction of the Sizewell C power station have so far investigated 140ha across 75 separate areas, providing an unprecedented look into life in this area of Suffolk over the millennia. Here we highlight some of the most notable discoveries to-date.
A TEMPERED HISTORY
Touring the material legacy of teetotalism
To accommodate the growing number of 19th-century non-drinkers, Temperance halls, hotels, coffee houses, memorials, and drinking fountains sprang up across the country. What traces of this influential movement can we still see today?
BURIED ON THE BOUNDARY
Interpreting Venta Icenorum’s enigmatic ditch deposits
The latest season of excavations on the outskirts of Venta Icenorum, near Caistor St Edmund, has revealed a series of unusual burials within the enormous triple ditches that once encircled the settlement. What does this newly unearthed evidence, together with GPR surveys within the town itself, tell us about this Roman regional capital?
A CUT ABOVE
Examining the use of woodworking tools in Late Bronze Age Britain
Ongoing research combining wear-analysis of ancient artefacts with experimental archaeology using a replica axehead is revealing new insights into the diverse uses that woodworking tools may have had in Late Bronze Age Britain.
Arrowheads, experimental archaeology, and the CA Awards
Experimental archaeology expert Dr James Dilley describes how he knapped the arrowheads adorning this year’s CA Awards, and what excavated artefacts and hands-on research can tell us about prehistoric projectiles.
LETTERS
Your comments, complaints, and compliments
NEWS
Viking Age mass grave found outside Cambridge; Assessing the impact of Roman occupation on health; 2,000-year-old footprints revealed on Angus beach; 17th-century shipwreck found on Dorset beach; 19th-century industrial heritage uncovered near Swansea; Science Notes; Renovation reveals hidden secrets of Durham Castle; Finds Tray
NEWS FOCUS
The ‘Ossick Lass’: identifying the earliest human remains discovered in northern Britain
SPECIAL REPORT
Chasing the Ouseley Collection: the search for artefacts lost over a century ago
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
CONTEXT
Saving shipwrecks: HMS Invincible, East Solent
REVIEWS
Upon a White Horse: journeys in ancient Britain and Ireland; Anglo-Saxon Beads, 400-700 AD: a visual guide to types and techniques; Making Art in the Ice Age: the story of how our ancestors made images; Fractured Britannia: the twilight of Roman Britain; The Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in Jersey; Pets & their People
EXHIBITIONS
Vikings: the immersive experience at Dock X, London, and Pilgrimage of Love: Eleanor of Castile at Leeds Castle, Kent
EXHIBITION
Pets & their People at the Weston Library, Oxford
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
GO DIGGING!
A selection of excavation opportunities
CONFERENCE
Our round-up of what happened at CA Live! 2026
SHERDS
Chris Catling’s irreverent take on heritage issues
ODD SOCS
Roman Roads Research Association
