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Mining for ochre in ancient Mexico
Divers exploring the now-submerged caves of Quintana Roo in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have uncovered evidence for red ochre mining between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, ...
Review: The Life and Death of Ancient Cities
Is it possible to write history without people? Of course, archaeology is all about history without people, but we invent the people. Is it possible ...
Review: National Archaeological Museum, Madrid
With prehistoric painted caves, ruins of Roman cities, spectacular places of worship converted during periods of conquest and reconquest, and elaborate palaces occupied by emirs ...
Aphrodite at Amantia
High on a hilltop near the village of Ploçe, Albania, lie the ruins of the ancient polis of Amantia. The city was founded in the ...
Secrets of Saqqara
Discover how a chance detail on a 19th-century map set in train a longstanding archaeological expedition at this elite necropolis, which is providing a fresh ...
Travel: Through the Iron Gates
Golubac castle watches over the entrance to the famed ‘Iron Gates’ of the Danube: it has been occupied by Hungarians, Serbs, and Ottomans over its ...
Travel: Hamilton Grange
The history of Hamilton Grange brings new meaning to ‘moving house’. Here, the former home of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton approaches its third setting in ...
Richard Hodges: A New Year’s Day Hike
Chania in the winter, as a baleful sea swells within the Venetian harbour. Archaeology indicates that there has been a settlement at Chania since at ...
Motion capture
As they walked across Engare Sero in northern Tanzania, a group of people left their mark in the soft surface of volcanic ash beneath their ...
Minerva magazine offer for CWA subscribers
Special Offer: CWA subscribers can get 25% off a subscription to our sister magazine, Minerva. In January this year, Current World Archaeology gained a new sister publication
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Secrets of Saqqara
Discover how a chance detail on a 19th-century map set in train a longstanding archaeological expedition at this elite necropolis, which is providing a fresh appreciation of how ancient Egyptians interacted with their past.
7 Wonders
7 discoveries that changed the archaeological world
One of the most exciting things about archaeology is that it is an ever-changing landscape, constantly causing us to reconsider our most firmly-held beliefs about ...
7 skeletal sites
What happens to us after we die? Prepare to get shivers down your spine as we look more closely at seven sites that dance closely ...
7 wonders – Editor’s choice
It is hard to narrow down your favourite archaeological sites to just 7 place names when you have the whole world from which to choose, ...
7 Fashionable Finds
Throughout history people have been keen to keep up with the latest trends and fashions. Whether used to display wealth or indicate membership of a ...
7 facts about the 7 Wonders of the World
Herodotus was the first to create a list of the seven most spectacular monuments in the world - or at least, in the world known ...
7 spectacular temples
Dominating the forum of Ostia Antica, the main harbour town supplying ancient Rome, the brick-built Capitolium can be seen from almost every part of the 2,500-year-old ...
7 facts you might not know about Howard Carter
Today (May 9) is Howard Carter's birthday, so we thought we would share some of our favourite facts about the discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb. 1. Family ...
7 ship-shape sites
We're in a maritime mood today. Read on for seven of our favourite ship-related archaeological sites. Bon Voyage! 1. The Oseberg ship, Norway In 1904, ...
7 revolutionary writings
We often think of archaeology as being all about objects, but written sources are just as fundamental to our understanding of the past. Official inscriptions, ...
Travel: Through the Iron Gates
Golubac castle watches over the entrance to the famed ‘Iron Gates’ of the Danube: it has been occupied by Hungarians, Serbs, and Ottomans over its long history. Since the building of a dam in the 1980s, the narrow entrance to the gorge, guarded by this castle and another on the ...
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Travel: Hamilton Grange
The history of Hamilton Grange brings new meaning to ‘moving house’. Here, the former home of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton approaches its third setting in 2008. Its new foundations, in St Nicholas Park, are visible right. (Image: Wolfe House & Building Movers, www.wolfehousebuildingmovers.com) Exploring a Founding Father's mobile home Why ...
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Richard Hodges: A New Year’s Day Hike
Chania in the winter, as a baleful sea swells within the Venetian harbour. Archaeology indicates that there has been a settlement at Chania since at least the Neolithic period. No matter how many years I have spent in the Mediterranean in wintertime, I cannot get it into my head that ...
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Travel: Barcino
The modern city of Barcelona, as seen from the forecourt of the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Barcelona occupies a fertile plain edged in by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. It was a site that also found favour with the Romans. It is one of ...
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Richard Hodges: Lascaux IV
It is a country of enchantment which poets have staked out and which they alone may lay claim to. It is nearest thing to Paradise this side of Greece… I believe that the Cro-Magnon man settled here because he was extremely intelligent and had a highly developed sense of beauty ...
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Richard Hodges: Zeugma’s last secret
A mosaic featuring Oceanus and his wife Tethys – an aquatic scene, which was to prove ominously prophetic in the summer of 2000, when a new dam left rising waters threatening the ancient city of Zeugma. Could a rescue project be mounted before a sizeable chunk of the town disappeared? ...
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Sardinian splendours
CWA explores standout ancient sites in the north-west of the Mediterranean island. Monte d’Accoddi served as a sanctuary for centuries between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Through successive rebuilds, it was transformed into a terraced, truncated pyramid, often compared to a ziggurat. In the middle of an ...
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Richard Hodges: Homage to Dhaskalio
Sailing to a remote maritime sanctuary brings Richard Hodges to Europe’s earliest central place Colin Renfrew (left) and Michael Boyd (right), on the summit of Dhaskalio. Their excavations on this rocky islet have revealed an extraordinary Bronze Age settlement, which appears to have grown out of a maritime sanctuary on ...
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Ulpiana: The Romans in Kosovo
Ruins of the Roman city of Ulpiana, with the plains and hills of Kosovo beyond. The site was only discovered in the early 20th century, and today excavations are unearthing Ulpiana’s secrets. (Image: OSCE summer school) Excavations in a once-forgotten city are bringing its inhabitants’ stories to light, as Oliver ...
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Travel: Secrets from the Byzantine city of Shivta
Six Byzantine cities once flourished in the Negev Desert, but then the climate changed and these settlements were abandoned, leaving spectacular ruins for future generations to explore. At Shivta, the most impressive surviving structure is the Northern Church, which was once part of a wealthy monastery. How did cities come ...
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