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Travel: The Horizon of Khufu
It is not unknown for children to try to outdo their parents. When it comes to tombs, though, pharaoh Khufu must have thought he was ...
Richard Hodges: A Museum for the Coming Ages
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology – these days the Penn Museum – was conceived in the late 19th century to bring ...
Special Report: Europe without borders
On 10 November 2020, the exhibition Iron Age – Europe without Borders opened at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, despite the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Paranthropus robustus
The discovery of a two-million-year-old skull in South Africa is shedding important new light on microevolution in an early hominin species, as Jesse Martin and ...
Review: Thebes
Thebes is the forgotten city of ancient Greece. It lies 32 miles north-west of Athens, at the heart of sleepy Boeotia, but it has now ...
Object Lesson: Statue of Ramesses VI
This granite statue depicts Pharaoh Ramesses VI, who reigned 1144-1137 BC. On the back is a hieroglyphic inscription that reads: ‘May [he]live, [the] good god, ...
Cooking cereals in prehistoric China
A project looking at the history of crops in prehistoric China has identified differences in regional diets and changes over time, which may be connected ...
Victims of Vesuvius
The remains of two individuals who died during the eruption of Vesuvius have been found at a suburban villa near Pompeii ...
Life and death in Sefidkuh
An ongoing study in the Makran Sefidkuh region of Iran is shedding light on the culture and archaeological remains of communities in the area, stretching ...
Minerva magazine offer for CWA subscribers
Special Offer: CWA subscribers can get 25% off a subscription to our sister magazine, Minerva. In January 2020, Current World Archaeology gained a new sister publication – Minerva – a bi-monthly
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An unexpected tomb
Discovering a previously unsuspected Roman cemetery would normally rank as the archaeological highlight of a building project. Recent work on Corsica, though, revealed an even greater surprise.
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: The Horizon of Khufu
Inside the Great Pyramid The sheer scale of Khufu’s Great Pyramid is breathtaking, but there is more to this audacious monument than immediately meets the eye, as Matthew Symonds recalls. The pyramids at Giza. Of the three large pyramids, that closest to us is Menkaure’s, beyond that is Khafre’s, with ...
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Richard Hodges: A Museum for the Coming Ages
We have had raised at Memphis a colossal sphinx of Ramesses II about 11 feet long, 11 ton weight. The head has been much weathered, the body and inscribed base are perfect, of red granite... Would such a piece as this be acceptable for your Museum?Sir W M Flinders Petrie ...
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Travel: Digging in Permafrost
What is archaeology in the Arctic like? Matilda Siebrecht shares its challenges and charms. Icy seas: Inuit legend tells of a man escaping from assailants across the floating ice. Today, it is not uncommon to see people negotiating the ice floes for fun. [Image: Matilda Siebrecht] It was a typical ...
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Richard Hodges: The Death of Pan
David Hernandez and Richard Hodges investigate a deity’s demise. Pan, as depicted on the bronze statuette found as a gun battery was being constructed on Mount Mile in 1981. The god is shown with a bearded human face, discreet horns, and goat-legs. He is pouring oil from an alabastron. Mount ...
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Travel: A Villa in the Country
Imperial Extravagance in Serbia The main imperial palace at Gamzigrad. This enormous fortified villa has been excavated since the 1950s. The formal imperial complex functioned alongside a smaller and more private villa, presumably the imperial quarters. [Images: courtesy of Lescovac Museum.] Journeying south from the Serbian Danube presents an opportunity ...
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Richard Hodges: The Visit of the World Bank President
The site of Butrint, in Albania. Back in 1995, the site was visited by the World Bank President. But would it be possible to mark the occasion by uncovering the site’s majestic Baptistery mosaic? Italy is in lockdown as I write and it feels like Christmas Day, such is the ...
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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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