It is one of the delights of visiting new places that you sometimes find an entirely unexpected archaeological site, which gives you an insight that is entirely new. And this is what happened when Andrew Selkirk visited Barcelona and discovered that there is, in fact, a Roman Barcelona. Barcelona is not normally considered to be […]
Issues
See what’s in the latest issue, and all the fascinating back issues of World Archaeology since issue 1
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. Henry Miller, The Colossus of […]
Rare painted leopard revealed
Archaeologists with the Egyptian-Italian Mission at West Aswan have digitally restored fragments of a very fragile painted leopard’s head from a 2nd century BC sarcophagus, discovered at the Egyptian necropolis last year. The leopard is a common symbol of power and protection in ancient Egypt, but it is unusual to see it painted on a […]
Expanding amino acid dating
How should we date material that is millions of years old? Looking at the predictable rates of the breakdown of proteins from an organism found in fossils is one possibility, and a technique that goes well beyond the range of radiocarbon dating. This amino acid dating (or amino acid racemisation) was first developed in the […]
Into the daylight: a new rock art discovery
Portugal’s Côa Valley contains Europe’s greatest collection of open-air Ice Age images. Across 17km, there are currently more than 530 known panels bearing several thousand figures. A major new discovery there is of particular importance, as Thierry Aubry, António Fernando Barbosa, Luís Luís, André Santos, and Marcelo Silvestre explain. The discovery of paintings in the […]
Tambo Viejo
Excavating remarkable Inca rituals After the Acari Valley was absorbed by the Inca Empire, Tambo Viejo was founded to oversee its inhabitants. This imperial imposition seemingly resembled many others in the region, but excavation has exposed architectural and ritual oddities. Lidio M Valdez reveals what makes the site unique. The fully fledged Inca Empire controlled […]
A 5,000-year-old mystery: recording rock art within the Dolmen de Soto
Investigating an isolated Neolithic tomb in Andalucía has revealed a new dimension to its rock art. What can this tell us about life as well as death in a remarkable megalithic monument?
CWA 101 – now on sale
What went on inside Neolithic tombs? Recent survey of one stunning example in Spain has revealed previously unknown artwork, raising questions about who was entering this burial place. Some rock art was daubed with paint, suggesting an attempt to catch the eye of visitors processing into the tomb. What can these images tell us about […]
Review: National Museum of Denmark
Now housed in the Prince’s Palace in Copenhagen, the National Museum of Denmark has one of the oldest established collections of prehistoric artefacts in the world. It dates back to King Frederik VI, who set up Den Kongelige Commission til Oldsagers Opbevaring (The Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities) in 1807. One early secretary […]
Richard Hodges: Zeugma’s last secret
Zeugma – now a name to conjure with. Site of a bridge across the Euphrates, connecting the Mediterranean to Persia and, by way of the Silk Road, inland Asia. For those in the know, this Roman town possessed mosaics equal to those at ancient Antioch’s mosaic museum and in the Bardo Museum in Tunis. Unlike […]
CWA Photo of the Year Competition 2020 – Winners Announced
Once again, we were delighted by the quality and quantity of the fantastic archaeological images that were sent in to this year’s photo competition. Travelling from high peaks to the sea beds, the impressive array of photos of iconic and little-known sites and exceptional artefacts highlight the different ways we experience, live with, and investigate […]
Rewriting the past
As CWA reaches a milestone, we sifted through our back issues in search of the most exciting discoveries about our shared past. Ten sites have been selected to tell stories from the last 300,000 years that have been brought to light by archaeology.
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