In 1997 Professor Michael Fulford started a new dig at Silchester – an ordinary city-block, with its workshops and houses, its streets, alleyways and backyards. So far only the upper levels have been explored: but just what was life like in a Roman town in the fourth century? Indeed, did Roman towns still exist as towns in the fourth century? The latest excavations throw important new light on this very hot topic.
The Roman theme continues in our second article. How did Roman cavalry stay on their horses? Did Roman javelins bend on impact? Could the Colosseum ever have been flooded? These are some of the questions that have been tackled by Peter Connolly. He is a chiefly known for his outstanding reconstruction paintings of the ancient world, but he is also a leading experimental archaeologist and military specialist. Current Archaeology spoke to him about his career, his art, and his discoveries.
Then we go to the far north – way beyond the borders of the Empire – to visit the prehistoric site of Old Scatness in the Shetlands. An undamaged broch was found in 1975 and now it is being excavated by Shetland archaeologists and Bradford University’s Department of Archaeological Sciences. We discover there is new dating evidence for Iron Age, Pictish and Norse settlement in the Northern Isles – using radiocarbon, archaeomagnetism, and ‘optically stimulated luminescence’.
Is any worthwhile archaeology being done under the rescue regime of PPG16? The Cotswold Archaeological Trust is one of the foremost professional archaeological units and here we look at a range of rescue excavations that they have carried out, ranging from a new form of Iron Age enclosure down to a Saxon royal manor.
Then there is Agatha Christie, who was married to top Mesopotamian archaeologist Max Mallowan. It turns out she was a keen amateur archaeologist who spent around three months each year on site with her husband. We review a British Museum exhibition and two new books, finding them well worth a look. And we end with a question: would Hercule Poi rot have made a good archaeologist?