This issue of CA has a watery theme. We start with Graeme Young’s account of excavating burnt mounds in the wetlands of Bamburgh in Northumberland. Are these mounds the waste from large-scale brewing or were the heated stones used to provide steam for a sauna?
Next, Robert Van de Noort tells our Assistant Editor, Carly Hilts, about the construction of a replica Bronze Age boat. Nervous moments preceded the launch, but Morgawr, as she was dubbed, proved to be a sleek and seaworthy vessel.
Boats of a different kind ‚ flat-bottomed punts ‚ were used to carry goods by canal in Roman East Anglia. Deep in the Fens, Chris Evans and his team have excavated a port settlement that probably supplied the Saxon Shore forts with food.
Our cover story, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the seaside leisure pier, coincides with the fire that damaged much of Eastbourne pier on 31 July 2014. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but the fire reminds us that so many piers have suffered a similar fate.
The tragic outbreak of the First World War marked the end of the golden age of pier-building. Emily Glass tells us about the ‘Home Front and Its Legacies’ pilot project, set up to ask how buildings and land were used to support Britain’s war-effort between 1914 and 1918.
All this and more… we review the new detective novel by Francis Pryor, a long-standing friend of this magazine ‚ and it’s a winner! Could Francis be the next Agatha Christie?
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IN THIS ISSUE:/n
FEATURES/n
HOPPENWOOD BANK/n
Exploring a burnt mound landscape
Excavations at a bog near Bamburgh have uncovered a complex wetland landscape with enigmatic mounds and timber platforms dating back to the Early Neolithic.
BUILDING MORGAWR/n
Seafaring Bronze Age-style
What did Britain’s Bronze Age boats look like, and how did they handle on open water? We join an extraordinary archaeological experiment to find out.
EXCAVATING EARITH/n
Was the Roman fenland an imperial estate?
A decade of archaeological work over 62ha of Cambridgeshire fenland has shed vivid new light on the site’s occupation during the Roman period.
BRITISH SEASIDE PIERS/n
A promenade through the past
July 2014 saw the 200th anniversary of the opening of Britain’s first leisure pier, but also a devastating fire at Eastbourne. We explore the evolution of these elegant constructions.
BRITAIN AT WAR, 1914-1918/n
The archaeology of the Home Front
In the second of our three features marking the centenary of the First World War, we learn about the impact of the conflict on Britain’s physical and social landscape.
NEWS/n
The Kirkhaugh craftsman: a second Amesbury Archer?; Neolithic conflict at Caerau; Binchester boasts one of Britain’s earliest Christian objects; Found: Jersey’s first Iron Age house; Two sides to Moray’s symbol stone story; The Ockham Hoard: unexpected artefacts; Revealing Richard III’s royal lifestyle; New Viking hoard; Northampton Museum loses accreditation for selling statue
REGULARS/n
Context
Evoking imperial glory at Arbeia Roman Fort
Reviews
The Lifers’ Club; The History of Archaeology; The Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of Southern Britain; The Viking Ship
Sherds
Chris Catling’s irreverent take on heritage issues
Odd Socs
The International Guild of Knot Tyers