Twelve thousand years ago, Britain was joined to Europe bya great plain, where Mesolithic people lived and hunted. Butas water levels rose, their home was submerged beneath theNorth Sea. What did this loss of place mean for the wave ofmigrants it created?
Mobility of another kind is under the microscope elsewhere inthis issue, as an explanation is sought for those famous straight stretches of Romanroad. Their courses were sometimes cribbed from previously surveyed long-distancealignments, which were projected across a landscape regardless of whether a roadcould cross it. So what was this surveying for? Are the alignments vestiges of militarymapping in the Conquest period, as the empire sought to get a grip on exactly whatit was conquering?
Of course, Rome was not just in it for the cartography, and forts and roadsfollowed in the army’s wake. But how much impact did these have on local people? Arecently published project at Hayton, East Yorkshire, has examined how occupationunleashed powerful economic forces that redrew the human landscape.
In Wales, it is the heritage-protection landscape that has recently been remade.Forty years after the birth of the Welsh archaeological trusts, we take a look at whathas been achieved, and why the past is very much in the present.
Finally, CA is a bumper size this month, to give you a tasteof this year’s fieldwork opportunities. There’s plenty to lookforward to in the summer!
Matt Symonds
IN THIS ISSUE:/n
FEATURES/n
CHARTING THE ROADS/n
Surveyed frameworks in the Roman Conquest of Britain
What did the Romans do for us? ‘Roads’ seems an obvious answer – but how did imperialsurveyors create these long-distance alignments in the early days of the Conquest?
DOGGERLAND RISES/n
Exploring lands and livelihoods lost under the North Sea
Some 12,000 years ago, Britain was joined to Continental Europe by a vast plain, whichwas inhabited by nomadic groups of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. But as sea-levels roseat the end of the last Ice Age, these lands were lost. What happened to the prehistoricpeople who lost their homes, and what traces of them can still be seen today?
HAYTON/n
How Roman occupation redrew an Iron Age landscape
Wide-ranging archaeological and geophysical surveys have revealed evidence ofIron Age farming groups inhabiting an intricately bound together landscape. Whatcan we learn about the impact of Roman occupation on this close-knit community?
WALES IN THE VANGUARD/n
Pioneering protection of the past
The archaeological trusts of Wales celebrate their 40th anniversary this year. We explorethe work of these vital bodies, and the extraordinary birthday present given to them bythe Welsh Assembly: the most progressive heritage legislation yet put forward in the UK.
NEWS/n
Britain’s oldest Mesolithic art identified at Star Carr; Extensive Iron Age burials foundat Pocklington; Best of British: the Marden Henge arrowhead; Burrowing badgerreveals Bronze Age burial; Surveying the Battle of Killiecrankie; Skull of a Cullodencasualty modelled; Uncovering Colchester’s Roman arcade; Anniversary plans forEnglish Heritage; 136 not out: gasholder listed after long innings at the Oval
REGULARS/n
Digs Special 2016
This bonus section brings you aselection of exciting excavations andarchaeological experiences availablethis year in Britain and Ireland
Conference
A round-up of what happened at CA Live! 2016
Reviews
The Home Front in Britain 1914-1918; Images of the Ice Age; Archaeology:Theories, Methods, Practice
Museum Review
Reimagining the Celts at the National Museum of Scotland
Jorvik Viking Festival
Marking 1,000 years since the Vikingconquest of England
Sherds
Chris Catling’s irreverent take onheritage issues
Odd Socs
The Friends of the Newport Ship