Current Archaeology 361

Jersey and Guernsey are famous for their prehistoric archaeology, but the smaller Channel Island of Sark is less well known. Since 2004, though, Barry Cunliffe has been striving to bring the stories of its earliest inhabitants to light.
/nLying closer to France than to Britain, the Channel Islands show close cultural ties to the Continent throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. French connections also abound in our cover feature, which tells the story of an elite Iron Age warrior who was buried in West Sussex with an extraordinary helmet. His remains speak of cross-Channel voyages, refugees fleeing Roman oppression, and Gaulish resistance against Julius Caesar.
/nMartial splendour also characterises the Staffordshire Hoard, a spectacular collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver that was discovered in 2009. Over a decade on, the full findings of a research project exploring its contents have been published – but why was the hoard buried in the first place?
/nThe Staffordshire Hoard’s almost 4,600 fragments grant unique insights into the 7th-century world in which it was assembled. In stark contrast is a Viking hoard from Herefordshire whose finders tried to sell it instead of reporting their discovery. Four men have since been jailed, and while only 34 of the hoard’s more-than 300 elements have been recovered to date, it is already telling a fascinating tale of a little-known alliance between Alfred the Great and the Mercian king Ceolwulf.
/nWe end this issue as we began, exploring islands off the coast of Britain – though this time rather further to the north. Orkney is home to more than 50 runic inscriptions; this month’s ‘In Focus’ explores some of the stories they preserve.