Legend has it that the Rothwell charnel chapel was discovered when a grave digger tumbled into an underground vault stacked with bones. This alarming incident brought to light a rare exampleof an intact medieval ossuary in England. Our cover feature explores why the dead were assembled in this manner, and how common the practice was.<\/p>\n
Two of the dead at Portmahomack, today a small Scottish fishing village, seem to have been brutally slaughtered during a Viking attack. A major research project has pieced together the remarkable story of this settlement, and evidence for a Pictish monastery that attracted the raiders.<\/p>\n
Archaeologists have also been examining the rise and fall of a community on the Ll\u2248\u2211n peninsula in Wales. Here, an open prehistoric settlement developed imposing defences, before fading into obscurity once more.<\/p>\n
Ever since Sellar and Yeatman wrote their spoof 1066 and All That, it has been widely appreciated that there are two memorable dates in English history: 55 BC and AD 1066. But has this focus on the invasions of Caesar and William the Conqueror unjustly eclipsed a third memorable date? In 1016, Cnut’s Vikings secured dominion over the country, but how much survives from this forgotten conquest of England?<\/p>\n
Finally, celebrities are often said to seem shorter in the flesh, but the difference of 790 feet between Hadrian’s Wall and its icy counterpart in Game of Thrones must be a record. We tackle the cultural afterlife of Rome’s most famous border.<\/p>\n
Matt Symonds
\nIN THIS ISSUE:\/n
\nFEATURES\/n
\nPICTS ON THE PENINSULA\/n
\nPortmahomack reinvented
\nKnown for its Pictish carved stone monuments,Portmahomack in north-east Scotland has undergonemany major transformations over time. Excavationsat the fishing village’s church and burial groundhave unravelled the settlement’s story from the6th to the 16th century.<\/p>\n
MEILLIONYDD\/n
\nThe life and death of an Iron Age community in Wales
\nThe Ll\u2248\u2211n Peninsula is home to many defendedprehistoric settlements, but few of these have beeninvestigated. We take a look at ongoing excavationsat Meillionydd, where seven seasons of digginghave so far uncovered a quarter of the largedouble ringwork enclosure.<\/p>\n
1016 AND ALL THAT\/n
\nExcavating the Viking conquest of England
\nFifty years before the Battle of Hastings,Cnut defeated Edmund II at Assandun, capturingEngland. What archaeological evidence remainsof the Viking conquest 1,000 years on?<\/p>\n
THE NAMELESS DEAD\/n
\nExploring the Rothwell charnel chapel
\nWork at Rothwell, one of only two sites in Englandwhere a medieval charnel chapel and its contents arepreserved, is giving new insights into why bones wereplaced in these ossuaries.<\/p>\n
BEYOND THE ARCHAEOLOGY\/n
\nThe cultural afterlife of Hadrian’s Wall
\nFrom the Byzantine historian Procopius to Gameof Thrones, how have writers over the centuriesreimagined this iconic Roman frontier?<\/p>\n
NEWS\/n
\nMeeting Londinium’s migrant population; Mesolithic dog’slong walk; Vindolanda’s 2016 collection; Long barrowexcavated in the Cotswolds; Halifax residents revealed;Home from Rome in Bedford?; Teeth reveal prehistorictravel; Pistil Meadow myths laid to rest; Finds tray<\/p>\n
REGULARS\/n
\nComment
\nJoe Flatman excavates the CA archive<\/p>\n
Context
\nExpanding a Neolithic landscape at Dorstone Hill<\/p>\n
Reviews
\nFinding Shakespeare’s New Place; Hidden Histories;The Tale of the Axe; The Use and Reuse of Stone Circles;Roman Derbyshire; Moving on in Neolithic Studies<\/p>\n
Exhibition
\nOpus Anglicanum at the V&A<\/p>\n
Preview
\nDigging for Britain with Alice Roberts<\/p>\n
Sherds
\nChris Catling’s irreverent take onheritage issues<\/p>\n
Odd Socs
\nTheWelsh Perry and Cider Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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The nameless dead: exploring a Medieval charnel chapel - Picts on the Peninsula: Portmahomack reinvented - Meillionydd: the life and death of an Iron Age community in Wales - 1016 and all that: excavating the viking conquest of England - The cultural afterlife of Hadrian's Wall Plus: News, Reviews, Museum, Comment,…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/2297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– The nameless dead: exploring a Medieval charnel chapel
\n– Picts on the Peninsula: Portmahomack reinvented
\n– Meillionydd: the life and death of an Iron Age community in Wales
\n– 1016 and all that: excavating the viking conquest of England
\n– The cultural afterlife of Hadrian’s Wall<\/p>\n