From Spartacus to Maximus Decimus Meridius, images of gladiators and their life-or-death struggles in the Roman arena maintain a powerful hold today over the popular imagination. These fighters were clearly no less fascinating to their contemporary spectators, as imagery found across the empire attests \u2013 but physical remains of the individuals themselves are much more elusive. Our cover story draws together intriguing evidence from York and Cirencester.<\/p>\n
Remaining in the Roman period, we visit the villa at Druce Farm, near Dorchester. Community excavations have revealed a compelling story of how the site evolved, the experiences of its inhabitants, and what happened as the official Roman occupation of Britain drew to a close. We then leap forward to the dawn of D-Day and the activities of \u2018Easy\u2019 Company, American paratroopers better known as the \u2018Band of Brothers\u2019. Before they made their daring jump over Normandy, these men were based in the Wiltshire village of Aldbourne \u2013 where recent archaeological work involving military veterans has uncovered traces of their camp, and of some of the site\u2019s inhabitants.<\/p>\n
Turning from ephemeral traces of long-demolished Nissen huts to the soaring stonework of Canterbury Cathedral, our next feature puts the spotlight on a virtuosic mosaic adorning Trinity Chapel, exploring possible inspirations behind its imagery.<\/p>\n
Finally, we continue on this ecclesiastical theme to bring you an update from medieval York. In CA 245, we covered the \u2018lost\u2019 church of All Saints, and the discovery of an unusual female burial interpreted as that of a religious recluse. Since then, analysis of the woman\u2019s remains has revealed new perspectives on her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this issue:<\/strong><\/p>\n – Druce Farm Roman villa: celebrating a community dig in the heart of Dorset Plus: News, Reviews, Science Notes, Museum News, Sherds, Odd Socs, and more!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5781,"template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"","site-sidebar-style":"","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[465],"product_tag":[20],"class_list":{"0":"post-5780","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-back-issue-current-archaeology","7":"product_tag-current-archaeology","8":"product_shipping_class-back-issue","9":"desktop-align-center","10":"tablet-align-center","11":"mobile-align-center","12":"ast-product-gallery-layout-first-image-large","13":"ast-product-gallery-with-no-image","14":"ast-magnify-disabled","15":"ast-product-tabs-layout-distributed","17":"first","18":"instock","19":"taxable","20":"shipping-taxable","21":"purchasable","22":"product-type-simple"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1.jpg",1000,1345,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-223x300.jpg",223,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-768x1033.jpg",768,1033,true],"large":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-761x1024.jpg",761,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1.jpg",1000,1345,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1.jpg",1000,1345,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-600x807.jpg",600,807,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cover1000px-1-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/author\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In this issue: - Druce Farm Roman villa: celebrating a community dig in the heart of Dorset - Echoes from the arena: exploring evidence for gladiators in York and Cirencester - Easy Company: searching for the \u2018Band of Brothers\u2019 at Aldbourne - Cosmati at Canterbury Cathedral? Piecing together the history of a medieval mosaic -…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/5780","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\/5781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currentpublishing.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=5780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– Echoes from the arena: exploring evidence for gladiators in York and Cirencester
\n– Easy Company: searching for the \u2018Band of Brothers\u2019 at Aldbourne
\n– Cosmati at Canterbury Cathedral? Piecing together the history of a medieval mosaic
\n– A secluded life: the story of the All Saints \u2018anchoress\u2019<\/p>\n