Below are some of the publications we feel most deserve to be recognised for their contribution to the field – the nominees for the Book of the Year award.
Voting is now open, and all the winners of the Current Archaeology Awards will be announced on 28 February 2026 as part of Current Archaeology Live! 2026. Click here to find out more about the event.
Click here for links to all the other categories.
Sponsor of Book of the Year 2025
Life in Early Medieval Wales
Nancy Edwards, CA 409
‘A truly stupendous achievement of synthesis and evaluation… drawing on a lifetime of teaching and researching early medieval archaeology.’
Crypt: life, death, and disease in the Middle Ages and beyond
Alice Roberts, CA 410
‘Compelling… in her usual fashion, Roberts covers intellectual points in a comprehensible and engaging way.’
Places for the living, places for the dead: archaeological discoveries on the N25 New Ross Bypass
James Eogan & James Hession, CA 411
‘Engaging and evocatively written, packed full of detail and always accessibly presented… an illuminating and very enjoyable read.’
Death in Irish Prehistory
Gabriel Cooney, CA 412
‘An inspirational book, drawing on rich experience to provide a thought-provoking and highly accessible volume.’
Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement: Volumes 1 & 2 (landscape, architecture and occupation/specialist reports)
M Knight, R Ballantyne, M Brudenell, A Cooper, D Gibson, & I Robinson Zeki, CA 412
These comprehensive publications document Britain’s most-complete prehistoric settlement and explore analysis of its remarkable finds.
Excavations along Hadrian’s Wall 2019-2021: structures, their uses, and afterlives
Rob Collins & Jane Harrison, CA 413
‘Demonstrating the great potential of citizen science… clearly written and well-illustrated’.
In Search of Norfolk’s First Stone Churches
Peter Wade-Martins, CA 413
‘An almost unrivalled wealth of knowledge and experience… refreshingly approaching this subject from the perspective of a field archaeologist rather than an architectural historian.’
Stone Circles: A Field Guide
Colin Richards & Vicki Cummings, CA 415
‘A book for stone circle fans… with suggestions for enriching the visitor experience.’
Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun
Clive Ruggles & Amanda Chadburn, CA 417
‘Abundantly illustrated… this book, crammed full of insights, is exactly what is needed.’
Exploring the Antonine Wall with Terrestrial Remote Sensing
William S Hanson, Richard E Jones, & Nick Hannon, CA 417
‘A highly readable and comprehensive synthesis of two decades of geophysical survey work along the Antonine Wall’.
Voting has now closed
