Rescue Project of the Year 2022 – Nominees

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Sponsor of Rescue Project of the Year 2022

We’ve collated some of the best rescue projects that have been highlighted in Current Archaeology over the past year. Below are the nominees for Rescue Project of the Year.

Voting has now closed, and all the winners of the Current Archaeology Awards will be announced on 25 February as part of our virtual Current Archaeology Live! 2022. Click here to find out more about the event.


Building a Roman Villa: a Romano-Celtic temple-mausoleum and evidence of industry at Priors Hall, Corby

An aerial photograph overlooking the Priors Hall excavation site, where Oxford Archaeology East has revealed the remains of a Roman temple-mausoleum that was subsequently repurposed as a major tile- and brick-making centre.

Oxford Archaeology, CA 370

Excavation outside Corby has shed vivid light on the construction of a Roman villa, the reuse of an enigmatic religious building, and a bustling array of industrial activity.

Read the full article here.


Pandemics and public health: cleansing Bath’s ‘Great Unwashed’

Wessex Archaeology excavating the boiler and pump rooms of the Milk Street Baths. This pioneering facility was one of the earliest of the public wash houses built in this country during the Victorian period.

Wessex Archaeology, CA 371

The discovery in Bath of one of the earliest Victorian wash houses in Britain has shed light on changing attitudes towards the poor, and on a historic public health emergency.

Read the full article here.


Mourning in miniature: excavating an infant Beaker burial near Salisbury

Headland Archaeology, CA 373

Archaeological investigations just outside Salisbury in 2018 and 2019 uncovered echoes of early Bronze Age activity, including the burial of an infant with an unusually small beaker.

Read the full article here.


Carmarthenshire’s missing monument: how one of the biggest excavations in Wales uncovered a long-lost henge

Overlooking the remains of the henge, along the axis of its two entrances which were aligned on sunrise and sunset at the two solstices. Its curved rock-cut ditches would once have been flanked by imposing ditches, and post- or stone-holes visible within the ditches may have supported an arrangement of timber or stone uprights.

Cotswold Archaeology, CA 376

The installation of the South Wales Gas Pipeline allowed archaeologists to investigate a 317km corridor illuminating more than 10,000 years of human history.

Read the full article here.


Iron in the time of Anarchy: investigating a smithy site forged in 12th-century civil war

Overlooking the remains of an Anarchy-period smithy excavated by Headland Archaeology.

Headland Archaeology, CA 376

Excavations in Cheveley, Cambridgeshire, revealed the remains of a 12th-century smithy with a vivid story to tell about the upheaval of the Anarchy in the Fenlands.

Read the full article here.


Northampton’s chequered history: uncovering Britain’s first medieval chess workshop

Photograph of an archaeological trench which is part of the excavations by MOLA at St John’s Street, Northampton town centre. The excavations have uncovered the remains of medieval industry: a unique 12th-century workshop where a prolific bone- and antler-carver produced a range of wares, including chess pieces, as well as traces of large-scale brewing activity.

MOLA, CA 377

Excavations in Northampton town centre revealed the remains of a 12th-century carver’s workshop where chess pieces were being manufactured – the first found in Britain.

Read the full article here.


Road to the past: exploring the prehistoric heart of Galloway

A photograph of a distinctive Beaker vessel, still half in the ground with a trowel next to it. It was found in a stone-lined grave at East Challoch, suggesting a very early Bronze Age date.

GUARD Archaeology, CA 378

The construction of a new bypass on the A75 near Dunragit uncovered a wealth of archaeological finds, illuminating around 8,000 years of human activity.

Read the full article here.


CITiZAN’s Climate Emergency: protecting the future by understanding the past

Winter storms puncture the flood defences around Mersea Island in 2018. A recent CITiZAN project focusing on this small island south of Colchester in Essex has revealed a complex story of coastal change that may help to suggest ways we can adapt to the current climate crisis.

CITiZAN, CA 381

How can studying the past help combat the climate crisis? This community-based research project on Mersea Island in Essex revealed a vivid story of adaptation and change.

Read the full article here.


Voting has now closed

Dr John Mitchell of Wessex Insurance Services has a long history of insuring organisations within the archaeology and heritage sectors.  Wessex Insurance Services is a specialist broker providing risk and insurance solutions to niche sectors, often considered by insurers to be non-standard – where additional care, attention and understanding are required. To find out more, please visit www.wessex-insurance.com

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