This has been another exceptional year for archaeological research. The following are some of the most exciting projects to have featured in CA over the last 12 months – the nominees for Research Project of the Year.
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.
Sponsor of Research Project of the Year 2026
Fit for an emperor? Excavating a monumental building from Roman Carlisle
Uncovering Roman Carlisle / Carlisle Cricket Club / SLR / Cumberland Council, CA 418
Ongoing excavations are piecing together the layout, and exploring the possible purpose, of the largest Roman building yet found along Hadrian’s Wall. An intriguing story of luxury living, grand designs, and imperial links is emerging.
Fields of gold: understanding the Snettisham Hoards
Julia Farley (British Museum) and Jody Joy (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge), CA 419
This significant research draws together excavations, conservation, and scientific research focused on Snettisham’s Iron Age hoards, revealing how their contents were made and used, and why they may have been buried.
Bronze Age brutality? Exploring evidence for inter-personal violence at Charterhouse Warren
R J Schulting, T Fernández-Crespo, J Ordoño, F Brock, A Kellow, C Snoeck, I R Cartwright, D Walker, L Loe, and T Audsley, CA 420
This thought-provoking study examines the remains of dozens of men, women, and children who were thrown down a natural shaft c.4,000 years ago, offering powerful insights into their lives and violent deaths.
From Bayeux to Bosham: tracing ‘lordly sites’ from early medieval England
D W Wright, O Creighton, S Chaussée, D Gould, and M Shapland, CA 421
This innovative and interdisciplinary research illuminates power centres associated with the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy that were swept away by the Norman Conquest – including a site linked with Harold Godwinson.
Words on the wave: tracing Continental connections in early medieval Ireland
National Museum of Ireland/Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, CA 424
Insightful research offering vivid insights into how people, ideas, and objects travelled between early medieval Ireland and continental Europe.
Taking stock of the pot: creating and recreating the Glenfield Iron Age cauldrons
ULAS / MOLA / Hector Cole, CA 424
An inspired combination of fieldwork, scientific research, and experimental archaeology has revealed important information about how a rare group of Iron Age cauldrons were made, maintained, and used.
If walls could talk: reconstructing Roman London’s fashionable frescos
MOLA, CA 427
Analysis of the largest collection of painted Roman wall plaster ever found in London is shedding colourful light on the tastes of Londinium’s elites.
A tale of two hoards: interpreting unusual Bronze Age collections from Carnoustie and Rosemarkie
GUARD Archaeology Ltd, CA 428
Painstaking micro-excavation and scientific research have shed invaluable light on the contents of two unusual metalwork hoards from Bronze Age Scotland, as well as possible motivations for their burial.
