What have the Vikings ever done for us? We often imagine the Viking Age in the light of smash-and-grab attacks on isolated monasteries – but what was the longer legacy of contact with medieval Scandinavia? Torksey, the focus of our cover feature, famously hosted a winter camp of the Viking Great Army in AD 872. When the Vikings moved on the following year, they had sown the seeds of a flourishing town with an innovative approach to pottery production. What have recent excavations revealed about this site, and what are its implications for understanding early medieval England?
Cultural contacts also hold the key to our next article, which traces prehistoric links between Britain and Brittany through an exploration of burial monuments, placenames, and evidence for cross-Channel trade.
From the south coast we then head north to Hadrian’s Wall and far beyond, exploring the intriguing array of architectural forms that are found in Iron Age Scotland but not in northern England. Recent archaeological research suggests that the Roman frontier was not a cause, but a reflection, of this cultural divergence. We remain with the Romans to visit Brough-on-Humber in the East Riding of Yorkshire. There, 85 years ago, an inscription was discovered hinting at the presence of a now-lost 2nd-century theatre. A local community excavation is hunting for more clues.
Finally, many of you may have known our friend and long-time contributor to CA, Neil Faulkner, who sadly passed away in February. Our Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Selkirk, has reprised his ‘Last Word’ column to pay tribute to an innovative archaeologist and fondly remembered colleague.
P.S. Details of all the content of the magazine are available on our new site, The Past. Here you will be able to read each article in full as well as the content of our other magazines, Current World Archaeology, Minerva, and Military History Matters. Subscribers should see the advert inside the magazine for a very special offer!
In This Issue:
FEATURES
BRETONS AND BRITONS
Exploring prehistoric Britain’s French connection
The cultural ties shared by Britain and Brittany stretch back thousands of years, and can be traced both in the archaeological record and through analysis of place names on either side of the Channel.
FROM TENTS TO TOWNS
Tracing Torksey after the Vikings
Excavations at Torksey in Lincolnshire have revealed a perhaps more unexpected legacy left by the Viking Great Army’s decision to overwinter there in AD 872: the birth of a thriving Anglo-Saxon town and an innovative pottery industry.
BEYOND THE WALL
Exploring the prehistoric origins of Scotland
A new look at brochs, duns, crannogs, and souterrains suggests that the lands that would become Scotland and England were already culturally divergent long before Hadrian’s Wall split Britain in two.
PETUARIA REVISITED
Searching for Brough-on-Humber’s lost Roman theatre
In the 1930s, a Roman inscription hinting at the presence of a theatre was discovered at Brough-on-Humber. Now, a community project is searching for more clues – uncovering diverse layers of urban life along the way.
NEWS
Elaborately carved Burton Agnes chalk drum goes on display; Highways to the past: excavating the A428 in Bedfordshire; Roman roadside life and death near Aylesbury; Friary floor tiles revealed in Gloucester; Roman furniture-making in rural Cambridgeshire; Building an Iron Age broch in Caithness; Science Notes; Finds Tray
REGULARS
Comment
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
Context
Unearthing an ‘idol’: Twyford, Buckinghamshire
Reviews
Iron Age Chariot Burials in Britain and the Near Continent; Adrift: the curious tale of the Lego lost at sea; The Romans in the Nene Valley; Peasant Perceptions of Landscape: Ewelme hundred, south Oxfordshire, 500-1650; Middle Bronze Age and Roman Settlement at Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire; A History of Norfolk in 100 Places
Museum
CA visits Nottingham Castle
Museum News
The latest acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Listings
Our selection of exhibitions and events, as well as historical, archaeological, and cultural resources from around the world that are available online.
Sherds
Chris Catling’s irreverent take on heritage issues
Last Word
Andrew Selkirk remembers Neil Faulkner (1958-2022)
Odd Socs
The Long Distance Walkers Association
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