Our cover feature represents a powerful and poignant project investigating the frequently overlooked lives of ‘pauper apprentices’, children as young as seven who were taken from urban workhouses and sent to labour away their often short lives in rural textile mills and farms. Recent research centred on cemetery evidence from Fewston in North Yorkshire is helping to bring their experiences to light once more.
Another story that deserves to be better known is that of Ballynahatty in County Down, where the remains of an intriguing Neolithic timber monument were excavated between 1990 and 2000. The full report of this investigation has only recently been published, and the findings are fascinating.
Our next feature showcases an ambitious aerial-survey project focused on almost 200 square kilometres of the South Downs National Park, which has documented archaeological features spanning the Neolithic to the Cold War.
We then turn to Hadrian’s Wall to learn how fortification of the Roman frontier sparked strikingly different settlement patterns on either side of the boundary.
Finally, we bring you an update on a burial that first featured in CA 339. This was the grave of an early medieval woman, discovered near Conington in Cambridgeshire during road improvement works on the A14. Unusually, she had been interred face-down, and now analysis of this enigmatic individual’s remains has allowed archaeologists to piece together clues about her life and why she may have been treated differently in death.
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
Reconstructing a rare Neolithic timber monument
The enigmatic timber monument at Ballynahatty in Northern Ireland was excavated in 1990-2000. Now, a new publication has helped to reconstruct its original appearance, and its place in the archaeologically rich wider Neolithic landscape.
Revealing the hard, often brief, lives of pauper apprentices
The partial excavation of a churchyard at Fewston in North Yorkshire has provided a rare look at a rural post-medieval population from the north of England, including the lives of many children who were brought from urban workhouses to labour in the nearby mills.
Documenting human history from the Neolithic to the Cold War
A project combining recent LiDAR imagery with almost 10,000 aerial photographs taken between the 1920s and 2018 has documented archaeological features across a wide area of the South Downs National Park, from prehistoric monuments to more-modern military remains.
BEFORE AND AFTER HADRIAN’S WALL
Living on the Roman frontier east of the Pennines
Recent research has highlighted the dramatic impact that the construction of Hadrian’s Wall had on local Iron Age communities, and how fortification of the frontier sparked very different settlement patterns on either side of the new boundary.
Being ‘different’ in Anglo-Saxon England
What can the recent analysis of an unusual Anglo-Saxon burial – that of a teenage girl, found buried face-down in a repurposed posthole – tell us about her life and death, and how she may have been perceived by her local community?
NEWS
Another Antonine Wall fortlet found; Rare Neolithic axe-sharpening stone discovered in Dorset; Iron Age ‘warrior woman’ identified on the Isles of Scilly; Iron Age coin hoard uncovered in Anglesey; First finds from Milecastle 46; Science Notes; Significant Mesolithic site excavated in Bedfordshire; Finds Tray
NEWS FOCUS
Green-fingered finds: Piecing together the history of Scotney’s Old Castle
REGULARS
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
CONTEXT
Drawing Dinas Dinlle: Caernarfon, Gwynedd
REVIEWS
Footmarks: a journey into our restless past; The Road: a story of Romans and ways to the past; Wild History: journeys into lost Scotland; Repeopling La Manche: new perspectives on Neanderthal archaeology and landscapes from La Cotte de St Brelade; Millstones of the Pennines and North West England; Exploring Norfolk’s Deep History Coast
MUSEUM NEWS
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
EXHIBITION
Beneath Our Feet: Archaeology of the Cambridge Region at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
A selection of talks and events taking place during England’s biggest festival of history and culture
SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH
Highlights from the programme of heritage-themed events taking place during Scotland’s month-long celebration of archaeology
LISTINGS
Our selection of exhibitions and events, as well as historical, archaeological, and cultural resources from around the world that are still available online.
SHERDS
Chris Catling’s irreverent take on heritage issues
ODD SOCS
The UK Paranormal Society
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