This month’s cover story takes us to Drumelzier in the Scottish Borders, and more specifically to a site with a wonderfully romantic name: Merlin’s Grave. A community project has been exploring the origins of this legendary link – uncovering illuminating evidence of the area’s early medieval and Iron Age past along the way.
We remain in Scotland for a special ‘News Focus’ about Stonehenge. Yes, you read that right – recently published scientific research suggests that the Altar Stone was originally quarried in the Orcadian Basin, over 450 miles from Salisbury Plain. What does this mean for our understanding of social organisation in Neolithic Britain, and of Stonehenge itself?
From long journeys to long spans of time, we then travel to New Ross in Ireland, where a major bypass project has uncovered archaeological evidence reflecting 9,000 years of human history, including the first early Neolithic house to be found in Co. Wexford.
A rather more recent house forms the focus of our next article, which describes the trials and triumphs of restoration work at Northwold Manor in Norfolk.
From restoration to reconstruction, we then travel to Harborough Museum in Leicestershire, where an innovative project centred on the Hallaton Helmet has created contrasting reconstructions of this ornate Roman artefact, using traditional and cutting-edge techniques.
Finally, we visit another experimental reconstruction, albeit on a rather larger scale, in York’s Museum Gardens, where archaeologists have rebuilt ‘Britain’s oldest house’ based on Mesolithic evidence from Star Carr.
In This Issue:
FEATURES
NINE MILLENNIA OF LIFE ON THE BANKS OF THE ‘GOODLY BAROW’
Archaeological excavations on the N25 New Ross Bypass in south-east Ireland
Archaeological investigations sparked by a major road scheme in Co. Wexford and Co. Kilkenny have uncovered remains spanning 9,000 years of human activity from the Mesolithic to the medieval periods.
HOW TO RESTORE A MANOR
Breathing life back into a Grade II*-listed Norfolk building
A new book follows the restoration of the once-derelict Northwold Manor, exploring its architecture, history, and the stories it can tell about the surrounding parish.
ROMAN REPLICAS
Recreating the Hallaton Helmet
An innovative project has created contrasting replicas of an ornately decorated Roman cavalry helmet found in Leicestershire, one using cutting-edge technology and the other traditional armourers’ techniques.
UNEARTHING ANCIENT TWEEDDALE
‘Merlin’s Grave’ and other lost stories embedded in the landscape
A community archaeology project in the Scottish Borders sought to explore Drumelzier’s legendary links, and illuminated the area’s Iron Age and early medieval past in the process.
A HOME FOR HUNTER-GATHERERS?
Reconstructing ‘Britain’s ‘oldest house’ at the Yorkshire Museum
This summer, an experimental archaeology project saw the reconstruction of a Mesolithic house in York’s Museum Gardens, based on remains excavated at Star Carr.
NEWS
Roman villa found near Loughborough; High-status Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered in Banbury; Evidence of missing B-17 bomber crew uncovered in Suffolk; Malmesbury’s first confirmed Anglo-Saxon burials discovered near abbey; World news; Science Notes; Iron Age insights from the Knowe of Swandro in Orkney; Finds Tray
REGULARS
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
CONTEXT
Chalking it up: the Uffington White Horse
REVIEWS
Stone Circles: A Field Guide; Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain; Historic Building Mythbusting: Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology; Heritage and Wellbeing: The Impact of Heritage Places on Visitors’ Wellbeing; Double-Sided Antler and Bone Combs in Late Roman Britain: Stylistic Groups, Context and Status; Kirin of the Dobunni
MUSEUM NEWS
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
EXHIBITION
Star Carr: Life after the ice at the Yorkshire Museum
CALENDAR
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 Coker Rope & Sail Trust
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