Cover of CA 421, image overlooking archaeologists in a lush Scottish landscape, with hills in the background.
The spectacular scenery adorning this month’s cover features a Highland site known as ‘Calan’s Bothy’ – once home to an illicit whisky still. What has recent fieldwork revealed about this industry in 18th- and 19th-century Scotland?
From stunning views to a royal loo, our next feature reveals how the discovery of an early medieval latrine at Bosham in West Sussex held the key to identifying an important power centre associated with Harold II. What can this location, and the wider project that explored it, add to our understanding of Anglo Saxon ‘lordly centres’?
We then travel to Crickley Hill in Gloucestershire, another site enjoying gorgeous surroundings and important archaeological remains, this time an Iron Age hillfort and enigmatic Neolithic monuments. Archaeological investigations explored these features for 25 years, and post-excavation analysis is still ongoing; we examine the latest revelations from this work.
With apologies for cycling between scenery and sanitation, we next take a tour of innovative architecture prompted by a Victorian public health crisis. I would like to highlight that, with this article, Chris Catling has become our most prolific feature contributor, having written for every issue since his article about the archaeology of beavers in CA 210. By his reckoning, he has produced over 1.3 million words for CA – an amazing achievement, and hugely appreciated.
And now for something completely different: we conclude with thought provoking analysis of wear patterns preserved on many of the flint tools that have been excavated at Star Carr in North Yorkshire. What can these markings reveal about how the objects were used, and how Mesolithic communities organised their sites and structures?
In this issue:
FEATURES
FROM BAYEUX TO BOSHAM
Tracing ‘lordly sites’ in medieval England
A two-year project has shed new light on power centres associated with the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy that was swept away by the Norman Conquest – including an important site linked to Harold Godwinson and his family.
A MONUMENTAL UNDERTAKING
Unravelling the long and complex story of Crickley Hill’s Long Mound
Best-known for its Iron Age hillfort, Crickley Hill in Gloucestershire is also home to an enigmatic array of Neolithic monuments. What has newly published analysis revealed about this earlier phase?
DISTILLING A CLANDESTINE CRAFT
Exploring the archaeology and history of illicit whisky-making
Fieldwork in the Scottish Highlands has highlighted archaeological evidence of an underground industry.
TURNING ON THE WATERWORKS
Navigating the industrial architecture of the Victorian sanitary crisis
We explore the innovative transformation of water- and sewage related architecture amid rising mortality rates caused by water pollution in the mid-19th century.
MESOLITHIC MICROWEAR
Exploring spatial organisation within the Star Carr structures
Microscopic analysis of flint tools found in and around Britain’s earliest post-built structures open up new ways to understand how these spaces may have been used and organised by the Mesolithic communities that built them.
LETTERS
Your comments, complaints, and compliments
NEWS
New insights into Strata Florida’s medieval monastery; Historical birds of prey outed as scavengers; Galloway Hoard runic inscription translated; Britain’s largest Neronian hoard on display; Tudor kiln discovered at Bedfordshire school; Science Notes; Cathedral dig reveals traces of early medieval and Roman Exeter; Finds Tray
NEWS FOCUS
Two Iron Age artefacts uncovered during a metal-detector survey at RAF Valley in Anglesey are thought to belong to the famous Llyn Cerrig Bach assemblage
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive
CONTEXT
Glorious glass: St Andrew’s Church, Heckington
REVIEWS
Britons and their Battlefields: war, memory, and commemoration since the 14th century; Hidden History in the Welsh Mountains; Digging Lincoln; The North Pennines from Prehistory to Present; 50 LGBTQ+ Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme; Beneath Our Feet: everyday discoveries reshaping British history
EXHIBITION
Echoes: Stone Circles, Community and Heritage at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre
MUSEUM NEWS
The latest on 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
ODD SOCS
The Watercolour World