Historic England

A shift towards constructing large circular monuments, including henges, during the Middle Neolithic of Britain and Ireland is exemplified in the monumental landscape of south-west England. Seventeen new radiocarbon dates for the Flagstones circular enclosure and the adjacent long enclosure of Alington Avenue, presented here, provide a chronology that is earlier than expected. Comparison with similar sites demonstrates that Flagstones was part of a broader tradition of round enclosures but was also distinctly innovative, particularly in terms of its size. These findings reinforce the value in developing precise chronologies for refining understanding of monument forms and associated practices.

The colonisation of the Americas and the discovery of its rich ores had a great impact on the world economies, making them quickly become the main suppliers of precious metals in Europe. The compositional studies of several coins (ducatons, eight reales cob8, four reales cob4, eight reales pillar dollar, four reales half pillar dollars, rijderschellings and silver rijders) recovered from the 18th-century Dutch East India Company Rooswijk wreck by micro X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) spectroscopy revealed further knowledge about the silver trade and the silver sources used to produce coins in mints in the Low Countries over a wide timeframe (1618–1739). The results provided trace elemental ‘fingerprints’ of coins minted with silver from known mines, and matching against them revealed the silver sources used in coins, whose mint location could not be identified due to their poor state of preservation. This study proved that, despite the decrease in silver production in European mines in the 17th century and the huge influx of American silver into Europe, in the 18th century, the mints in the Dutch Republic and, to a lesser extent, in the Spanish Netherlands still highly relied on the recycling of older coins and on the import of silver from central European mines.

The River Thames, winding through the English capital of London, is the source of a substantial archaeological assemblage that includes hundreds of human bones, but the lack of a robust chronology for these finds limits interpretation. Here, 30 new radiocarbon dates are reported for the human remains. In combination with other available dates (some of which are also published here for the first time), this improved chronological framework demonstrates a predominance of Bronze and Iron Age dates and emphasises the need to explore the Thames assemblage in the broader context of watery deposition practices of later prehistoric north-west Europe.

The Sun drives Earth’s energy systems, influencing weather, ocean currents, and agricultural productivity. Understanding solar variability is critical, but direct observations are limited to 400 years of sunspot records. To extend this timeline, cosmic ray-produced radionuclides like ¹⁴C in tree-rings provide invaluable insights. However, few records have the resolution or temporal span required to thoroughly investigate important short-term solar phenomena, such as the 11-year solar cycle, or ¹⁴C production spikes most likely linked to solar energetic particle (SEP) events. Here we present a continuous, annually resolved atmospheric ¹⁴C record from tree-rings spanning the first millennium BCE, confirming no new SEP’s and clearly defining the 11-year solar cycle, with a mean period of 10.5 years, and amplitude of approximately 0.4‰ in ¹⁴C concentration. This dataset offers unprecedented detail on solar behavior over long timescales, providing insights for climatic research and solar hazard mitigation, while also offering enhanced radiocarbon calibration and dating accuracy.

This study suggests that there may be considerable difficulties in providing accurate calendar age estimates in the Roman period in Europe, between ca. AD 60 and ca. AD 230, using the radiocarbon calibration datasets that are currently available. Incorporating the potential for systematic offsets between the measured data and the calibration curve using the ΔR approach suggested by Hogg et al. (2019), only marginally mitigates the biases in calendar date estimates observed. At present, it clearly behoves researchers in this period to “ caveat emptor” and validate the accuracy of their calibrated radiocarbon dates and chronological models against other sources of dating information.

The National Trust cares for many places where access to heritage is restricted, for safety or other reasons, limiting the opportunity for monitoring, recording and visitor engagement. The remains of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) testing facility, built between 1954 and 1962 at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast of England, represent such a case. The AWRE structures are a Scheduled Monument and sit within a wider landscape of 20 th century defence heritage. The buildings have attained a mythical status in popular culture and attract substantial visitor interest. However, they are unsafe to enter, and their long-term conservation strategy is to allow their gradual decline to a point where significant evidence is lost, with their ultimate loss to coastal erosion anticipated. Recognising these challenges our work has sought to develop and assess a prototype use of robotic and semi-autonomous survey technology for heritage at risk in challenging environments. Work used a suite of complementary technologies, including Boston Dynamics quadruped robots, caged and conventional drones combining laser scanning and digital photogrammetry. This paper provides an account of practicalities, benefits, and limitations of robotic and semi-autonomous survey for documenting heritage assets.

Over the last decade, the field of radiocarbon analysis has been revolutionized by the discovery of single-year anomalies, because they can be used as markers of space weather events and as time anchors for exact dating. Brehm et al. (2021) recently analyzed two new anomalies, in the years 1052 CE and 1279 CE. These candidates show consecutive year Δ ¹⁴ C increases of 5.9‰ and 6.5‰, respectively. In this study, we measured and analyzed dendrochronologically dated oak wood samples from northern Europe spanning both these years. Our results, although statistically consistent with those presented in the original publication, show effectively no increase in Δ ¹⁴ C (1 and 2.5 times the measurement error, respectively). Nonetheless, we proceed to analyze our datasets with the aid of the open-source Python package ticktack . Our modeled outputs confirm that radiocarbon production barely rose above background levels across these two periods, and no event of clearly resolvable start date or duration could be detected. Additionally, we conduct the same analyses on a new sample spanning the years 531–550 CE. Here, once again, only weak evidence was obtained for any increase in radiocarbon production, and no significant annual rise was evident. The gradual increases exhibited by all three of these samples, and the ubiquity of these patterns across the calibration curve, call into question any likely cosmic event in these cases, and illustrate how challenging it will be to distinguish lower magnitude events in the radiocarbon record.

Over the past millennia, Morocco has undergone a great number of socio-economic changes, its lands having been dominated or occupied in turn or at the same time by Berber, Phoenician, Punic, Mauri, Roman, Arab and Portuguese populations. As elsewhere in the Mediterranean, these socio-economic dynamics have been accompanied by agricultural changes of varying degrees, contributing to the introduction and spread of new plants and practices. From a chronologically and geographically unbalanced corpus of 13 archaeological sites, this paper proposes a general overview of the identified taxa, in order to set out our current knowledge of Moroccan agricultural productions from Antiquity to the early Modern period. A total of 47 cultivated/gathered species are attested by seeds and/or fruits, divided into 8 cereals, 7 pulses, 9 vegetables and condiments, 20 fruit trees, 3 oilseed and textile plants and 1 possibly cultivated grass plant. Greater taxonomic diversity is recorded during the medieval period, which is the most extensively researched. To complete this work, an overview of emerging approaches aimed at better characterizing diversity and agricultural practices (manuring, irrigation) is also proposed.

Radiocarbon (14C) is essential for creating chronologies to study the timings and drivers of pivotal events in human history and the Earth system over the past 55,000 years. It is also a fundamental proxy for investigating solar processes, including the potential of the Sun for extreme activity. Until now, fluctuations in past atmospheric 14C levels have limited the dating precision possible using radiocarbon. However, the discovery of solar super-storms known as extreme solar particle events (ESPEs) has driven a series of advances with the potential to transform the calendar-age precision of radiocarbon dating. Organic materials containing unique 14C ESPE signatures can now be dated to annual precision. In parallel, the search for further storms using high-precision annual 14C measurements has revealed fine-scaled variations that can be used to improve calendar-age precision, even in periods that lack ESPEs. Furthermore, the newly identified 14C fluctuations provide unprecedented insight into solar variability and the carbon cycle. Here, we review the current state of knowledge and share our insights into these rapidly developing, diverse research fields. We identify links between radiocarbon, archaeology, solar physics and Earth science to stimulate transdisciplinary collaboration, and we propose how researchers can take advantage of these recent developments.

During the 2019 field season, a small team working in Volubilis (Morocco) re-exposed a bakery in the Maison à la Citerne, originally excavated in the 1950s, and used archival and documentary evidence to isolate unexcavated floors and other stratigraphy. The goal of the project was to improve our understanding of production in the workshop with an eye toward a process-oriented analysis, using all available evidence, not just the architectural remains. Samples were taken from the undisturbed deposits for archaeobotanical analysis, and the various features of the bakery, such as mixers, shelves, and water features, were given new consideration. Not only do the results of the work allow us to better understand production in the bakery and the house, but we also found evidence to help us link baking—and by extension the baker—to other craft activities in the city.

Hurst Castle, a Henrician artillery fort with two Victorian wing batteries and scheduled monument, sits on the end of a shingle spit at the entrance to the Solent. Changes in long shore drift, increasing sea levels and more frequent storms led to the collapse of a section of the 19 th century east wing battery in February 2021. The vaulted masonry structure of the west wing battery also sustained significant structural damage. English Heritage have since embarked on an ambitious project to attempt to stabilise the castle. A new permanent revetment to protect the most vulnerable area in front of the east wing and geotechnical investigations to allow the severely damaged west wing to be assessed and repaired have already been completed. The health and safety challenges and complex access, either via boat or along the mile long shingle spit, have required the adoption of innovative design solutions and complex monitoring arrangements. Funds permitting, the next phase of works will include permanent structural repairs to the west wing along with further coastal protection work to ensure the longevity of the castle. However, before this can begin, complex questions around the future of the spit and the implications of climate related loss in the long term must be answered.

Pottery vessels played a central role in the processing, storage and transport of animal and plant products by prehistoric and historic peoples with their chemical residues surviving for thousands of years. Accurate radiocarbon dating of archaeological pottery vessels by isolating reliable sources of carbon relating to the use of pots has long been a major challenge, but is now possible using compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of absorbed organic residues preserved in the ceramic fabric of the vessel wall. This method involves the radiocarbon dating of single fatty acids most commonly derived from degraded animal fats. These compounds are extracted from the ceramic matrix and isolated from potentially interfering compounds using preparative capillary gas chromatography. When coupled with lipid biomarker and compound-specific stable carbon isotope analyses, this method enables the palaeodietary and chronological information contained in archaeological lipids preserved in ceramic vessels to be interpreted together. From a practical perspective the methodology is challenging and for successful application must adhere to rigorous protocols. We present here guidelines which include (i) consideration of pottery selection, (ii) technical parameters for the isolation of fatty acids then their ¹⁴ C dating and calibration, and (iii) case studies selected to illustrate the best use of this method.

Objectives Growth and developmental studies have been a prominent theme in bioarchaeology. These works traditionally focus on metric measurements of long bone length and age‐at‐death or cross‐sectional geometric studies with the use of computed tomography scans for questions on growth and mobility. However, teasing apart aspects of size and shape have been difficult due to the cylindrical nature of immature long bones. This research investigates the methodological use of surface geometries from linear measurements and geometric morphometric methods (GMM) to answer questions on mobility and allometry during childhood. Materials and Methods Left femora were selected from 42 individuals ranging from fetal to 12 years of age from medieval St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury, UK. Femora were digitized with structured‐light‐scanning for auto3dgm analysis and measurements were obtained from physical caliper measurements. Individuals were put into age groups based on biomechanical milestones during this age range. Results Ratio and GMM confirm hypotheses of allometry and biomechanical milestones. Geometric morphometrics, however, detects more subtle differences in mobility at each age group. Discussion The findings of this preliminary study support the potential use of GMM of immature femora, while indicating that the extent in range of mobility that can occur varies at different biological milestones.

This paper proposes that three elements are required in order to develop a fit-for purpose management regime to protect underwater cultural heritage (UCH) from negative impacts caused by some fishing gear: evidence-based characterisation of impacts; understanding of the pressures and constraints acting upon fishing communities; and commitment to engagement with fishers and industry associations. In addition, strategies for protection of UCH from fishing and other hazards cannot be developed in isolation from existing marine management regimes. This challenge of integration and alignment with broader stewardship of complex marine systems is set to grow more difficult as industrial activity grows, competition for resources intensifies, and governments and agencies seek to exert new levels of control over larger areas of ocean.

Stratigraphic data form the backbone of archaeological records from excavated sites and are essential for the integrated analysis and wider interpretation of artefacts and sites. Accessible archiving of this data is therefore vital for understanding and revisiting such interpretations. Here, the authors highlight the need for more consistent digital records of stratigraphic and associated temporal relationships derived during post-excavation analysis phasing activities. They argue for the distillation of best practice in post-excavation procedures and the application of consistent and persistent terminology to make this fundamental archaeological data sustainably FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) and ‘Open’ across present-day geopolitical and spatiotemporal boundaries.