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Left: people excavating in a small trench with palm trees in the background. Right: microscopic image of plant remains

Excavations at Alcatrazes, the seat of Cape Verde’s short-lived second captaincy, have exposed a Portuguese colonial settlement, demonstrating continued occupation after the relocation of its official offices. The results include insights into early Luso-African practices and the presence of West African and local-made pottery, with environmental samples ‘clocking’ colonial introductions.

Excavating Alcatrazes, Santiago Island, Cape Verde: early colonial impacts on land, people and material culture

Christopher Evans et al.
Vol 99 Issue 408  |  Read for free
Black-and-white photo of a mountainous area with the remains of aerial ropeways running up the mountain, strung between pylons

In the highlands of northern Chile, research on industrial mining camps and agropastoral sites (estancias) shows the relevance of a contemporary archaeology perspective for studying the impacts of capitalist expansion, ruination and deindustrialisation for local Indigenous communities.

Ruination and deindustrialisation in the highlands of northern Chile

Francisco Rivera et al.
Vol 99 Issue 408  |  Read for free
Left: a four-wheeled device with a handle for pushing it stands in a desert. Right: four stone pillars protrude in a line from the sand.

Ancient stone monuments may have marked the locations of key ritual activities for pastoralist communities. This project is the first to employ multi-method geophysical survey to identify additional features of construction and use at the Chalcolithic-period Rajajil Columns site in northern Saudi Arabia.

The Rajajil Columns: employing multi-method geophysical survey to investigate monument construction and use

Bryan Hanks & Mesfer Hamad Alqahtani
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Aerial view of a green oasis settlement surrounded by a wall. All around the wall is arid desert.

Recent investigations in north-west Arabia have revealed that many major oases in the region were enclosed by a network of monumental walls. Confirmation of four newly identified walled oases demonstrates that this Walled Oases Complex had a substantial impact on long-term socioeconomic development in the region.

The Walled Oases Complex in north-west Arabia: evidence for a long-term settlement model in the desert

Guillaume Charloux & Majed Alonazi
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Several pieces of black-brown stone

Multidisciplinary methods permit the first archaeometallurgical study of artefacts from five key first-millennium BC settlements in Poland: Grzybiany, Wicina, Kamieniec, Tarławki and Mołtajny. This project fills a lacuna in our understanding of technical ceramics, metal provenance and the role of settlements in the cultural landscape.

Metallurgy in first-millennium BC Poland: insights from metal production, trade networks and landscape archaeology

Kamil Nowak et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Left: illustrated excavation plan of a loosely oval-shaped hill. Red polygons mark areas excavated. Right: lidar scan of the same hill

Fortified Island (FORTIS) examines Iron Age fortifications on the island of Bornholm to assess their characters, locations and chronologies. Through a multimethod approach, the project deepens our understanding of fortifications in relation to their physical and cultural landscapes, both on Bornholm and in the Baltic Sea Region more generally.

Fortified Island (FORTIS): fortifications and communities on Iron Age Bornholm

Sofie Laurine Albris et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Wall of an excavated trench containing stones marking out the rectangular shape of a grave

In 2022, a project was initiated to investigate the cemetery at Nowy Chorów, northern Poland, with Orzeszkowo-type (rectangular) burial mounds. During the excavations, both inhumation and cremation graves were uncovered, along with elements of elite grave goods and evidence of the reopening of the graves.

Nowy Chorów Project: funerary practices associated with rectangular burial mounds in early medieval Pomerania

Sławomir Wadyl et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Orthophoto showing an area of farmland with a circular hill surrounded by trees. Coloured polygons outline areas of archaeological survey

The early medieval stronghold of Grzybowo, Wielkopolska, was a large complex, comprising two strongholds and an extensive outer settlement, with numerous elite movable monuments. Excavations suggest that this was an important site for the ruling dynasty, with analogies for this form of central stronghold found in Ruthenia and Bohemia.

The early medieval stronghold at Grzybowo from the tenth to eleventh centuries

Marcin Danielewski
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Left: illustration of a gem inset in a fitting from several angles. Right: the gem, made up of a purple amethyst set in a gold fitting

Medieval elite culture is often difficult to grasp among archaeological records from settlement sites. A silver-gilt amethyst setting, probably part of a brooch, from the moat of Castle Kolno in Poland represents an unusual high-status find from a context related to everyday activity.

A jewel worthy of a duke from the moat of Castle Kolno

Lech Marek & Beata Miazga
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Square-shaped trench containing remains of lids, knobs, a muller (the upper grinding stone), cobblestones and broken and near-complete ceramic vessels

This study explores early domestic life at the historic Yoruba site of Orile-Owu. Excavations and ethnography reveal insights into diet and food processing, medicinal practices and the daily routines of occupants during the mid-fifteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries AD.

Domestic life at Orile-Owu, Nigeria (c. AD 1456–1661): an initial insight

Kingsley Chinedu Daraojimba et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Several partially buried gold coins on the seafloor

Since 2015, four non-invasive campaigns have surveyed the San José Galleon shipwreck in the Colombian Caribbean, providing valuable insights into the age and provenance of artefacts found on the seabed. Numismatic, archaeological and historical approaches have been employed to analyse a collection of gold coins recorded within this underwater context.

The cobs in the archaeological context of the San José Galleon shipwreck

Daniela Vargas Ariza et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Archaeologists excavating in rows of rectangular pits (graves)

‘Lamsdorf/Łambinowice: an archaeology of memory’ is an interdisciplinary project that uses archaeological research methods and tools to locate unknown and unmarked graves of prisoners of war (PoW) and civilians related to the functioning of the German camp Stalag VIII B (344) Lamsdorf in the years 1939–1945.

Lamsdorf/Łambinowice: an archaeology of memory

Dawid Kobiałka et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
Left: lidar image depicting a triangle-shaped camp. Right: aerial photo of the same camp

This study uses archival photos and data from lidar, geophysical surveys and excavations to help uncover the physical realities of two Second World War Nazi sub-camps, Czyżówek (AL Halbau) and Karczmarka (AL Kittlitztreben), in the Gross-Rosen network, now in south-west Poland.

Landscapes of enslavement: investigations of Nazi concentration camps in Czyżówek and Karczmarka, Poland

Paweł Konczewski et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
3D model of the interior of a cave. An individual in a hard hat stands in the cave at the bottom of a staircase leading further inside

Accessibility at the Sterkfontein Caves UNESCO World Heritage Site limits public and scientific engagement. The authors digitally visualised part of the cave using laser scans and photogrammetry, geospatially integrating the digital cave and fossil datasets. This enables broader access for learners, educators and scientists and enhances scientific outreach potential.

Towards a virtual environment for the Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa: developing a georeferenced and optimised digital dataset

Michele Smith et al.
Vol 99 Issue 407  |  Read for free
A lithic tool viewed from three angles

Eight Acheulean sites are located in an under-researched ecological setting within the hilly terrain of the Upper Son Valley, India. A total of 1348 Acheulean artefacts have been identified across these sites, primarily preserved in high-energy depositional contexts, providing insights into the Pleistocene environment of hominin occupation and available lithic technology.

Acheulean habitation in the Upper Son Valley, India: insights into early occupation and environment

Hemant Kumar Vaishnav, B. Janardhana & Deepak Kumar Jha
Vol 99 Issue 406  |  Read for free
A lithic tool viewed from four angles

The Sidi Zin Archaeological Project aims to bridge understanding of the Acheulean–Middle Stone Age transition in northern Tunisia, a relatively understudied region in the context of hominin evolution. The Sidi Zin locality will provide chronological, palaeoenvironmental, geomorphological and cultural insights into Acheulean and Middle Stone Age occupations in Tunisia.

Sidi Zin Archaeological Project: new investigations into the Acheulean and Middle Stone Age in Tunisia

Eslem Ben Arous et al.
Vol 99 Issue 406  |  Read for free
Greenstone pendant in the shape of a frog

Searching for the Neolithic along the Vardar-Morava River corridor revealed several new sites in a previously underexplored region. Multidisciplinary investigations at Svinjarička Čuka identified Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation. Highlights presented here demonstrate the potential of this new key site for enriching our understanding of the prehistory of the Balkans.

Fresh light on Balkan prehistory: highlights from Svinjarička Čuka (Serbia)

Barbara Horejs et al.
Vol 99 Issue 406  |  Read for free
Close-up images of the tips of three lithic tools

Two new sites, identified during a survey of the Tajuña River Valley, central Iberia, show evidence of both flint extraction and working, specifically for the production of long blades. These are an important addition to the limited number of such sites known in Eurasia.

New quarries and workshops for long flint blade production in central Iberia (Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain)

Ignacio Triguero et al.
Vol 99 Issue 406  |  Read for free