Current Archaeology

Until next year, then… over and out! #CALive26

And thanks to all today’s marvellous speakers, to our volunteers, to everyone who came along on the day and everyone who participated online – we couldn’t do it without any of you. #CALive26

...and to Kirker Holidays, AS Geospatial Surveys Ltd, Wessex Insurance Brokers Ltd & Hare and Tabor in the ArchaeoFair! #CALive26

Thanks to all at the Archaeofair: @uclarchaeology.bsky.social, Kent Archaeological Field School, Udig Excavations Ltd, @royalarchinst.bsky.social @archaeopress.bsky.social, Andante Travels, Hidden History Travel, @culturalexperience.bsky.social... #CALive26

Thank you, too, to @Tash_Archaeo for presenting this year’s CA Awards, and to Adam Stanford for judging and presenting the @WorldArchaeo photo competition #CALive26

Thanks, too, to the sponsor of the @world-archaeology.bsky.social photo comp @Hidden History Travel. #CALive26

Big thanks once more to our hosts, @ioe.bsky, and our conference partner @uclarchaeology.bsky.social; the CA Awards sponsors, Andante Travels, Wessex Insurance Brokers Ltd, Udig Excavations Ltd & @royalarchinst.bsky.social #CALive26

…and that’s a wrap! CALive26 is officially over, and it’s been a blast. #CALive26

The winner of the 2026 CA Award for Archaeologist of the Year (sponsored by Andante Travels) is… Dr Jane Kershaw (@ox.ac.uk) #CALive26

The winner of the 2026 CA Award for Research Project of the Year (sponsored by Wessex Insurance Brokers Ltd) is… ‘Fit for an emperor? Excavating a monumental building from Roman Carlisle’ (Uncovering Roman Carlisle/Carlisle Cricket Club/SLR/Cumberland Council) #CALive26

The winner of the 2026 CA Award for Rescue Project of the Year (sponsored by Udig Excavations Ltd) is… ‘The Melsonby Hoard: exploring unprecedented insights into Iron Age Yorkshire’ (@durham.ac.uk /British Museum/Historic England) #CALive26

The winner of the 2026 CA Award for Book of the Year (sponsored by the @royalarchinst.bsky.social) is… ‘An Irish Civil War Dugout – Tormore Cave, County Sligo: archaeology, history, memory’, by Marion Dowd, Robert Mulraney, and James Bonsall #CALive26

First, the @world-archaeology.bsky.social Photo competition (sponsored by @Hidden History Travel and judged and presented by Adam Stanford): the winner is Tahir Ceylan, with his photo of Savatra Ancient City #CALive26

It’s time to announce the results of the 2026 CA Awards, which this year are sponsored by Andante Travels, Wessex Insurance Brokers Ltd, Udig Excavations Ltd & @royalarchinst.bsky.social, and presented by Natasha Billson #CALive26

Similarly, the international and collaborative nature of research into the Roman frontiers continues to flourish, David tells us #CALive26

Similarly, the international and collaborative nature of research into the Roman frontiers continues to flourish, David tells us #CALive26

We're looking at how the Frontiers of the Roman Empire has expanded across Europe since 1987 #CALive26

...if so, was the Vallum intended to create a temporary barrier, to seal off that area while the construction was taking place? David wonders #CALive26

What was the Vallum for, David asks. It's one thing to build a wall and dig a ditch, build milecastles and towers - but then you need to add 16 forts on the wall line - it slows everything down, and in the centre it's difficult to get materials up onto the wall line.... #CALive26

Inscriptions tell us that Hadrian's Wall was built by legionaries, while the Vallum was created by auxiliaries, David tells us #CALive26

We're now discussing 'the problem of the Vallum' - the great earthwork with its central ditch running behind the Wall. It appears to have been laid out from the forts and was only crossed at forts, David says. #CALive26

What inspired the look of Hadrian's Wall? There were relatively few city walls in Western Europe, David says - but there was one in Athens, a city that Hadrian knew well (and left monuments behind). #CALive26

David is discussing the materials and make-up of Hadrian's Wall, and the Vallum - which is also described by Bede! Talking about a 'passive' obstacle with no forts on it evolving into an active, offensive fortification #CALive26

What happened when the Wall was attacked? David suggests the most likely thing would be to open the gates and engage the enemy in the field #CALive26

You should also get out of your mind that the Romans were tidy, David says. The Carlisle Millennium excavations produced so much Roman rubbish! #CALive26

Comparing Hadrian's Wall to the German frontier - which is a palisade. You couldn't patrol along the top of that, David says - so why do so many assume there was a walk along the top of Hadrian's Wall? #CALive26

We are hearing about lasting impressions of Hadrian's Wall and its function, based on artistic depictions. Currently examining an image by Alan Sorrell #CALive26

Discussions of the function of Hadrian's Wall and how the fortifications operated, how people communicated, are also still ongoing until the present day #CALive26

The writing of 'Hadrian's Wall' came at the end of a decade where Romanists had been rethinking the dating of the Wall. Dividing its history into the Wall 'Periods' had evolved across the 20th century #CALive26

David is telling us about his early writing partnership with Brian Dobson, which culminated in 'Hadrian's Wall', which immediately became the standard textbook on the monument #CALive26