Geoarchaeological survey and palaeoenvironmental analyses were conducted in the floodplain of the river Ure to the north of the Roman town of Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough, North Yorkshire) as part of a complementary campaign of geophysical survey and excavations (2018-2024). This involved an intensive coring survey to understand the development of the valley and the environmental context of the settlement. A large palaeochannel was discovered south of the present day canalized river which was sampled for palynological, physical and geochemical analyses, with portable OSL determinations, and radiocarbon and OSL dating. The sedimentological analysis revealed riverine activity from the Late Mesolithic period (ca. 4600-4300 BC) through Roman and Medieval times. A 6 metre deep, multi-process fluvial system was present with evidence of active and low/slow flow phases in earlier prehistoric times, followed by prolonged periods of overbank alluviation from the Iron Age onwards, and particularly coincident with the Roman occupation of Isurium. By the Roman period, there was a shallow channel in a wide floodplain, slowly filling with alluvium, necessitating the construction of a lengthy road-bridge structure, before shifting northwards. This was set against progressive woodland diminution and extensive human impact during the late prehistoric, Roman and early historic periods.

This paper presents the results of recent geophysical survey work in the vicinity of the Roman town of Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough, North Yorkshire). It combines results from research projects with information from developer-funded work to assess the nature of settlement in the area at the time of the foundation of the Roman town and through the period of its use. The work confirms that there was no major pre-Roman Iron Age centre in the area at the time of Roman annexation. It does, however, provide new evidence to show that the landscape was heavily exploited and occupied by rural settlements. The evidence revealed suggests that Iron Age society in this area may have been heterarchical.

This review article discusses five volumes that provide the final report on the excavations in Insula ix at Silchester (the ‘Town Life Project’), which began in 1997 and were completed in 2014: M Fulford, A Clarke and H Eckardt 2006. Life and Labour in Late Roman Silchester: excavations in Insula ix since 1997 (Britannia Monogr no. 22), Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London [henceforth Vol 1] M Fulford and A Clarke 2011. Silchester: city in transition. The mid-Roman occupation of Insula ix c AD 125–250/300. A report on excavations undertaken since 1997 (Britannia Monogr no. 25), Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London [henceforth Vol 2] M Fulford, A Clarke, E Durham and N Pankhurst 2018. Late Iron Age Calleva: the pre-conquest occupation at Silchester Insula ix (Britannia Monogr no. 32), Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London [henceforth Vol 3] M Fulford, A Clarke, E Durham and N Pankhurst 2020. Silchester Insula ix . The Claudio-Neronian occupation of the Iron Age oppidum: the early Roman occupation at Silchester Insula ix (Britannia Monogr no. 33), Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies London [henceforth Vol 4] M Fulford, A Clarke and N Pankhurst 2024. Silchester Insula ix : oppidum to Roman city c 85–125/150 (Britannia Monogr no. 37), Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London [henceforth Vol 5]

Our understanding of Romano-British iron metallurgy is mainly based on smelting remains and the analysis of bladed tools and weapons. Complementing previous research, this study examines iron nails from the Roman town of Aldborough, Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum), where a blacksmith’s workshop featuring extensive remains of coal, a fuel not commonly documented in Roman metallurgy, was excavated. The research investigates the manufacturing technology of the nails, contextualized within broader Roman ironworking, along with potential sources of metal and possible alterations attributable to the use of coal as smithing fuel. The manufacturing technology is explored via metallography while scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) is employed for elemental analysis of the slag inclusions.The study reveals that the nails from Aldborough are examples of typical Roman nail production with no advanced techniques such as quenching or piling being used. Carbon content shows no discernible pattern across the dataset, varying from zero to 0.8% C in spots, suggesting a lack of deliberate metal selection. Attempts to determine the origin of the metal through multivariate statistical methods (HCA, PCA, and LDA) applied to slag inclusion compositions suggest a very diverse origin of the metal spanning various regions of Roman Britain. While there is no conclusive evidence indicating the utilization of coal in the smithing process, we suggest the elevated sulfur content in slag inclusions may provide an indirect indicator, which should be further investigated in future work.

The Roman period saw the empire expand across Europe and the Mediterranean, including much of what is today Great Britain. While there is written evidence of high mobility into and out of Britain for administrators, traders, and the military, the impact of imperialism on local, rural population structure, kinship, and mobility is invisible in the textual record. The extent of genetic change that occurred in Britain during the Roman military occupation remains underexplored. Here, using genome-wide data from 52 ancient individuals from eight sites in Cambridgeshire covering the period of Roman occupation, we show low levels of genetic ancestry differentiation between Romano-British sites and indications of larger populations than in the Bronze Age and Neolithic. We find no evidence of long-distance migration from elsewhere in the Empire, though we do find one case of possible temporary mobility within a family unit during the Late Romano-British period. We also show that the present-day patterns of genetic ancestry composition in Britain emerged after the Roman period.

The Roman period saw the empire expand across Europe and the Mediterranean, including much of what is today the United Kingdom. While there is written evidence of high mobility into and out of Britain for administrators, traders and the military, the impact of imperialism on local population structure is invisible in the textual record. The extent of genetic change that occurred in Britain before the Early Medieval Period and how closely linked by genetic kinship the local populations were, remains underexplored. Here, using genome-wide data from 52 ancient individuals from Cambridgeshire, we show low levels of genetic ancestry differentiation between Romano-British sites and lower levels of runs of homozygosity over 4 centimorgans (cM than in the Bronze Age and Neolithic. We find fourteen cases of genetic relatedness within and one between sites without evidence of patrilineal dominance and one case of temporary mobility within a family unit during the Late Romano-British period. We also show that the modern patterns of genetic ancestry composition in Modern Britain emerged after the Roman period.

Tim Schadla-Hall was Reader in Public Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology until his death in January 2023 (Figure 1). Over 250 of his friends and colleagues attended a memorial at UCL on 28 April 2023. Six colleagues from the different spheres of Tim's life share their words from that day.

The Falerii Novi Project represents a newly formed archaeological initiative to explore the Roman city of Falerii Novi. The project forms a collaboration of the British School at Rome with a multinational team of partner institutions. Thanks to a rich legacy of geophysical work on both the site and its territory, Falerii Novi presents an exceptional opportunity to advance understanding of urbanism in ancient and medieval Italy. The Falerii Novi Project employs a range of methodologies, integrating continued site-scale survey with new campaigns of stratigraphic excavation, archival research and environmental archaeology. The project aims to present a more expansive and holistic urban history of this key Tiber Valley settlement by focusing on long-run socio-economic processes both within Falerii Novi and as they linked the city to its wider landscape.

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This paper presents a comprehensive catalogue and review of the Roman glass from the Roma town of Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough, North Yorkshire). It includes the material found in work on the site in the 19th century as well as that from a variety of excavations down to the 1960s. This material now forms part of the English Heritage collection. The study provides new information about the supply of glass to the site. First century material is scarce, and the bulk of the vessels date to the 2nd-3rd centuries, with limited 4th century finds. Window glass, glass tesserae, beads and bangles are also present.

The contrasts between the British landscape-based approach to topography and the text-based approach of Italian scholars is already apparent in the collaboration between Sir William Gell and Antonio Nibby in their work on the environs of Rome in the early 19th century. Gell's approach involved physically walking the landscape and making numerous measurements to map the location of antiquities. His collaboration with Nibby was intended to supply a closer knowledge of the ancient sources. What emerges from their notebooks is that Nibby rapidly learnt from Gell how to make the measurements for mapping and how to sketch landscapes. Yet when it came to publication, Nibby's focus was textual, and he made little use of the visual aspects of the landscape. Gell's concern for landscape links closely to the tradition of Ordnance Survey mapping that was a feature of contemporary British imperial practice; Italy's different historical experience may underlie a continued emphasis on the textual.

The two volumes reviewed here are the first of the three promised from NAA reporting on the archaeological work undertaken during the improvement of the A1 road from Leeming to Barton. Death, Buria...