Somló Hill (Veszprém County, Hungary) is a prominent Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age hilltop settlement. Six new hoards present the unparalleled opportunity to study hoarding traditions and depositional practices, and to evaluate the changing roles and functions of the hilltop site.

Emerging from a shift in the relationship between archaeology and museums, the ‘Making the Museum’ project investigates the makers of the archaeological and ethnographic collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, positioning archaeological theory and method as essential tools for uncovering the ‘hidden histories’ of these makers.

Historic sites of lawful execution are now largely consigned to archival records, including hand-drawn maps. Using these records to identify potential locations, this project deploys non-invasive geophysical surveys and targeted excavation to uncover execution sites and historic gallows in Silesia.

A total of 2848 denarii from the Nietulisko Małe Hoard, one of the largest hoards of Roman coins found in Poland, were digitised and documented using reflectance transformation imaging, highlighting the potential for this technology in numismatic research.

Since 1994, the French Archaeological Mission at the Eastern Desert has excavated more than 20 sites in Egypt, focusing on Roman forts and Ptolemaic mining sites. Rich in natural resources, the region was heavily exploited in the Hellenistic Period (332–30 BC). Recent excavations at Ghozza reveal the harsh reality of mining.

Analysis of the particulate and chemical composition of a red pigment discovered in grave 155 (burial 2) at Chervony Mayak in the Kherson Region of Ukraine identified the substance as cinnabar. This is the first definitive identification of this mineral in a Late Scythian context.

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.

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.

Representations of the human body are ubiquitous in cultures across the world. Beyond the aesthetic, figurines transmit deeper meanings that were readily decodable by their intended audience and may still offer sociocultural insights despite the loss of this coding through time. The discovery of a rare tableau of ‘Bolinas’-type clay figurines dating to 410–380 BC at San Isidro, El Salvador, now permits the theoretical reconstruction of a less stratified Preclassic society in south-east Mesoamerica and the exploration of its spheres of interaction, which may have stretched along the coast from Guatemala to Costa Rica.

A newly discovered Neolithic site at Al-Khashbah KHS-A (Oman) reveals local adaptations to climate change in the Holocene. Results from radiocarbon dating show repeated occupations over 1000 years and key artefacts indicate coastal connections. KHS-A served as a short-term camp, enhancing our understanding of Neolithic lifeways in Arabia.

Extraordinary finds from the Store Frigård cremation cemetery on the Danish island of Bornholm suggest that the society that used the site played a key role in supra-regional contacts and in the distribution of goods and people across the Baltic Sea between the Continent and Southern Scandinavia during the Iron Age.

Despite being almost 4000m above sea level, cereal crops have been grown in the Ngari Prefecture on the Tibetan Plateau for thousands of years. Where and when domestic crop species adapted to high-altitude growing conditions is a matter of ongoing debate. Here, the authors present a new radiocarbon date from the Gepa serul cemetery, providing the earliest evidence of naked six-rowed barley in Tibet (c. 3500 BP). Evaluating the available evidence for barley cultivation and interregional connections in central Asia at this time, two hypotheses are considered—a generational advance with farmers migrating up river valleys or rapid, long-distance trade through mountain corridors.

The North Caesarea 1 shipwreck, briefly explored in the 1980s, is one of the few hulls of the Hellenistic and early Imperial periods excavated in the Eastern Mediterranean. This investigation relies on the meticulous re-examination of primary excavation data to help answer some questions regarding this hull that probably belonged to a large vessel.

Indigenous Australian art relies on motifs and figures to visually symbolise a traditional story, myth and/or ritual, encompassing a narrated performance. In contrast, digital tracings or ‘finger flutings’ impressed into the soft precipitate covering cave surfaces are not typically considered visually symbolic expressions. Using Koonalda Cave in southern Australia as a case study, the authors argue that digital tracings also operate within a performative space, but without their narrator these undulating lines are rendered silent. Here, emphasis is placed on ritual maintenance or the spiritual propagation of a prized food or trade item that would then ‘rise up’.

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.

A re-examination of animal tooth pendants from Mesolithic (c. 9000–5000 BC in Lithuania) graves at Donkalnis (western Lithuania) revealed one engraved specimen. Among the hundreds of pendants reported for this period in the eastern Baltic, engravings are rare. The discovery offers new insights into the human-animal relationships reflected in northern forager burial traditions.