celts

Boudicca is one of ancient Britain's biggest names: she's even got her own statue overlooking Parliament. But for all today's archaeological breakthroughs, we still don't know where she's buried right now. In fact, we don't even know where she and the Romans played out a bloody denouement to the rebellion at the Battle of Watling Street. Even Tacitus and Cassius Dio, the Roman historians who chronicled the event, can't agree whether she committed suicide or fell victim to illness.

The first Ancient World In London Bloggers Challenge, in which we wanted to know what invader has had the most impact on London, has come to a close and we've had some fascinating suggestions. There were strong arguments for the Roman traders and the Scandinavians, as well as more surprising blogs claiming pestilence and pigeons' claim to the title of most influential invader. We even had some funny original artwork in support of the latter - presumably to make up for a lack of hard evidence.

The winning entry was so well proposed that one can hardly argue that Rattus Rattus is indeed the most impactful invader the city of London has ever seen.

History enthusiasts, this is your moment to shine! Heritage Key is offering both corporal and virtual prizes for the best entries in this Ancient World in London blog contest.

London has a long and remarkable history of invaders – foreign and native, ficticious and real. Medieval historians thought that its first invader was King Brutus, a Roman descendent of the Biblical Noah who came and settled the island with his following of emancipated Trojan slaves. The city’s more credible, but none the less colourful, invaders range from Roman soldiers to Essex farmers.

Of course, not all invaders are created equal; hence this contest. We want to know: 

Which invaders have had the biggest impact on London?

As an experimental archaeologist and independent researcher, I've spent the last 30 years investigating the eating habits of ancient civilisations - including their ancient Christmas dinners. Here are some tips and recipes for the perfect xmas dinner that I've collected along the way.

I use a technique that I've developed over the years to explore the practical aspects of the daily lives of prehistoric Europeans. The approach is based on the theory that the inherent skills and ingenuity of prehistoric European is still latent in the people of Europe today. But the skills of surviving in the northern European landscape have been forgotten because we no longer have a use for them in our modern-day society.

During my researches I have discovered that these skills are very easily acquired – particularly if one is not impeded by any training in the skill to be researched. It has to be approached purely by logic. It is essential, though, not to single out any particular skill, but to attempt to do all the required jobs that a prehistoric settlement would have to do to survive.

Not a week after we flagged up the archaeological site of Birne as the place to visit during Scottish Archaeology Month, it’s been announced that the remains of another Iron Age roundhouse have been discovered there. Archaeologists have speculated that the erstwhile multi-storey structure – these days reduced to just a hard floor and rotting timber beams – may once been the very centre of what was a Celtic power base in the north east of Scotland some 2,000 years ago.