In colonial settings, missionary construction projects often dramatically transformed local architectural styles and settlement patterns. The relatively young age of these activities means that colonial chronologies are often based on documentary evidence or artefact typologies rather than chronometric determinations. Here, the author explores the use of uranium-thorium dating for coral blocks from a series of missionary-style buildings with unknown construction dates in the Mangareva Islands, French Polynesia. Although some samples reveal years/decades of inbuilt age that may reflect methods of material acquisition, the dates provide new information on the construction activities of a population of Polynesian Catholic converts.

A community-based initiative in Ghana has mapped and partially excavated an earthwork site in the Oti region. Radiocarbon dating shows that the site was occupied between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries AD, while archaeo- and ethnobotanical research connects historical plant use with modern practices, contributing to our understanding of West African earthworks.

This article investigates the 2022 Yahidne war crime, during which Russian forces confined approximately 368 civilians, including 69 children, to the basement of the local school. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology, the authors explore satellite images of unfolding events and the enduring material traces of the occupation—drawings, abandoned toys, military rations, propaganda newspapers, spent military equipment and damaged infrastructure. They consider how these traces contribute to processes of collective memory and to the transformation of the site’s significance through public memorialisation, reflecting on the role of contemporary archaeology in documenting and interpreting material legacies of recent conflict.

Interpretation of social identity for individuals buried in peripheral locations in Warring States Qin mausoleums (after c. 325 BC) is largely based on considerations of associated artefacts and distance from the central tomb; bioarchaeological evidence is limited. This article interrogates osteological indicators of lifelong health and activity patterns in individuals buried between the boundary ditches of the Shangzhaoyao Qin mausoleum, near Xi’an, China, providing a bioarchaeological reconstruction of their social identities. Female bias, poor health and participation in high-intensity daily activities together suggest identities associated with menial, miscellaneous labour and reflect the rigid hierarchical system of the Qin state.

Two exceptional metalwork deposits, discovered at Melsonby, North Yorkshire, together constitute one of the largest Iron Age hoards recovered in Britain. Dominated by ornate horse harness and vehicle parts, these first-century AD assemblages provide possibly the first evidence for four-wheeled wagons from Iron Age Britain. Associated geographically and temporally with another hoard found in 1843 and with the Late Iron Age ‘royal site’ at Stanwick, these deposits have the potential to broaden our understanding not only of the varied forms of wheeled transport but also of expressions of wealth, status and elite mortuary practices in Iron Age Britain.

The deep history of weaving is attested by spindle whorls and loom weights, so the evolution of techniques may be tracked through changes in these durable artefacts; however, wooden looms rarely preserve. Here, the authors document a series of loom weights and associated charred timbers and fibres that represent the remains of a Bronze Age warp-weighted loom, uncovered at the settlement of Cabezo Redondo in south-eastern Spain. Based on the number, weight and size of the weights, hypothetical reconstructions of loom setup and resultant textile products are proposed, revealing possible diversification of weaving processes in the mid-second millennium BC.

Rescue excavations at Mersin (Semnan, Iran) reveal a tightly patterned Achaemenid-period cemetery. Thirty-four graves, excavated between 2014 and 2024, combine local mortuary traditions with imperial-era objects, demonstrating how provincial communities selectively adopted imperial markers to negotiate identity and refining narratives for the empire’s north-eastern interior.

The 2022–2023 Pleistocene and Early Holocene Archaeological Surface Survey in Mardin Province, south-eastern Türkiye, identified prehistoric settlements, including Şika Rika 5, that provide new insights into the early stages of settlement in the Northern Khabur Region.

A geophysical survey at Cahal Pech, Belize, identified one of the earliest securely dated lithic caches from the Maya lowlands. Linked to Middle Preclassic (800–400 cal BC) monumental architecture and communal ceremonial events, this find demonstrates the effectiveness of gradiometry for detecting ritual deposits.

Spanning 760km2 and identifying 603 sites covering thousands of years of (pre)history, the Mariwan Archaeological Survey provides a comprehensive examination of settlement history in north-western Iran. By employing advanced survey methods and targeting previously unexplored regions, evidence and understanding of Mariwan’s cultural dynamics and historical interactions is substantially enhanced.

The deep evolutionary relationship between humans and intestinal parasites offers opportunities for the reconstruction of diet and living conditions in archaeological populations. Here, the authors identify eggs preserved in sediment adhering to the surface of the sacrum in Muslim burials from the Southern Necropolis at Deraheib (upper reaches of Wadi al-Allaqi, Sudan, ninth–eleventh centuries AD). Species-level identification is suggested based on egg morphology and religious taboos, revealing a high prevalence of infection by Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, and contributing to our understanding of diet, subsistence, climate and health in the medieval Nubian Desert.

This article examines a monumental structure in the North Pontic Steppe that was repurposed as a burial mound in the late fourth millennium BCE. The authors argue that this repurposing reflects a pattern of Yamna appropriation of ritual spaces, conceptualised as a ‘continuity of sacred spaces’.

Assessing the physical integrity of archaeological sites is vital for heritage conservation management. Using the example of Arslantepe, a prehistoric tell site in south-eastern Türkiye, this article demonstrates the application of RUSLE modelling to estimate surface erosion vulnerability, employing ultra-high-resolution photogrammetry and a field-based geoarchaeological framework. The results reveal contained erosion across the site with localised degradation limited to steep trench walls and spoil heaps, indicating remarkably good site conservation and consolidating the effectiveness of RUSLE modelling as a scalable method for evaluating surface processes and informing conservation strategies on individual archaeological sites.

Excavations at Kalat-e Yavar offer new insights into prehistoric connectivity between the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia. Stratified deposits yielded ceramics and burials from the third/second millennia BCE, alongside architectural remains, pits, faunal/botanical assemblages and a kiln, marking the Bojnord Plain as a cultural contact zone.

The WEAR project is developing integrative methods to analyse and predict use-related shape transformation of Neolithic stone tools from Central Europe through experimental archaeology and computational modelling.

Newly discovered open-air sites along the Dorps River in the arid Karoo (South Africa), a region with uneven archaeological coverage, demonstrate multiple visits to this favoured habitat in the late Holocene Later Stone Age (c. 3000–2000 BP).

The Polychrome Expansion marks the widespread dispersal of an emblematic ceramic style across much of Amazonia during a period of broad social transformation. Yet the timing and constituent routes for this dispersal are poorly understood, in part due to a lack of dating at many sites. Here, the authors apply computational methods to model the expansion via existing radiocarbon dates, critically examining issues of timing, travel and trade/conflict. The results, they argue, call for a reinterpretation of the Polychrome Expansion as a long-lasting and gradual process that advanced from secondary rivers and spread along main channels, eventually impacting colonial history.

This study investigates Escuadrón 41, a former colonial battery turned detention and torture centre, to examine the material and mnemonic afterlives of state violence in Cuba. Through excavation, archival research and oral histories, it reveals how ruins, memory and erasure intersect, positioning archaeology as critical engagement with difficult pasts.

Despite contemporary relevance in understanding how cities historically overcame demographic, social and economic constraints imposed by the lack of clean, fresh water, the value of estimating aqueduct delivery rates and their potential relationship with population size in the Roman Empire remains uncertain. Here, the authors use settlement scaling theory to examine recent statistics for city size and aqueduct capacity, revealing a systematic but sublinear relationship between these variables, whereby water supply increased at a slower rate than population size. Far from merely ostentatious displays of power, aqueducts were carefully planned to ensure an adequate supply of clean and fresh water.