Welcome to the first issue of 2026—and my first issue as General Editor of this journal, which has been so ably piloted by Dr Cate Frieman as Deputy Editor and then General Editor since 2015. Given the events in the Society immediately prior to, during, and after the 2025 conference, this has been an undoubtedly tumultuous time in which to take over these reins (for minutes of the Annual Members Business Meeting: EAA AMBM, 2025). In my first editorial, then, I would like to take reiterate that EJA holds itself to high ethical standards, both in our commitments to the archaeological community and to the wider world within which we all live. In 2021 the journal was proud to publish the manifesto of the European Society of Black and Allied Archaeologists, in which the authors set out their call to action for sector-wide structural and systemic change (Brunache et al., Reference Brunache, Dadzie, Goodlett, Hampden, Khreisheh and Ngonadi2021). There is much wisdom in this manifesto, which is worth reading and enacting in full. Indeed, the words of the authors have been echoing in my mind particularly loudly since the summer, especially this recommendation on taking feedback with grace:

Against this backdrop, it feels pertinent, then, that our first issue of 2026 opens with five research articles, which reflect in different ways on the contemporary resonances of archaeology and heritage. Uroš Košir and Luka Rozman’s research into mass grave sites from Jama pod Macesnovo gorico in Slovenia demonstrates the critical role of archaeology in documenting modern conflicts. This archaeological work is undeniably political and asks us to confront many dark aspects of human actions from our recent past. This theme continues with the interpretation of refuse dumps at abandoned Cold War Soviet nuclear bases in Poland. The article’s author, Grzegorz Kiarszys, examines how the material culture of families found at these bases exposes lacunae in the official documentation for these sites. Instead, Kiarszys demonstrates a significantly more vibrant lived reality. In our third research article, Michael Lewis and colleagues make an ethical and political point in a different way by reminding us that accessing cultural heritage is a human right and so there is a need to democratize our practices. They focus on the complex issue of recording finds made by metal detectorists in England, Estonia, and Finland, advocating for the use of digital technologies that embrace and include members of the public.

Moving into the deeper past, our next research article, by Paulina Komar, examines the evidence for economic change during the Roman period. Komar uses regression analysis and amphorae data from five regions of the Mediterranean spanning the imperial period. In so doing, she is able to demonstrate that there were distinct changes in Late Antiquity that saw increasing regionalization. Movement of material culture across long distances continues as a theme in the final research article of this issue, in which Richard Hughes and colleagues explore the source of three Neolithic obsidian blades found in Poland. Archaeometric analyses indicate that the material for these blades came from south-eastern Turkey, which has the potential to expand our thinking about connectivity in Neolithic Poland.

This issue also features two book reviews. Andrew Shapland writes us a review of Emily Anderson’s book on Minoan zoomorphic culture, which he applauds for bringing a rich, theoretical approach to some well-known imagery. Finally, Fernando Moreno-Navarro has reviewed the edited volume from Tesse Stek and André Carneiro on the archaeology of Roman Portugal, which he praises for combining quality case studies with diverse methodologies that help contextualize Roman Portugal within the wider Mediterranean.

If you are interested in submitting an article on any aspect of European archaeology, or have recently published a book that you would like us to review, do please get in touch with a member of our editorial team or visit us on https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-archaeology.

The Reviews team is also actively to increase the pool of potential book reviewers. If you would like to be considered to review for EJA, please email Monika and Maria at ejareviews@e-a-a.org and ejaassistreviews@e-a-a.org with a brief list of your topics of interest and a short CV attached. Advanced postgraduate students as well as those who have completed their PhD are able to review for EJA. Proposals to review specific books are considered, provided that they are relevant to the EJA’s mission.