A previously unknown painting of Christ’s face, recently discovered at the Byzantine site of Shivta in the Negev Desert of southern Israel, represents the first pre-iconoclastic baptism-of-Christ scene to be found in the Holy Land.

Satellite imagery analysis has revealed the presence of at least 330 stone structures—akin to ‘desert kites’ recorded elsewhere—on and around the Hamada al Hamra Plateau in Libya. These structures, which probably vary in shape based on local geomorphology, may have been used for hunting or herding animals.

Analysis of seven newly discovered engraved La Tène beads from the Mathay-Mandeure sanctuary in Doubs, France, has refined the chronology for the manufacture of such rare artefacts, and increases our understanding of Late Iron Age ritual deposition practices.

The Tappino Area Archaeological Project combines remote sensing, intensive survey methods and excavation to illuminate the development and working of ancient society in the Apennine Mountains, southern Italy.

The Basquesmith project aims to illuminate the cycle of iron production and consumption by early medieval rural farming communities in the Álava province, Basque Country, northern Spain.

Newly discovered archaeological sites in the Uribe Kosta region of northern Spain are illuminating the establishment of late prehistoric coastal farming settlements and specialised tool-production activities.

A new project aims to define the origins and dispersal patterns of the opium poppy in Neolithic Western Europe through a comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating.

Recent research investigating the origins of Bahama archipelago habitation conducted archaeological surveys on the remote Bahamian Guinchos Cay and Cay Lobos. A complete lack of prehistoric evidence, however, suggests that they played no significant role in the colonisation of The Bahamas.

The Bam Archaeological Mission aims to investigate ancient settlement in the Bam-Narmashir region of Iran. Preliminary survey has identified over 200 new archaeological sites, with renewed excavation at the key site of Tell-e Atashi revealing structural evidence of Neolithic occupation.

The site of the Dzuun Khuree monastery in the Upper Kherlen Valley of eastern Mongolia was recently investigated by UAV and ground-penetrating radar. The monastery's highly unusual circular form and layout suggest a foundation earlier than previously suspected.

Recent research at two cave sites on the island of Paros have yielded some of the first evidence for the ritual use of caves in the Cyclades during the second millennium BC.

The Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP) provided vast quantities of invaluable data to our understanding of this famous ancient city. The ‘Documenting, Disseminating, and Archiving Data from the Teotihuacan Mapping Project’ aims to analyse, re-examine and ultimately coalesce TMP data for entry into The Digital Archaeological Record.

The Alay site represents the earliest, high-altitude human-occupation site currently known in western Central Asia. Recent recovery and analysis of a lithic assemblage from Alay underlines the importance of this site and its role in the cultural and technological development in later Eurasian prehistory.

Ongoing excavations at San Giuliano in central Italy are providing detailed evidence for testing explanatory models of cyclical shifts in settlements and socio-economic organisation from the Etruscan to medieval periods (c. 800 BC–AD 1300).

Desert kites are well documented in the Middle East, Near East, Arabia and Central Asia, but are much rarer elsewhere. Here, we present two newly discovered kites near Keimoes in South Africa that provide possible evidence for animal exploitation during the Later Stone Age.

Archaeological investigations at Monte Bernorio (northern Spain) and its surroundings are yielding exciting new evidence for the destruction of the Iron Age oppidum by the Roman military and the subsequent Roman occupation of the area.

This paper reports on preliminary fieldwork at the Later Stone Age site of Txina-Txina in Mozambique. Excavation yielded a long stratigraphic sequence, a large lithic assemblage, a unique decorated gastropod shell fragment and two ostrich eggshell beads—the first of their type recovered from a Stone Age context in Mozambique.

Analyses of worked faunal remains from three Bronze to Iron Age (c. 900–400 BC) sites in Poland demonstrate changing trends in Central European prehistoric hard-tissue-processing tools and techniques.

This research aims to explore the submerged landscapes of the Pilbara of western Australia, using predictive archaeological modelling, airborne LiDAR, marine acoustics, coring and diver survey. It includes excavation and geophysical investigation of a submerged shell midden in Denmark to establish guidelines for the underwater discovery of such sites elsewhere.

Ongoing excavations at Arslantepe in south-eastern Turkey are revealing settlement continuity spanning two crucial phases at the transition from the second to the first millennium BC: the post-Hittite period and the development of Syro-Anatolian societies.