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Although the might of Rome failed to subjugate the Caledonian tribes, archaeologists have discovered a large number of camps and forts in Scotland, revealing the extent of Roman influence in a military zone that was never fully absorbed into the Empire. This guide provides information on each of the country’s 330 known Roman sites, from the outposts of Hadrian’s Wall to the Moray coast, and offers tips for visitors who want to explore the remains.

Based on the discovery that there has been a tendency to misdate the local pottery finds, Jodi Magness’s study reassesses what archaeological remains found in Palestine can tell us about the impact of the Muslim conquest in the 7th century. By taking a fresh look at the evidence, she argues that early Islamic settlement was a complex process that does not fit the current interpretive models.

‘London’, writes Thomas Williams, ‘is a city of spectres, of ghosts walking in the footsteps of other ghosts, and the Viking Age is perhaps its most forgotten hinterland’. This colourful account of the city in the centuries between 842 and 1016 – a period that saw over a dozen Viking attacks on London – describes how it withstood the ‘great heathen horde’; how it endured and prospered through to the time of Cnut; and how the Viking legacy lives on in the capital.

Discovered in 1979, the Roman fort at Elginhaugh near Dalkeith is now the most completely excavated timber-built auxiliary fort in the Roman Empire. Here, Professor Hanson describes the discovery, excavation and interpretation of the site and sets the findings in the wider context of the fort’s builders and the lives of its inhabitants.

Discovered in 1979, the Roman fort at Elginhaugh near Dalkeith is now the most completely excavated timber-built auxiliary fort in the Roman Empire. Here, Professor Hanson describes the discovery, excavation and interpretation of the site and sets the findings in the wider context of the fort’s builders and the lives of its inhabitants. Slightly off-mint

Since the days of the conquistadors, rumours have circulated about a deserted city deep in the Honduran interior. Local people said it was cursed; a journalist who reached it in 1940 committed suicide on his return. In 2012 Doug Preston joined a team of scientists set on travelling to it; his account describes how – despite torrential rain, deadly snakes and a terrifying disease – they found a great metropolis beneath the rainforest, and explains the cause of its sudden abandonment.

This volume of nine essays aims to explore some of the possibilities offered by the study of borders, both real and imagined, from an archaeological point of view and to present some new perspectives informed by border theory. Among the geographical regions and chronological periods discussed are the 20th-century Iron Curtain or ‘Eastern Front’; the medieval Anglo-Scottish border; Neolithic cave use in the Mendip hills; and 10th- and 12th-century borderlands in northeast China.

The site at Mill Lane offered the chance of studying wetland and dryland zones of human activity as a single archaeological landscape. From the analysis of the site, this book develops a detailed picture of life on the edge of a flood plain between the late glacial and post-medieval periods.

This collection of essays illustrates how new theoretical approaches can inform study of the Bronze Age Aegean world. The authors examine material culture change at individual sites and compare processes of acculturation inspired by Minoan Crete and the Mycenaean mainland.

Based largely on excavations and research in and around the present cathedral between 1969 and 2006, this English Heritage volume presents the archaeology and history of the precinct and successive cathedrals of St Paul in the City of London, from Roman times up to the construction of Wren’s building in 1675–1711.

The first volume of this well-illustrated collection of essays comprises 15 studies on Westminster Abbey, with topics including the medieval and early Tudor topography of Westminster, the Romanesque monastic buildings, and polychromy at the Abbey, 1250–1350. In Volume II, eleven essays deal with the Palace of Westminster and its wider topography between the late 11th century and the devastating fire of 1834.

Covering phases of occupation from pre-castle settlement to a Second World War hospital erected on Castle Green, this is the final report of the long, but intermittent excavations at Launceston Castle which made important contributions to the settlement history and topography of Launceston itself as well as to castle studies.

This volume from the Scottish Burgh Survey offers the general reader a detailed and well-illustrated guide to the history and archaeology of Dunfermline as well as providing local authorities, developers and residents with reliable information to help protect and manage the archaeology and environment of this historic burgh and abbey.

When a casket was excavated near the India-Nepal border in 1898, archaeologist Dr Führer helped confirm that its inscription declared it to contain the Buddha’s ashes. This account of the discovery focuses on the ensuing scandal, in which a local British magistrate accused Führer of selling bogus relics from the site. Off-mint.

Covering a geographical area stretching from Greece, through Turkey, Syria, Israel and Iran to India, and a time span from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages, the 17 papers in this volume demonstrate zooarchaeologists’ approaches to complex issues of diversity and identity in social systems. Slightly off-mint.

This introductory guide outlines the techniques used by archaeologists to discover, excavate and interpret sites. It also shows how much archaeological finds have taught us about the past inhabitants of England and Wales, from the first appearance of Homo sapiens to the coming of the Normans. Sixth edition.

Following the discovery of mammoth bones and stone tools, including bout coupé hand axes , at Lynford Quarry in 2002, the excavations reported here uncovered archaeological and palaeo-environmental information that offered an opportunity to study when and how Neanderthals occupied what was then a cold northern peninsula of north-west Europe. Slightly off-mint.

Now a ruin, Haughmond Abbey, north-east of Shrewsbury, was a prosperous house of the Augustinian Canons. This archaeological report describes the excavations of the site during 1975–79, and places the abbey in its historical and landscape contexts.

The church of All Saints at Brixworth, dating from the eighth century, is a building of outstanding importance and it has been the subject of archaeological study since 1972. This volume is the meticulously detailed report of that 40-year-long project.

Bletchley Park and Blenheim Palace, Lindisfarne Priory, the Martyrs’ tree in Tolpuddle, and a water pump in Broadwick Street, Soho, are a few of the historically meaningful places that were nominated by the public and selected by Historic England’s experts for the Irreplaceable project. Arranged by ten themes, from science and discovery to protest, the book offers a richly illustrated, multi-faceted history of the country, explored through the landscapes and built environments around us today.

Slightly off-mint.

Nam C Kim explores the origins of civilization in the Red River Delta of Vietnam and, in particular, the Co Loa settlement which was once the political capital of an ancient culture.

By studying the fragments of myth and ritual that have survived through Britain’s oral tradition, Tolstoy attempts to explain the human story behind the mysterious stones of Stonehenge. Reconstructing the significant aspects of British pagan ideology from the pre-Roman era, and studying the material remains of this lost civilization, Tolstoy presents Stonehenge as the ancient people’s ‘sacred centre’, where the birth, death and eventual rebirth of their island was celebrated.

These eleven papers concentrate on ecclesiastical architecture, with topics including evidence of early Christian monuments, Ewenny Priory, Llandaff Cathedral and the cloister arcade at Tintern Abbey.