diggingthedirt – When you dig up the past, all you get is dirt…

The Digger…

We’ve all seen them, the circuit archaeologist. Usually found propping up the bar of the cheapest boozer in town… Thrown together for a few months in the arse end of nowhere, they make close friends and closer enemies, only to be moved again to opposite sides of the galaxy. If this is you then welcome home. Run by diggers for diggers, this site is an answer to the diaspora of diggers scattered to the four corners of the wind. If you’ve never met an archaeologist before and your just stumbling, then welcome to the site and who knows what might happen: when you dig up the past, all you find is dirt… Read More

The Blog

The Naked Archaeologist

Reading University’s student archaeology society – RUined have been getting their kit off for a charity calendar to raise money for the summer field schools. Read more pictures here…

Checkered Pasts

Few would consider the popular computer game Grand Theft Auto to be a reliable witness to our daily lives. But if that’s all that survived of our world, what conclusions would archaeologists draw… Read more here…

The Biggest Poo in History

Its received wisdom that you can’t polish a turd, but Paleoscatologists (ancient poo specialists) go bat-shit-crazy for anything bum related. Read more here…

Stonehenge, Wilts

Time Lapse footage of Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller’s bouncy castle Stonehenge installation, filmed after a rainy day’s bouncing at Flag Fen, Peterborough. Read more here… (And, Tune!)

Who framed Roger and the Rabbit?

The sepia-toned image – simply called ‘L’Bunny Hugger’ or ‘Archaeologist and Rabbit’ – became the biggest selling poster EVER when it launched in 1986. Read more here…

Damsel in Distress

Tiered from work, and not yet drunk enough to talk, we pondered the menu with the glazed expressions of the institutionalised.

-I think I’ll have…

Elgin’s Marbles

One of archaeology’s most enduring modern mysteries was firmly put to bed yesterday with the surprise announcement that a cache of finely sculpted marble testicles has been found in Milton Keynes, England. Read More..

Rice Crispy Stonehenge

Breakfast time yesterday saw thousands of revelers celebrate the ancient pagan solstice ceremony with a bowl of hearty goodness. But how old is it? Who built it? What does it mean…. All revealed here…

The latest blog posts from Archaeology’s answer to Heat magazine! What’s hot and what’s not. Celebrity archaeologist gossip. The highlights of the social digging calendar, and of course where to be seen and who to be seen with. Check out the latest scribblings here…

Long Reads

One early summer evening in 1837 – not long before the accession of the young Queen Victoria – a Yorkshire terrier chased a rabbit into what appeared to be a foxhole, only to find itself stuck in one of the finest, archaeologically richest caves thus far unearthed… Read More…

Imagine a place where the term ‘millionaire archaeologist’ would not sound ridiculous, and where young archaeology students could look forward to excellent career prospects… It sounds like an archaeo-utopia: but for a short time it existed. This was Ireland’s Celtic Tiger archaeology. Read More…

The Bronze Age burnt mounds of Ireland are enigmatic, and many theories have been proposed for their purpose, from cooking sites to Prehistoric saunas. But were these monuments actually microbreweries for Bronze Age beer? Read more…

Religion, and religious strife, have defined modern Ireland. New archaeological evidence is showing that this cultural clash began long ago, with the very arrival of Christianity. In the final article on Celtic Tiger archaeology, we look at the physical evidence for this spiritual struggle. Read More…

As Prince William and Kate Middleton’s nuptials this month stir feverish national excitement, what light can archaeology shed on the pomp and pageantry of the most magnificent of Royal occasions? We go in search of the evidence…. Read More…

The Galway to Ballinasloe N6 road scheme in the Republic of Ireland was 56km long: metre for metre, one of the largest archaeological projects anywhere in the world. The archaeology found along the scheme has shed new light on the treatment of the dead at crucial stages of Irish history. Here we explain the evidence. Read more…