Current Archaeology Live! 2026 will take place on 28 February 2026 at University College London’s Institute of Education, where last year 600 of you joined us to hear the latest news on important discoveries and leading research projects from these shores as well as further afield.
As ever, we will have an exciting line-up of expert speakers covering the archaeological spectrum from prehistory to the present day. Scroll down to see the full timetable from last year. No matter what your background is – whether you’re a professional archaeologist, a student, an armchair enthusiast, or simply someone with a passion for the past – every year we make sure the talks are accessible for all.
The conference is held in partnership with the UCL Institute of Archaeology.
Provisional Timetable
Saturday 28 February 2026
Talks run from 9:15am to 5pm
Session 1 (9.30-11am)
Professor Kevin MacDonald (UCL)
– An archaeologist of West African empires encounters Roman Britain at Norton (Suffolk), with some thoughts on what makes a villa
Dr Tatiana Ivleva (Newcastle University) and Dr Rebecca Jones (National Museums Scotland)
– Women in Romano-British archaeology: not so ‘rude’ and not so ‘terrible’!
Dr Sophia Adams (British Museum)
– The massive Melsonby Iron Age Hoard
Session 2 (11.30am-1pm)
Professor Aidan Dodson (University of Bristol)
– The archaeology of early literate societies and history-writing: the case of ancient Egypt
Derek Alexander and Dr Daniel Rhodes (National Trust for Scotland)
– Pioneering spirit: exploring the archaeology of early whisky-making in Scotland
Naomi Sewpaul (Time Team/Allen Archaeology)
– Excavating with water: the importance of environmental archaeology
Session 3 (2-3.30pm)
Professor Andrew Gardner (UCL)
– Excavating a legionary storehouse at Caerleon Roman Fortress
Professor Sarah Semple (Durham University)
– Yeavering: an early medieval royal site revisited
Diane Abrams (Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal) and Dr Claire Harris (MOLA)
– Archaeology: informing the past, present, and future of UK Parliament
Keynote speaker (4-5pm)
Professor David Breeze
– A frontier for all seasons: Hadrian’s Wall from 1976-2026
The Current Archaeology Awards will be announced at 5pm.
Current Archaeology Awards
The annual Current Archaeology Awards celebrate the projects and publications that made the pages of the magazine over the past 12 months, and the people judged to have made outstanding contributions to archaeology.
These awards are voted for entirely by the public – there are no panels of judges – so we encouraged you to get involved and choose the projects, publications, and people you wanted to win!
The winners of the awards will be announced on 28 February at Current Archaeology Live! 2026.
Click here to see last year’s winners, and to find out more about all the nominees
