The Hare #18 [August 2026]
Stone balls, metal balls and total royal balls…
Your monthly round-up of landscape discoveries, archaeological news, historical mysteries and folkloric curiosities, brought to you by Northern Earth magazine… slightly early this month so I can have a holiday!
News from Northern Earth
The Summer issue of Northern Earth (#184) – our biggest ever – sold out the first print run but we’ve done a small reprint. UK subscriptions are still only £12 a year (for four printed issues!) so start yours with this issue while you still can! This issue covers archaeology, folklore and landscape stories from right across the British Isles. And has some lovely stones on the cover again.
And now on with the regulars…
Season’s gleanings: 16 recent news stories
(Other recent news can be found in the printed magazine.)
Ancient ring discovered underground in Scotland could be a Stonehenge-like monument [Latest from Live Science in Archaeology]
Groundbreaking archaeological discovery in Israel unearths ‘time capsule’ cave [Daily Express]
Ancient boat carvings suggest Bronze Age Europe was more connected than we thought [Discover Magazine]
Tyre tracks on 4,000 year old Bronze Age burial mound in Wales after vehicle drives over it [BBC News]
Artefacts hint at cultural exchange between Neanderthals and humans [New Scientist]
Ancient DNA reveals the mysterious collapse of Europe’s megalith builders [ScienceDaily]
Possible Iron Age settlement discovered above Royal Wootton Bassett [BBC News]
5,800-year-old neolithic monument unearthed at Sizewell C development [HeritageDaily]
For the first time, ancient human DNA has been found preserved on cave walls [ScienceAlert]
Mysterious Neolithic stone sphere discovered in Azerbaijan [HeritageDaily]
Ancient DNA analysis reveals Wiltshire’s Upton Lovell shaman was a woman [The Guardian]
‘Like Christmas’ for diver who found Bronze Age sword [BBC News]
Magic rituals took place in an Australian cave for 25,000 years [New Scientist]
And finally…
What are the mysterious ‘space balls’ found washed up on an Australian beach? [BBC]
‘He looked like Ramses the Great’: how experimental archaeologists used ancient techniques to mummify a modern-day person [Live Science in Archaeology]
Is there another king buried under a car park? [BBC News]. (Answer: no, probably not. For a sensible take on this story which the newspapers have got overexcited about, watch Paul Whitewick’s video on it.)
Events on in August
Slim pickings over the summer! Have we missed anything? Let us know!
Until 2 August CBA Festival of Archaeology – venues nationwide.
8 August Stony Gaze: stone heads talk with John Billingsley, plus pottery workshop. Hosted by the Folklore Centre. Wholefood Café, Todmorden.
16 August Dreamspace: Kiln Opening with Essex Folk and Fairytales. Hadleigh Farm Rare Breeds Centre, Benfleet.
21 August Sooxanne Rolfe – Wilde Volk. A talk on European ritual culture. Wholefood Café. Todmorden.
23 August Heptonstall Stories – a guided walk with John Billingsley.
25 August The Hidden Road to Self-Help. London Fortean Society event, The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street.
Selected exhibitions
Until 1 August Ian McKeever: Seven Stones. HackelBury Fine Art, London.
Until 13 September Treasure! Lost and Found. Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester.
Until 13 September A Place That Whispers – folkloric photography exhibition. Hidcote, Gloucestershire.
Until 26 September John Piper in the South Country. Museum & Art Swindon.
Until 17 October The Avebury Papers: two artists respond to the site’s multimedia archive. Southampton City Art Gallery.
Until 25 October Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam. Royal Academy, Burlington House, London.
Until 27 September Attingham Unearthed: The Finds (archaeology exhibition). Attingham Park, Shrewsbury.
Until 1 November The Saxons – immersive exhibition at Discover Bucks Museum, Aylesbury.
Until 1 November British Landscapes: A Sense of Place. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.
Until November Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater. Goodwood Art Foundation, Sussex.
Until 10 January Prehistoric Lives in the Trent Valley. University of Nottingham Museum.
Until 2027 Viking North, showcase of best collection of finds outside London. Yorkshire Museum, York.
Until 16 May 2027 Scotland’s First Warriors. From the Neolithic to the Romans. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Until summer 2027 Chariots, Treasure & Power: Secrets of the Melsonby Hoard. Yorkshire Museum, York.
5 things to read, watch, listen to…
[Article] Read Neil Mortimer’s tribute to Aubrey Burl.
[Zine] …and read Neil’s new zine Site Hound (more on Neil’s work coming in the Autumn issue of Northern Earth, by the way!).
[Map/data] Digital Britannia provides free data and a brand new map of Britain’s Roman roads.
[Watch] Damian McCarthy’s supernatural horror film Hokum (trailer here) is based on Irish folklore. (Now streaming.)
[Zine] Another little publication from a friend of NE, Simon Moreton: Holy Hills (about Titterstone Clee in Shropshire).
Thanks to various readers for the tipoffs! Do reply to this newsletter or email Northern Earth if you have useful links to share. (If your suggestion hasn’t appeared yet, it may well next time!)