Archaeology International 28 for 2025 delivers a range of topical contributions, mainly from staff and students at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, and also from researchers elsewhere, not least a version of the Gordon Childe Lecture for 2025 delivered in May by Liv Nilsson Stutz of Linnaeus University, Sweden. This year the ‘Director’s view’ includes key events and appointments among other news, while the following features cover current activities around the world and news of new publications by Institute staff. The first four research articles follow a burial-related theme, while the others present new work in the archaeological sciences and research into the early history and significance of the work of key figures in archaeology at the Institute and in UCL Egyptology. A key item is a piece that considers the importance of the Institute’s archaeobotanical collections and their background, while a new feature highlights a milestone item from our unique library holdings in the field of archaeology. Field reports, reflections from former students and a selection of images drawn from the Institute’s historic archives conclude these proceedings.
I am extremely grateful to the contributors and reviewers who have made Archaeology International 28 possible. I also thank the outgoing Assistant Editor, Panos Kratimenos, for his considerable efforts, while the current volume sees the appointments of a new Assistant Editor, Archontoula Barouda, and a new Post-doctoral Representative, Clara Boulanger; welcome both. Jaimee Biggins, Amy Lynn and Angela Thompson at UCL Press have seen the issue through to publication with their usual efficiency and forbearance.
Finally, this volume is dedicated to the memory of Gill Swanton. Farmer at North Farm, West Overton, just east of the Avebury henge, Gill was an archaeologist supporting many important projects and teams of diggers over many years. Although Gill never studied at the Institute, she donated the fine sarsen stone from Overton Down, now set in the southwest corner of Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, on the occasion of the Institute’s 75th anniversary in 2012. It was a characteristically kind gesture, and she is much missed.