The Current Archaeology Live! 2026 event, which the UCL Institute of Archaeology is co-organising, is being held at the UCL Institute of Education on Saturday 28 February 2026.
This one-day conference showcases all the latest archaeological discoveries and research from Britain and beyond and includes the announcement of the Current Archaeology Awards for 2026.
Current Archaeology Awards 2026
The winners of the 2026 Current Archaeology Awards will be announced on 28 February as part of the event. The awards, voted for entirely by the public, 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.
IoA and ASE Nominees
Congratulations to our nominees in this year's awards.
Archaeologist of the Year
Kris has been a passionate supporter of community archaeology for his whole career.
He became director of WAS in 2009, and in 2013 established the Community Archaeology Geophysics Group, a group of dedicated volunteers who have surveyed over 70 sites across SE England, including the entirety of Verulamium, for which the group won the prestigious Britannia award. They have surveyed a wide variety of sites, from a Neolithic long barrow to a 19th-century stately home, mainly in the south-east of England.
Read more about Kris' nomination for Archaeologist of the Year
It’s such an honour (and surprise) to be short-listed for this award. I’m delighted, not just for myself, but for all the volunteers, students and colleagues I have worked with through the years, because this recognises their work as much as my own."
Research Project of the Year
- From Bayeux to Bosham: tracing ‘lordly sites’ from early medieval England (D W Wright, O Creighton, S Chaussée, D Gould, and Michael Shapland)
This innovative and interdisciplinary research illuminates power centres associated with the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy that were swept away by the Norman Conquest – including a site linked with Harold Godwinson and his family.
Read more about this research project nominated for Research Project of the Year
I'm delighted to be nominated, and I'm particularly pleased to have been part of academic and commercial archaeology collaborating to mutual benefit, and drawing expertise from both parts of our discipline. As a buildings archaeologist I'm also very happy for the recognition this gives that archaeology exists just as much above the ground as below it, and that old buildings are a fantastic resource for telling new stories about the past."
Book of the Year
- Excavations in the Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon: the Priory Field store building (Peter Guest and Andrew Gardner, Archaeopress)
From the outset, the authors of this impressive research report remind us of the importance both of Caerleon Roman fortress and of the excavations and evaluations carried out in the Priory Field between 2007 and 2010. This research report boasts a stellar cast of specialists, sets new standards for finds reporting, and is peppered with scientific analyses and discussion.
'Our excavations at Caerleon uncovered an important sequence, telling a story about life in the Roman fortress, and about change and continuity into the early Medieval period. The project was also a successful collaboration between different institutions and had a significant public impact, all of which is covered in our report."
Current Archaeology Awards
Vote now!Current Archaeology Live! 2026
CA Live! booking
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