History JourneysHeritage Advisory, Research and Discovery
Detours

Discoveries off the beaten path

Each month we highlight the unexpected, the unusual and the thought-provoking in world heritage and archaeology. Part cultural tourism journal, part exploration of approaches, using specific places and landscapes as our lens.

The series

Every detour so far

Retro-style illustration of archaeologists in hi-vis vests working with a robot quadruped and a survey drone on a basalt stony riseLatest
Detour No. 04 ·

Future Shock!

What will archaeology look like in ten years’ time?

A deep breath and some speculative predictions about how AI, remote sensing, robotics and automation could play out in archaeology over the next decade, and what it means for the next generation.

Archaeological practice · 2026 to 2036 Read this detour →
Timber gassho farmhouses with steep thatched roofs at Ainokura, with mist lying across the forested hillside behind
Detour No. 03 ·

Sensory Values

Cultural landscapes that are much more than just ‘land’

Nobody pictures a shapefile when they think of a place they love. They think of the view, the quiet, the smell of it. So why do our heritage frameworks record almost none of that?

Sydney · Melbourne · Co Limerick · Toyama Read this detour →
The surviving Ionic colonnade of the Teatro Marittimo, Villa Adriana
Detour No. 02 ·

The Archaeology of Introversion

Hadrian’s Teatro Marittimo and personality in the archaeological record

A fully enclosed sanctuary on an island in an artificial moat, reached only by two retractable bridges. Can a personality be read in the archaeological record?

Villa Adriana · Tivoli, Italy Read this detour →
The Torre de Hercules rising against the sky, A Coruna, Spain
Detour No. 01 ·

Torre de Hércules

The oldest working lighthouse in the world

A Roman pharos still guiding ships after nearly two thousand years, hiding a second-century core inside an eighteenth-century shell, and a starring role in Irish origin mythology.

A Coruña · Galicia, Spain Read this detour →