Journal of Urban Archaeology 13 (2026)

This issue of Journal of Urban Archaeology combines an open call for papers with a special thematic section focused on the intersection of urban archaeology and archival research. With a range of case study-based articles, the research presented shows how ‘lost’ urban contexts can be rediscovered using archival material from archaeological excavations, and sheds new light on urban spaces that were lost or abandoned in the past. Case studies drawn from as far afield as the Ancient Mediterranean and medieval Northern Europe combine to inspire varied approaches and guide future directions on using archival data in a broad range of archaeological research contexts. This thematic section, entitled ‘Lost Towns and Cities’, is based on the results and discussions of a workshop of the same name, held at the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions in the winter of 2024.

List of Illustrations

Handing over the Torch: Stepping Up and Stepping Down
Rubina Raja and Søren M. Sindbæk

The Long Roots of Middle Islamic Tadmor: Urban Resilience and Water Management
Olympia Bobou and Rubina Raja

Three Hundred Years of Epigraphic Habit in Palmyra, Syria in Light of a Full Quantification Approach
Julia Steding, Rubina Raja, Iza Romanowska, and Jean-Baptiste Yon

From One City to Another: Collecting Palmyra in Copenhagen
Olympia Bobou and Rubina Raja

Special Issue
Lost Towns and Cities: Rediscovering Urban Sites through Archival and Legacy Data
Edited by Rowan S. English and Sarah Croix

Forgotten Towns and Cities — Exploring Urban Archaeology through Archival Data
Rowan S. English and Sarah Croix

How to Lose a City: Palmyra, Tadmor, and Western Travellers from the Eighteenth Century Onwards
Olympia Bobou and Rubina Raja

Silchester: The Iron Age and Roman Town of Calleva Atrebatum. Archives from Antiquarian and Modern Excavations: A Dynamic Situation
Michael Fulford

Borgund in Western Norway and Pioneering Medieval Archaeology Reassessed
Gitte Hansen

The Life and Death of Tårnborg
Trine Borake

Temporality and Political Ecology in a Medieval Small Town: The Case of Romsey (UK)
Ben Jervis

The Medieval Town Atlas — A Survey of Archaeology in Seventy-four Medieval Towns in Denmark
Charlotte Marie Brühe Jensen, Kirstine Haase, and Søren Michael Sindbæk