I’m pleased and proud to announce the publication of Offa’s Dyke Journal 5 for 2023.

The fifth open-access peer-reviewed academic journal presents original research on linear monuments, frontiers and borderlands. Volume 5 was edited by Professor Howard Williams.

Howard was able assisted by guest-editor Professor Keith Ray and proof-reader Siobhan Wordingham.

The front cover shows a reconstruction of the Olger Dyke at Gårdeby Mark by Jørgen Andersen of the Museum Sønderjylland, Arkæologi Haderslev.

Comprising 264 pages, this is the biggest-ever ODJ, containing an editorial introduction followed by ten articles spanning a host of themes and topics.

We start with global perspectives on walls, borders and frontier zones, followed by Europe-wide case studies from Denmark, east central and south-eastern Europe and Ukraine. The second half of the volume focuses on the island of Britain with articles on Wales, Cornwall and the Welsh Marches, and Mercia’s shifting early medieval borderlands in historical perspective. As well as encapsulating archaeological and historical perspectives, there are heritage dimensions tackled, especially through the final contribution to the volume on the art project ‘Walking with Offa’.

Thanks to all the anonymous referees, authors and those who made this volume possible, including our sponsors – the Offa’s Dyke Association and the University of Chester – and our online publishers JAS Arqueología and paperback distributors Archaeopress.

You can read ODJ volumes 1-5 online, and 1-4 are already available for purchase in paperback from Archaeopress. The paperback version of volume 5 will be available from Archaeopress in a few months.