The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania began its fourth campaign at Ur on 1st November 1925, and closed down in the field on 13th March 1926. The season was the longest we have yet had, and at its height as many as three hundred men were employed.

The site of the See of Elmham has been the subject of one of those entirely artificial controversies which troubled the archaeological peace of the nineteenth century, and arose from a curious and then very prevalent phase of archaeological thought. Plain, and one would have thought obvious, statements of fact were first queried and then rejected to substitute in their place theories unsupported equally by evidence, tradition, or probability. Such was the theory which endeavoured to transfer the See of Elmham from North Elmham in Norfolk to South Elmham in Suffolk, in the face of all definite evidence and reasonable probability and solely on the ground that a pre-Conquest church, known traditionally as the Old Minster, existed in the Suffolk area. The fact that the word Minster is sufficiently widespread and seldom indicates a cathedral was not considered, and the statesman Theodore was credited with the inconceivable stupidity of splitting up the East Anglian See by establishing two bishop's stools within thirteen miles of one. another. This theory, which received the tentative support of more than one distinguished antiquary, has now, one may hope, been finally consigned to the limbo from which it should never have emerged ; the paper of the late Mr. Richard Howlett1 sets forth the clear facts of the case and the overwhelming evidence in favour of the Norfolk site.

Amongst objects from Professor M. P. Pogodin's Collection now in the State Historical Museum and formerly in the Rumyantsev Museum, Moscow, are some interesting pieces of wood and bone. The exact place of their discovery is unknown, but they all come from the Altai region and are Scytho-Siberian in style.

In turning over the Indices to our Proceedings under the heading of Church Bells during recent years, I have been surprised at the scarcity of communications on this subject. We have had a few on cognate subjects, such as mortars or other objects of bellmetal, but practically nothing on bells themselves. Possibly one explanation of-this neglect may be that our church bells are not so easily accessible as other forms of church furniture, and even where they are accessible, the circumstances of their position, in dark chambers surrounded by masses of beams and other gear, militate against the possibilities of photography or other forms of reproduction. I do not therefore feel that any apology is necessary for bringing forward a subject which has been somewhat ignored. In this paper I propose to limit myself mainly to the form of the English church bell during a certain period, namely the thirteenth century, which was a time of great and rapid advance in all branches of ecclesiastical art. It is hardly necessary to touch on the wonderful development of our church architecture during this century. Lincoln, Salisbury, Beverley, and other exquisite creations tell their own tale. We find the same advance in illuminated manuscripts, in stained glass, and in other directions.

The old road from Damascus to Baghdad having been blocked by disturbances in Syria, the members of the 1925–6 Joint Oxford University (Weld) and Field Museum Expedition to Kish were compelled last winter to use the more southerly route over which the Nairn convoys were running. This is an eastward extension of the road -from Jerusalem to Jericho, and runs through Amman to Rutba Wells and Ramadi, whence it follows the valley to Baghdad. Having noticed worked flints during our halts on the journey, we asked and obtained permission from the Air Vice-Marshal, Sir John Higgins, to return with the armoured car patrol, under the command of Flight-Lieutenant Sweeny, who with his men rendered great assistance in the search for implements.