The Roman villa on Lockleys Estate, Welwyn, was discovered accidentally in 1930. On that occasion a small portion of it was uncovered; but it was not until 1937 that, by the permission, and with the very generous co-operation, of the Welwyn Garden City Company, it proved possible to examine the site scientifically. The building was completely cleared; and although it was not sufficiently well preserved to justify the expense of preservation, the Garden City Company have undertaken to keep the site free of building, and the complete plan has been laid out on the surface in turf and brick. Of the many persons who by their help made the excavation possible I can only here record the work of Mr. W. R. Hughes, the secretary of the excavation committee, who bore the whole burden of the preliminary arrangements and gave invaluable help in the actual work of excavation and later in the preparation of this report; of Mr. A. E. Hick, who did nearly all the photography; and of Mr. Clarke, who undertook the whole of the surveying. My debt to Dr. Wheeler at all stages of the work is so apparent as hardly to need statement. To Dr. Davies Pryce also, to Mr. K. P. Oakley, and to Mr. Derek Allen I am deeply indebted for reporting respectively upon the Samian, the foreign stone, and the coins; to Mr. Hawkes for much help and advice, particularly in relation to the Colchester material; to Miss Kenyon for examining the fourth-century pottery; to Miss Scott for her collaboration upon many points of detail; and to all others who have given me their advice.

The halberd is of sufficiently frequent occurrence and of a sufficiently distinctive character to be a most useful ‘type fossil’ by which may be traced connexions and the trend of cultural developments in prehistoric Europe. That another paper on the subject is not a superfluity in archaeological literature is evident from the lack of any paper dealing at once with the Irish and Continental material. That this paper should be written in Ireland is fitting because the amount of the Irish material is so large. When Coffey wrote his valuable paper on ‘Irish Copper Halberds’ (frequently referred to in the following pages), he had before him the material in the National Museum of Ireland, which comprised at that time 49 halberds. This number has in the meantime increased to 71, while the total number of Irish halberds of which I have been able to get particulars is 143, 67 having known localities. This body of material, which is considerably greater than that from any other country, makes it clear that the part played by Ireland in the story of the European halberd must have been an important one. When we come to study the typology, evolution, and distribution of the weapon, we shall get further proof of this importance.

Studies of creole material cultures in historical archaeological frameworks in the Americas and Caribbean from the sixteenth century onwards emphasise the diversity and dynamism of cultural traits that are rooted in a range of different backgrounds: indigenous, African and European. Using a case study based upon recent historical and multidisciplinary archaeological research in north-western Barbados, this paper seeks to chart the development of a distinct vernacular Barbadian creole material culture over the period 1650–1900. It is argued here that the evolution of a strong and characteristic local cultural identity, as evidenced by recent archaeological research, counters the usual perception, common among historians of the period, that the plantocracy and its associated agents merely sought to reproduce English culture in the tropics. In fact the cultural picture as presented here is far more nuanced, and has implications for wider historical archaeological studies in the region.

We have studied the techniques of decoration of the backs of the British bronze mirrors according to the methods outlined by us in Lowery, Savage, Wilkins, 1971, 176 f., and the construction of the design on the newly discovered Holcombe mirror (Fox, 1973). Our intention is to examine the technical relationships between the mirror backs and to note some details of bronzesmiths' practice which they illustrate, and on which the Holcombe mirror sheds much light. Our conclusions are based mainly on examination of silicone rubber moulds which, with the co-operation of the museums concerned, have been made of all the decorated mirror backs now available. In default of a similar study of any extensive body of other material, no comparisons outside the mirror series are cited. We are not here concerned with mirrors whose backs are undecorated.

This paper explores some 220,000 medieval objects recorded in the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) online database of archaeological small finds through Geographic Information System analysis of their relationship with contemporary market sites. First, an overview of the contents of the PAS database is presented in terms of its spatial and ‘object type’ distribution. Second, the relationship of the medieval finds data against documentary evidence of commercial activity is investigated at a national level. Finally, PAS data is contextualised in its historical landscape context through case studies. It is argued that the distribution of PAS finds on the national scale can be linked with patterns of commercial activity, and that while rural and urban finds scatters have distinguishing trends, the countryside population enjoyed access to a range of sophisticated metalwork culture; also, that certain assemblages can be analysed statistically to yield new data and perspectives on local historical development.

Excavation of the three Surrey hillforts of Anstiebury, Holmbury, and Hascombe between 1972 and 1977 showed a general similarity of design and function but some variation in detail. Ranging in area from 6 to 10 acres (2·3–4 ha.), they were all related to the use of the sling; two were multivallate but Hascombe was univallate. Occupation was seemingly slight and Anstiebury was possibly uncompleted. The contribution of scientific method to problems of prospecting and dating is discussed. This and the pottery evidence indicate construction within the period 200–50 B.C., most probably 100–50 B.C., and the three sites may have been abandoned simultaneously. At Hascombe a pit- or hearth-filling produced Class I potin coins and the hypothesis is advanced that the hillforts were dismantled as a result of Caesar's landings of 55 and 54 B.C. but it is emphasized that decisive proof is lacking.

Fresh examination of the detailed zoo- and anthropomorphic motifs on some early Kentish jewellery suggests that they were deliberately designed to deceive the eye. A recurring device is the use of images which have more than one meaning, depending on the angle at which they are viewed. It is suggested that ambiguity may have been a characteristic feature of Style I art, and that the use of this style may have had more than a purely ornamental function.

For more than seven years the Fenland Research Committee has been investigating the post-glacial history of the Fenland with a view to correlating archaeological remains and recent geological deposits. By this means evidence has been collected which bears upon the age of early phases of human settlement in East Anglia and upon the natural conditions prevailing at different periods. It has sometimes been possible to undertake systematic and purposive excavations at key sites in the confident anticipation of definite results, but stray finds made in the course of drainage works or of agriculture have also played an important part. The Stuntney hoard, which it is the primary purpose of this report to record, was discovered by a man ploughing near Stuntney Hall in January 1939.

After the devastating fire of 1184, the Lady Chapel of Glastonbury Abbey was constructed on the site of the Old Church (Vetusta Ecclesia), the wattle church traditionally associated with Joseph of Arimathea. The lavish decoration of the chapel is frequently mentioned in the literature. In many cases authors emphasize the old-fashioned, Romanesque character of much of the ornament in contrast to the seemingly more progressive contemporary early Gothic mouldings of nearby Wells Cathedral. Nevertheless, it is generally recognized that the designer of Glastonbury Lady Chapel knew of the latest developments in French Gothic architecture as witnessed in his use of crocket capitals and sharply pointed arches in the vault. This juxtaposition of Romanesque and Gothic motifs has led to the categorization of the Lady Chapel as Transitional. Convenient as such a label may be as a term of reference in charting a purely typological evolution, it does little for our understanding of the use of some distinctly different elements in contemporary structures located in the same region. Is it the case that the patron and/or master mason of Glastonbury Lady Chapel are simply more conservative than at Wells Cathedral? Could Glastonbury Lady Chapel be consciously archaizing in an effort to emphasize the antiquity of the site? Should we perhaps think in terms of a traditional Benedictine monastic style at Glastonbury as opposed to an innovative style for the secular canons of Wells? Or is the rich decoration at Glastonbury Lady Chapel to be explained in a more general sense as an imitation of the art of church treasures? To address these questions the first part of this essay will examine the stylistic sources of the Lady Chapel. The meaning of the style of the Lady Chapel in the context of the beginnings of Gothic architecture in Britain will be discussed. Attention will then be turned to the sculpture of the Lady Chapel (Thurlby 1976a).

Excavations at Chalbury were begun in the summer of 1939, and a second season was planned for 1940. This was postponed owing to the outbreak of war, but the uncertainty which hangs over archaeology in the future makes immediate publication of an interim report desirable, although papers dealing with the skeletal material and kindred subjects must be postponed till after the close of hostilities. The work was a sequel to the excavation of Maiden Castle, and was undertaken as part of a scheme for making cuttings in selected Dorset hill-forts with a view to ascertaining their cultural relationships. Poundbury, Dorchester, was scheduled to be dug in the spring of 1939, and Chalbury, only three miles from Maiden Castle, was next upon the list.

A digital survey, combining photogrammetry and reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), offers significant new insights into the British Museum's Easter Island statue called Hoa Hakananai'a. These include the likelihood that it was made with a tapering base to stand in the ground, as seen by the crew of HMS Topaze in 1868, and that a nearby stone described a century ago was a pukau, a stone ‘hat’. Petroglyphs consisting of two komari (stylised female genitalia) were subsequently added. Succeeding these were bas-relief carvings, here interpreted as a single composition that narrates the island's birdman myth as recorded in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This reading is supported by photographs of Hoa Hakananai'a taken in Chile in 1868. A new model is presented for the relationship between the statue and the birdman cult. As it now stands, in a nineteenth-century plinth, Hoa Hakananai'a appears to lean slightly from its intended placing.

Fifty miles due north of Mombasa and two miles south of Gedi, a large Arab walled town where excavations have been carried on since early 1948 by the Royal National Parks of Kenya, is Mida Creek (fig. 1). In the middle of the creek are two mangrove-fringed islands with the passage into the inner basin lying between them. At the south-east end of the smaller but higher island, overlooking the passage, are the ruins of a small township. As part of the investigation of the major site of Gedi, a limited exploration of these ruins was undertaken, the results of which are here recorded. It will be appreciated that without the knowledge gained from the work at Gedi it would have been impossible to write this paper.

The Roman Ermine Street, having crossed the Humber on the way to York from Lincoln, leaves Brough Haven on its west side, and the little town of Petuaria to the east. For the first half-mile northwards from the Haven its course is not certainly known: then, followed by the modern road, it runs northwards through South Cave towards Market Weighton. In the area thus traversed by the Roman road burials of the Roman age have already been noted in sufficient quantity to suggest an extensive cemetery. The interment which is the subject of the present note was found on 10th October 1936, when men laying pipes at right angles to the modern road, in the carriage-drive of Mr. J. G. Southam, having cut through some 4 ft. of blown sand, came upon a mass of mixed Roman pottery, dating from the late first to the fourth century A.D. Bones of pig, dog, sheep, and ox were also represented. Presently, at a depth of about 5 ft., something attracted closer attention. A layer of thin limestone slabs was found, covering two human skeletons, one lying a few feet from the west margin of the modern road, the other parallel with the road and some 8 ft. from its edge. The objects described below were found with the second skeleton, and the first to be discovered was submitted by Mr. Southam to Mr. T. Sheppard, F.S.A.Scot., Director of the Hull Museums, who visited the site with his staff. All that can be recorded of the circumstances of the discovery is contained in the observations then made, under difficult conditions. ‘Slabs of hard limestone’, it was reported, ‘taken from a local quarry of millepore oolite and forming the original Roman road, were distinctly visible beneath the present roadway—one of the few points where the precise site of the old road has been located. On the side of this… a burial-place has been constructed. What it was like originally it is difficult to say, beyond that a layer of thin … slabs of limestone occurred over the skeletons. This had probably been kept in place or supported by some structure of wood, as several large iron nails, some bent at right angles, were among the bones.’ If this were all that could be said about the burials, they would hardly merit a place in these pages. The chief interest of the record would be its apparent identification of the exact course of the Roman road at a point where this had hitherto been uncertain. Three objects associated with the second skeleton are, however, of exceptional interest.

The paper pleads for an end to persistent misuse of the traditional ‘Three Age’ terminology which still governs the Irish British Bronze Age, and for acceptance of work of the past decade which has either been ignored or misunderstood. Uniform terms of reference are needed, fitted to the new attitudes. Hawkes's Scheme of 1960 provides a framework for this, and is summarized. The Early, Middle, and Late divisions now have a techno-typological, rather than cultural, basis.

Traditional cultural and ceramic concepts, based on typology, have resisted changes demanded by a new emphasis on the evidence of associated finds. The various Urn forms and the Deverel—Rimbury complex are particularly relevant here. Associations of Urns, and the few available C14 dates, are examined to demonstrate their existence in the Early Bronze Age, but, because of a remarkable ritual break at c. 1400, not in the Middle Bronze Age, let alone the Late Bronze Age. Similarly, Deverel—Rimbury is now Middle Bronze Age, not Late Bronze Age, its position after c. 1000 uncertain. Since much in our Iron Age is now thought indigenous, already apparent in Deverel—Rimbury, an awkward Late Bronze Age gap is opened up, apparently devoid of settlements and pottery. But much nominally Iron Age material may prove to be Late Bronze Age. There is a need for many more C14 dates to clarify these problems.

My last report presented a year ago concluded with an account of the third excavation of the ditch outside the circular earthwork. A fourth excavation in continuation of the third was begun immediately afterwards and carried 26 ft. to the west. It was made 2 ft. wider, as the ditch here appeared to have been wider and deeper, but except for this there was no appreciable difference from former sections. The upper soil had been much disturbed by rabbits or persons digging them out, the burrows being occasionally found to be 4 ft. deep. The upper layer of humus, and the rubble layer beneath it, contained chips of the building of Stonehenge to the number of 570, but none was found lower than the junction with the silt. With the chips were four small worn pieces of Bronze Age pottery, 10 of the Roman Period, a small quartzite maul, about 60 animal bone fragments, and the greater part of a human ulna bone.

A combination of circumstances having recently brought the Canterbury gravels into prominence, a preliminary survey of some implement-bearing deposits in the Stour valley is now offered to the Society for comparison or contrast with the report on the Swanscombe and Dartford areas in the Thames valley published in Archaeologia, lxiv and lxv. The map of Kent issued by the Geological Survey in 1865 showed only the solid geology, not the Drift deposits, which date from the human period and provide abundant (if often puzzling) evidence as to the sequence of primitive dwellers in this region. The geological map is now being revised, four sheets having already been published; and as the series of memoirs accompanying the sheets includes a survey of the palaeolithic relics and conditions, a special effort is required to disentangle the recent geology of the Stour valley, which, in comparison with the lower Thames, has been unaccountably neglected.

According to the latest collation of the Nabonidus Chronicle, a reference is made to Cyrus the Great wearing an ‘Elamite’ garment during the investiture ceremony of Cambyses. This study examines the likely characteristics of this garment in the light of a recent study of seventh- and sixth-century bc Elamite elite garments. Within this context it is suggested that the Chronicle may have done no more than state the obvious. In 538 bc, Cyrus went to Babylon clad in (traditional) Elamite (style) attire. This ceremonial garment is to be identified with a fine (perhaps cotton-made) fringed robe decorated with bands, including golden bracteates.

The paper which I have the honour of laying before the Society of Antiquaries was drawn up by me at the suggestion of J. Y. Akerman, Esq. F.S.A. and in the hope that it might serve as a continuation of his “Report of Excavations in an ancient Cemetery at Frilford, near Abingdon, Berks,” which may be found in the Society's Proceedings for May 25, 1865.