Much has been written about the extraordinary impact of Darwinism during the mid- to late nineteenth century, expressed in the scholarship of 'reception studies' (see for example Ellegård 1958; Glick 1988; Numbers & Stenhouse 1999). A significant focus has been on developing an understanding of the impact of Darwinian thinking on just about every aspect of Victorian society, particularly on literature, science, politics and social relations (see for example Beer 1983; Frayter 1997; Lorimer 1997; Moore 1997; Paradis 1997; Browne 2001). A great deal of attention has also been paid (by historians and philosophers of science) into the specifics of how the Darwinian message was disseminated so quickly and so broadly. Here the interest lies in the links between the rhetoric of scientific naturalism and the politics of the day, be it Whig-Liberal or Tory (see for example Clark 1997; Barton 1998, 2004; Clifford et al. 2006). A consequent interest lies in the ways in which science was popularised in Victorian Britain (see especially Lightman 1997, 2007).

A note on Long Meg and her Daughters, the monolith and stone circle in Cumberland,

provides excuse to quote both Stukeiey on the whole: ‘A great Celtic temple’; and Wordsworth on Long Meg herself: Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn The power of years - pre-eminent, and placed Apart, to overlook the circle vast Speak, Giant-Mother!

More to the point, these new findings from air photography report new field monuments to with the standing circle and the second circle that Stukeley drew, and require a reappraisal of the Neolithic to Eariy Bronze Age monuments in Cumbria.

The Swedish archaeological expedition in Cyprus worked last year at Lapithos on the north and at Karavostassi, the ancient Soli, on the north-west.

At Lapithos 23 tombs from the early and middle Copper Age and zo tombs from the early Iron Age were opened and examined. The former cover a period from the end of early Cypriote I to the beginning of middle Cypriote 11. The main part of the finds consists of a very representative series of pottery : red polished I-IV ware, black polished ware, black slip 1-11 ware, white painted I-IV ware. The later tombs have yielded a rich collection of tools and weapons, bracelets and rings of copper, finger-rings of silver and gold, 8 necklaces of paste beads, idols of terra cotta and one marble idol, etc. The gold rings (early Cypriote III) represent the first gold found in Cvprus of the early Copper Age. One necklace (early Cypriote III), coniists of 156 globular beads of various sizes arranged in 8 rhythmic series, with one large bead in the middle of each series. Another necklace (middle Cypriote I) consists of 64 large globular beads and more than 500 small cylindrical beads inserted between the large ones. A third is of round, fluted and double-conical beads in symmetrical arrangement. The idols are of the plank-shaped type. One represents a mother holding a baby in her arms, another a mother and a baby in a bed, and a third a man and a woman in a bed.

In this neat investigation of a harbour site, the authors show how much can be learnt by site survey — and by surface plotting and remote mapping in particular. Here the excavations are used to pilot the geophysics, rather than the other way round, and ground-penetrating radar is employed to show not just where features are, but their sequence and their current vulnerability. This exemplary project demonstrates how, in modern approaches to fieldwork, sites are to be studied rather than excavated, comprehended rather than stripped.

The incised slabs of the rectangular cist in the cairn at Kivik rank with the Hagia Triada sarcophagus in being among the most important discoveries so far made of evidence bearing on the funeral rites of the Bronze Age in Europe, and it seems certain that pending further discoveries these two monuments form the foundation on which our study of Bronze Age funeral customs must be built.

Before discussing the Kivik cairn itself it is well to glance at the archaeological setting of Kivik and the surrounding country, for on this the correct interpretation of the Kivik slabs depends.

Twenty-two years after the close of his investigations in north-west Syria, Braidwood produced this massive and expensive volume which covers the archaeology of a part of the ‘Amuq plain from the advanced Neolithic period down to about 2000 B.C. More than a quarter of a million words have been penned, and there are many hundreds of illustrations, including ten coloured plates which are good reproductions of sixty-nine prehistoric potsherds. Such lavish and verbose treatment may unfortunately defeat the purpose of the volume, for those who can afford the money, and still more the time required for the mastery of its contents, must be few indeed.

The classification of the material described depends basically on the partial excavation of three mounds: Judaidah, Çatal Huyuk and Ta’yinat, of which the first named produced the most abundant evidence. These excavations were supplemented by operations on a smaller scale at the mounds of Dhahab and Kurdu and by the surface exploration of many other sites.

The Early Palaeolithic of Japan may be defined as comprised of any assemblage which occurs before 30,000 years BP, i.e., prior to the formation of Tachikawa loam formation of the Kanto region (Serizawa, 1970, Ikawa Smith, 1978, 247-86). It has been the subject of controversy since the Palaeolithic period was recognized in Japan following discoveries at Iwajuku in 1949 (Sugihara, 1956). Early in the history of subsequent research, debate arose as to the date of man's arrival in the archipelago. This debate is of importance to a wider audience for a number of reasons. First, Japan is located in a region which has traditionally been associated as a source area for the peopling of the New World—early dates claimed for occupation in America should then, perhaps, be relatable to similar finds and dates in Japan. Secondly, there is now increasing evidence for relative early dates of occupation in Siberia. (Boriskovskij, 1978, 27; Yi and Clark, 1983; Okladnikov and Pospelova, 1982). These may find supportive evidence from neighbouring lands. Thirdly, it is interesting from the point of view of hominid evolution to know how far populations of Homo erectus and archaic Homo sapiens had spread in East Asia and what form their adaptations took. Additionally, Japan is a relatively well-explored and published source of data in a poorly known region of the World and may be useful as a source for deriving analogies and ideas in interpreting lithic material, particularly in countries such as Korea where palaeolithic research is still in its infancy (Hwang, 1979; Kim, 1983).