The earliest names of Britain known are Celtic. We know that the islands were inhabited before the coming of the Celts, but nothing about the language of the earlier inhabitants or the names by which they designated the islands.

In 1932 Professor Christopher Hawkes, in collaboration with the late Sir Thomas Kendrick, produced Archaeology in England and Wales 1914-1931, a book for many years the standard and much-loved textbook for all students of ancient Britain. Here, more than half a century later he reviews Archaeology in Britain since 1945,* edited by Ian Longworth and John Cherry, published by the British Museum in conjunction with, and as a supplement to, its current exhibition, ‘Archaeology in Britain: New Views of the Past’ (Editorial, p. 169).

The early Christian monuments of Scotland have not received the attention which they deserve since Romilly Allen published his descriptive catalogue in 1903. New discoveries since that date, and a fuller study of the analogous carvings in neighbouring areas, have made necessary some revision of the ideas then current. The investigation is rendered more difficult by the individual character of the series and by the rarity of stones bearing inscriptions. Mrs Curle, in a recent paper has boldly attacked the main problem, that of the monuments north of the Forth, the symbol stones and cross-slabs generally attributed to the Picts. Her thesis does not attempt to cover the whole field but is rather ‘an endeavour to establish a classification and a tentative chronology and to review the comparative material’ (p. 60). The conclusions to which her survey have led the author show a wide divergence from those of earlier writers, and the chronology proposed is revolutionary.

The inscription was found badly damaged and distorted by fire, and affected by various corrosive patinas which had to be treated by a specialized laboratory in the Museum of Barcelona. The plaque measures 44 × 21 cm and has six perforations (visible on the photograph) to fix it to a backing (PL. II).

The identification by excavation of a small shepherd's hut within an enclosure at Graig Fechan and its radiocarbon dating suggests parallels with Dartmoor and the Peak District, when a few centuries of milder climate seem to have favoured upland farming