In 1998 extensive investigations were undertaken on Water Island, US Virgin Islands, by a research team from the Southeast Archeological Center, National Park Service. The US government is relinquishing ownership of the island, an action that would affect cultural resources. Earlier surveys had located a number of sites, including the remains of three 18th- and l9th-century plantations, historic wells, prehistoric shell middens and an extensive World War II fortification complex (Wild & Anderson 1992; Knight 2001; Anderson et al. in preparation).

Water Island, located off St Thomas, encompasses about one square mile, and is characterized by steep rocky slopes, a pronounced central ridgeline and a highly indented coastline with numerous bays and beaches (FIGURE 1). Fresh water comes from rainfall, and in small brackish ponds. Vegetation ranges from dry tropical thorn scrub to mangrove/salt ponds.

The flight of Muhammad and his companions from Mecca to Medina in AD 622 (the hijra) initiated one of the world’s great intellectual and cultural movements, which in a few centuries was to extend from China to the Atlantic. As western archaeologists, we have probably accorded relative neglect to the study of the material culture arising from Islam, although it clearly has much to offer for the understanding of all societies. To help redress the balance, Antiquity has invited a number of scholars active in the archaeology of Islamic culture to give us a taste of work in progress. This special series, which will feature in each issue in 2005, is introduced by its convenor, Andrew Petersen.

What is the nature of the cities and chiefdoms, the states or proto-states or would-be states that fringe the Roman Empire? Modern Spain, like other regions that were first outside and then inside Empire, shows social transformations that were as important as they are now hard to judge from enigmatic evidence.

It has always been part of the programme of ANTIQUITY to insist on the value of air-photography as an archaeological method; and records of discoveries made by its use have often appeared in the pages of this journal. Here is another such record; the first, I think, in which air-photography has led to the discovery and excavation of an altogether unknown Roman site.

In the autumn of 2013, a discovery was made in the Doganaccia necropolis close to the ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinia. A sepulchre was uncovered, mercifully and unusually unlooted. Inside were the remains of two individuals and a range of grave goods, allowing the tomb to be typologically dated to the late seventh or early sixth century BC. One of the individuals had been cremated, while the other was laid out in a supine position. Both were placed on funeral benches similar to those known from Etruscan tombs across the region (Steingräber 2009). This excavation was as unusual as it was spectacular—the equally vigorous efforts of nineteenth-century enthusiasts (Leighton 2004: 12) and twentieth-century tomb robbers (van Velzen 1999: 180) have left little of the Etruscan burial record undisturbed. Unsurprisingly, there was a great deal of media excitement over the burial, as its excavator, distinguished Etruscan scholar Alessandro Mandolesi, spoke with the press of his impressions of the remains and their relationship to the artefacts found in the tomb. Little of his exact words remain in the public sphere, but the impression he provided to the press was clear in the flurry of media reports that followed his statement. The ensuing media interest and archaeological developments present a number of serious issues for the practice of archaeology in an age in which digital media can magnify the impact of any major discovery. In addition, the interpretation put forward exposed the continued androcentrism inherent in many sub-disciplines of archaeology, which, 30 years on from Conkey and Spector's (1984) transformative publication, remain locked in deeply problematic interpretative patterns. This interpretation of the Tarquinia burial is emblematic of a far wider phenomenon, both within and beyond Italy, which has serious implications for future archaeological practice. This article unpicks both the media storm and interpretative paradigms that characterised this case study, and queries archaeological responsibility and visibility in an age of 24-hour news.

The repatriation of human remains (Editorial Antiquity 78: 5) is a matter in which two viewpoints, both equally valid, are confronted. Human skeletal remains are part of the record of our past. They tell about our shared past – about the story of human adaptive radiation and dispersion. Recent research using modern and ancient DNA evidence is adding considerably to this understanding, and puts our diversity into context by the finding that we share something like 99 per cent of our genetic makeup with all other human beings. Research on human skeletal remains tells us also about how our predecessors lived and died, and has considerable potential to contribute to medical research. Medieval skeletons from a deserted medieval village in Yorkshire, for instance, have showed that osteoporosis was just as common among medieval women as it is now, giving fresh insight into the causes of osteoporosis and calling into question ideas that blame our modern lifestyle. The techniques used in this study were not available when the remains were first excavated; this illustrates the value of long-term retention of skeletal material, which allows application of new techniques so that new information can be obtained from old collections.

The problem of Roman windows and their furnishings has never been studied seriously in this country as so little evidence is usually forthcoming. Window glass is found in fair quantities on most sites and, where the pieces are large enough to indicate size, they would appear to be no more than g to 12 in. square, but there is little indication of how they were fastened into the window. Such technical details have unfortunately escaped attention in those countries where sufficient remains have been found to attempt reconstruction. While R. Herbig has discussed windows generally: the most detailed treatment has been that by Vittorio Spinazzola in his survey of the excavations of Via dell’ Abbondanza at Pompeii. As he indicates, while houses were only of one story, the window openings tended to be very small slits but, as soon as an upper floor was built, more light could be obtained without sacrificing safety or privacy. Once the advantages of this became apparent, new and larger windows were inserted on the ground floor, architectural ingenuity being displayed in directing the light to particular parts of a room where it was needed. He touches upon the question of the infilling without adding much detail. Some of the smaller windows appear to have been openings in the wall with wooden, sliding shutters on the inside. The larger ones were filled with iron gratings in a form of a simple grille which has been reconstructed as horizontal flat bars, through which round vertical bars passed, a piece of construction which seems to be unnecessarily difficult. A grille, merely of crossbars, has also been found at Herculaneum.

Few places in the world have given rise to more fantastic speculation than this volcanic island, 70 square miles in area, lying in the Pacific Ocean, lat. 27° 10′ s., long. 109° 20′ w. Actually the so-called ‘mysteries of Easter Island’, or rather the explanations which have been offered, are not the work of trained men of science. It is natural that the huge statues, standing erect as they do in a naked landscape against a background of black and yellow, should have appealed to the poetical imagination. But those who wish to face with candour the problems presented by certain parts of the world may well be annoyed when the poets’ lyrical love of mystery becomes the starting-point of speculation. The best students of Easter Island have always told us that it was Polynesian and could only be explained by Polynesia. The evidence that we have now obtained is merely an addition to what was already a formidable pile. Nevertheless we expect that before long others will come forward again with tales of a lost continent of Lemuria, submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific; and that Easter Island is one of its peaks, peopled with Lemurian idols!

Anyone who tries for long to penetrate the fascinating world of the prehistoric Aegean becomes aware very quickly of a certain malaise in the works of modern scholars. It is now a century since Schliemann first dug at Troy, and the mass of archaeological evidence continues to increase at an almost alarming rate. I say ‘alarming’ because the pace of excavation threatens to outrun our ability to assimilate and control the evidence.