In Garton Slack and Wetwang Slack, which together constitute one stretch of a dry valley to the west of Driffield, gravel extraction over 20 years has resulted in the excavation of a large part of an extensive Iron Age settlement.

Roads and ditches formed a focus for scores of buildings—roundhouses and post squares—as well as a cemetery of 446 inhumations in the ‘Arras Culture’ tradition and the first cart burial (in 1971) to be excavated under modern conditions (Dent, 1982, 1983; Brewster, 1971; 1981; Stead, 1984). Startling though many of these finds were, none exceeded the discovery of a group of three cart burials in the summer of 1984.

The first grave was discovered by the quarry manager, Mick Ward, who recognized it as a cart burial (he had seen the 1971 find, as well as numerous other burials in the valley) when the dark discolouration of the fill appeared in the quarry face and part of one tyre and the skull were exposed. He reported his discovery at once and I visited the site the same afternoon. The part of the quarry where the find was made had been stripped of topsoil a week or two earlier.

Pure luck played an important part in determining my scientific career. As far as I can remember, when a schoolboy I never seriously considered devoting myself to historical studies, let alone to archaeology arid prehistory. In fact, I then had no clear predilection for any particular, well-defined field. 1 was a rather good pupil in most subjects; only physics inspired a profound dislike in me and this barred the road to the exact sciences. My father made his living as a teacher and probably without realizing it, I wanted to follow in his footsteps. The influence of a few exccllcnt teachers eventually made me decide to read classics at the University of Ghent. Soon however, I grew strongly disappointed by my chosen subject and niy professors could not kindle in me any fervent lovc for the endless rehashing of antique texts or for critical texteditions. Luckily I was attracted almost immediately by a remarkable man, Hubert \.’an de IVeerd, whose extensive courses included riot only the whole range of ancient history but also the archaeology and art history of that same period. His personal interest, however, was in Gallo-Kornan archaeology, and precisely at the time when I first met hini he had just finished the first large-scale operation undertaken in Belgium, to wit the excavation of the townwall of ‘I’ongeren, the antique Aturrtucu Tungrotmi. I xi the course of his academic career, Van de 12’eerd spent the best part of his time and efforts on the training of his students; he thus created a solid school of historians and archaeologists, the best of whom were to occupy important positions in Flemish intellectual life.

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).

The analysis of phytoliths, microscopic pieces of silica formed within the cells of living plants, is a recent addition to archaeobotanical studies in the New World (Carbone, 1977; Pearsall, 1978; Lewis, 1981; Robinson, 1983; Piperno, 1983, 1984, in press, a; Piperno & Clary, 1984). Because these mineralized bodies are very resistant to destruction in soils over long periods of time, they have enormous, and for the most part, untapped potential in ecological reconstruction. However, phytoliths are at the stage in their development as an analytical technique where much of the Easic research into the taxonomy of their bodies, their distribution in soils, and their application to various research problems remains to be resolved. Hence, as various authors have indicated (Pearsall, 1982 ; Rovner, 1983; Piperno, 1983), a considerable amount of baseline research remains to be carried out in order to properly delineate the strengths and limitations of phytolith analysis in paleo-ecological reconstruction

Ever since the revelation in 1953 that the finds at Piltdown were faked there has been very considerable speculation as to who was responsible for this astonishing fraud, and the matter has been ventilated many times in the last twenty years in our pages. Many people have thought that Charles Dawson was the forger and this seemed the answer by implication, though not specifically, in the late Professor Weiner's The Piltdown forgery. Other people, for various reasons, have tried to pin the blame, or part of the blame, on the late Father Teilhard de Chardin. Many other candidates have been put up and knocked down, and many of us have wondered whether we should ever know the truth. Now we think we do, owing to the most careful researches of Peter Costello, the biographer and literary historian based in Dublin. He has written an invaluable book setting out his complete investigations into this mystery, and coming to what we believe is the proper and final solution. In advance of the publication of his important book he has very kindly agreed to give us a short account, which we print here with great pleasure. All readers of Antiquity will look forward with avidity to reading the complete statement of his case in his published book.

The excavation at Platia Magoula Zarkou, a prehistoric settlement in Thessaly, 30 km west of Larisa, was undertaken to clarify the problem of the exact chronological and stratigraphic position of the black burnished pottery, characteristic of the Larisa culture, which has hitherto been accepted as dating to the end of the Late Neolithic. The author became involved with this problem when he found black pottery together with grey pottery of the Tsangli phase, of the beginning of the Late Neolithic, at the neolithic cremation cemetery of Platia Magoula Zarkou (Gallis, 1982, 109-11 ; English summary, 234). The problem of the exact stratigraphic position of this black ware has now been solved. The dating of the Larisa culture to the beginning of the Late Neolithic (to the Tsangli phase) has now been confirmed by this excavation, as well as another similar excavation at the prehistoric settlement of Makrychori 2, 13km north of Larisa. A report of the results of these two excavations is forthcoming in Praehistorische Zeitschrift.

In this, the eighth contribution to our archaeological retrospect series, Professor Carl Johan Becker describes the development of Danish archaeology in the last fifty years, how it affected him and how he affected it, since his first excavation in 1932. He retired this year as Professor of Nordic Archaeology in the University of Copenhagen: in this wide-ranging and most informative article he says that a ‘new survey of Danish prehistory… will not be forthcoming’ from him, but we have good reason to believe that he is mistaken.

In its developed or final form Maiden Castle, some two miles (3.2 km) south-west of Dorchester in Dorset, is an iron age hillfort, of great complexity, which takes in two knolls of a saddle-backed spur of Upper Chalk, the highest point of which is about 440 ft (c. 134 m) above OD. The defences enclose47 acres (c. 18 ha) and consist of three banks and two ditches with an additional bank inserted along most of the south side. There are two entrances, at the east and at the west, each with double openings elaborately defended by outworks. The outstandingly imposing character of Maiden Castle is derived from the size and complexity of these earthwork defences rather than from its altitude or the natural defensive advantages of its position. Ptolemy has been thought to supply a hint as to the ancient name of Maiden Castle. The conventional identification of Roman Dnrchester is with the Durnovania of the Antonine Itinerary. Ptolemy omits that placename, but mentions Dunium in the same region as the one city apparently worthy of mention in the territory of the Durotriges (Geographia I, 103, ed. C Müller (1883)). Dunium was long ago identified with Maiden Castle. This may well be so, although recently Hod Hill and Hengistbury have also been put forward as possibilities. Part of the hillfort lies on the site of a neolithic causewayed enclosure and it also surrounds a unique ‘long-mound’ of the same period, a bronze age round barrow and the foundations of a Romano-British temple and accompanying buildings.

The megalithic chambered mound of Gavrinis, in the Morbihan department of southern Brittany, with its world-famed engravings, was re-excavated from 1979 to 1984 by the author of this article who is Directeur des Antiquités de Bretagne. The results, here summarized, included the discovery that the capstone, hidden for four thousand years, bore engravings which show that it was originally part of a large menhir, another part being now the capstone of La Table des Marchands, four kilometres away.

When BBC2 proposed to run a series of six programmes in the Spring of this year, ‘In search of the Trojan War’, with Michael Wood in the leading role as both writer and presenter, we thought it would be a worthwhile novelty, for us, to review the TV series. Then there arrived Michael Wood's book with the same title (London: BBC, 1985. 272 pp., many unnumbered plates and figs. £10.95 hardback); so we asked Donald Easton, known to our readers mainly for his contributions on Troy and Schliemann, to look at the series over six weeks, read the book, and give us his considered judgement on Wood's claim for the historicity of the Trojan War. Mr Easton, whose interests lie mainly in the history, archaeology and languages of pre-classical Anatolia, at present holds a Research Fellowship at Clare Hall, Cambridge.

The first prehistoric 'bog body' to be found in Britain in recent times has created so much interest that a brief preliminary account is warranted-even though the serious scientific investigation is only just beginning. It was discovered at Lindow Moss (SJ 820805) on the outskirtsof Wilmslow, Cheshire, in the parish of Mobberley. Formerly a very extensive bog covering about 600 hectares, Lindow Moss, has now been reduced to a tenth of that size and some 32 hectares are being excavated commercially for horticultural peat. The operators have divided the site into 'rooms' 6 m wide and up to zoo m long, and peat is excavated in spits about I m deep from alternate rooms by a large Hy-Mac, and stacked alongside to dry for about six months. It is then transported by a narrow gauge railway to the depot where it is milled and dispatched from the site.

Aïda est en effet un produit de mon travail; c'est moi qui ai d#x00E9;cidé le Vice-Roi à en ordonner la représentation; Aïda, en un mot, est sortie de mon cerveau, et il me semble qu'avant d'en disposer aussi complètement, on me devait au moins la déférence de m'en écnire (Mariette, 1871a).

Auguste Mariette, born in Boulogne-sur-Mer on 11 February 1821, is one of the most endearing characters of Egyptology. Very far ahead of his time, he did all he could to prevent Egypt being further plundered by archaeologists, and to enable it to learn how to conserve its treasures and use them to its advantage. He was given the title of Bey after his discovery of the Memphis Serapeum, and was later raised to the high rank of Pacha, a rare distinction for foreigners, on 5 June 1879. He died on 18 January 1881, and was buried at Boulaq, afterwards Cairo. A monument in his honour was set up in his native town which held glittering celebrations on the centenary of his death.

Like the wreck Port Vendres II the new wreck of Port Vendres III was broken in many pieces and neither the form of the ship nor the position of its cargo could be observed. The two shipwrecks were certainly caused by the same forces: a ship blown by a very strong wind (Tramontane) from the nearby mountains sought shelter in the natural harbour of Port Vendres. Once inside the harbour it would be unable to change direction and, driven on to the rocks at a place called Redoute Bear, broke up.

At present the Port Vendres III level forms a layer which averages about 10 cm in thickness and covers an area of 25 sq. m with a maximum thickness of 40 cm. This layer is not continuous and is found at depths varying between 5 and 7 m, and at a distance from 5 to 25 m from the coast. Covered by a carpet of Posidonia and sea shells of varying thickness, this site is separated in general from the Port Vendres II site by the same plants, but in places only the type of potsherd allowed us to distinguish one layer from the other as they are in direct contact (FIG. I)

In this fascinating article, the Professor of Archaeology in the University of Exeter shows us that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was not only the author of Faust, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and of beautiful lyrics, ballads and love-songs, but was keenly interested in prehistory and was well abreast of the subject as it was developing in Germany in the early nineteenth century.