Changes in the interpretation of the past have followed the collapse of the rule of the communist parties in Eastern Europe. The paper particularly charts the rise of nationalism in south-eastern Europe and its academic use by different political groups, and concludes that post-modernists’ advocation of a critical socia-political role for archaeology and their hopes for them are unrealistic when faced with powerful, aggressive political forces.

This article addresses the potential of oral tradition (folklore) in the archaeological study of the past. It deals with oral traditions concerning landscape features in the area of the prehistoric and Roman site of Ajdovščina above Rodik, Slovenia. The palimpsest nature of modern landscapes can be regarded as a syncretic sum of past ways of life, land use, religious practices, and cults. In oral tradition concerning the ancient inhabitants of Ajdovščina, it is possible to discern the obscured memory of historical process. Certain sites, referred to in local oral tradition, mainly in the form of memories of religious practices performed there and of superstitions related to them, may well prove to be the remains of ancient sacred places. Methodological problems include identification of the generic and specific in oral tradition, the recognition of Christian intervention and/or censorship of ancient cults and beliefs, and the transposition and/or survival of elements of old ritual practices in popular beliefs. The aim of this article is to discuss the role of oral tradition linked to the landscape in the persistence of collective memory concerning historical circumstances and the survival and/or transformation of ancient cult or ritual sites and beliefs.

The author analyses the analogies and differences in the cultural developments of certain regions of the central Mediterranean in the period 3500–2500 bc. Radiocarbon dates, although still insufficient in number, help in building a system of relative chronologies, which are still in the course of being defined. In particular, certain transformations are examined, such as the development of metal working and changes in ritual funerary practices, as well as other socio-ideological aspects. Moreover, the author considers the problem of the role played by contacts with the wider world in these transformation.

Raw materials from aquatic environments were systematically used for domestic activities even before the appearance of modern humans. Here, the authors analyse the possible use of freshwater mussel valves of the Unio species, whose surfaces preserve marks resulting from their use. They consider the ways in which wear develops on these valves, starting from the comparison between archaeological exemplars and experimental pieces. An experimental programme was developed to record variables such as the procurement of the raw material, the processing of various materials, and the time needed for each operation. Experimental pieces were assessed to document how use-wear develops. The archaeological assemblage from the site of Cheia in Romania (Hamangia culture, fifth millennium cal bc) served as a case study to illustrate the relevance of the results.

Using the example of pottery imported into the Channel ports of southern England, an approach to examining the role of pottery in the emergence and mediation of coastal communities is proposed here. Building on recent scholarship, it is argued that it is no longer tenable to see pottery as a carrier of identity, or as part of a ‘cultural package’, with meaning emerging with identity as people interact with pottery within and without port environments. The study proposes that imported pottery found meaning in different ways, depending on the context of acquisition and use. Hence it mediated different forms of community and identity. The article ends with a consideration of the wider implications of this approach for ongoing studies of material culture, trade, and urban identities in medieval Europe.

Excavations in the Roman villa of Aiano yielded twenty glass beads, a pendant, and a glass-recycling furnace, originally interpreted as a bead workshop. This article re-assesses the evidence of bead making in light of new data obtained thanks to recent progress in archaeological glass studies. A detailed study of the typology, technology, and chemical composition of the beads clearly excludes local production. Instead, two different forming techniques, four different base glasses (Roman, HIMT, Foy 2.1 and Foy 2.1/HIMT), and numerous colouring and opacifying materials point to a well-established and extensive network of the Roman bead trade, in which Aiano evidently participated. The majority of the beads can be related to the monumentalization of the villa in the fourth to fifth century ad and represent a sample of the ornaments worn by its inhabitants.

A pair of animal heads of the Faardal type is central in our reinterpretation of the Late Bronze Age Vestby hoard from eastern Norway. After a period of use and circulation, the heads were mounted on bodies belonging to a different animal species. We argue that the making of the animal figurines and the other high-quality objects of the hoard can only be properly understood against the backdrop of Scandinavian Bronze Age cosmology. This line of thought extends to the presence of a tin bead necklace, which we interpret as a lunar calendar. By combining a ‘body perspective’ – including understandings of body techniques, operational sequences and the ‘sociality’ of objects – with a ‘symbolist perspective’ – including symbol systems, cosmology and intentionality – we put the head back onto the body, so to speak. We also scrutinize the premises for earlier interpretations of the objects' ‘life stories’ and reinterpret their trajectories. This influences the understanding of the act of hoarding, and finally leads to a discussion of how hoarding was also somehow related to the ‘birth’ of the artefacts.

The phenomenon of Iron Age vitrified ramparts has become increasingly recognisable in the last twenty years in the Iberian Peninsula. After the first walls with vitrified stones were discovered in southern Portugal, there have been several findings scattered throughout western Iberia. A chronological sequence from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age can be established on the basis of the archaeological remains, with reference to different historical and functional conditions. This article reviews the data obtained from the various sites, in order to understand the context in which the stone structures became vitrified. Furthermore, we have analysed samples of stones and mud bricks that have been altered by fire from these sites, which has allowed us to explain the variability in the archaeological record in relation to different historical processes. With all these data, we aim to contribute to our knowledge of a phenomenon that is widespread in Iron Age Europe.

In this article we present the fragments of a crucible and a possible tuyère that provide evidence of early copper metallurgy in Scandinavia at least 1500 years earlier than previously thought. The technical ceramics were found in a cultural layer containing Early Neolithic Funnel Beaker pottery dating to around 3800–3500 bc beneath a long barrow dating to 3300–3100 bc. The presence of a copper alloy in the crucible is confirmed by three independent X-ray fluorescence analyses using both a hand-held and a stationary instrument, SEM-EDS analysis of a cross-section, as well as a Bruker Tornado μ-X-Ray-fluorescence scanner (μ-XRF). The transmission of metallurgy to southern Scandinavia coincided with the introduction of long barrows, causewayed enclosures, two-aisled houses, and certain types of artefacts. Thus, metallurgy seems to be part of the new networks that enabled the establishment of a fully Neolithic society.

This article looks at the non-utilitarian functions of writing in Crete during the Palatial period. It argues that writing was used as a marker of status and prestige and that it was also used for communication with the divine. It also attempts to interpret what have usually been seen as isolated examples of writing systems as pseudo-writing.

Coin finds are used to inform discussion about coins in circulation and, hence, economic activity. This discussion often rests on the assumption that patterns in finds of accidentally lost coins mirror to a useful extent those of the coins in circulation at the time. Whenever possible, such assumptions should be tested. This study does this empirically with data from a known coinage. Conditional support was found for the assumption. There is also some evidence that coin size and denomination can affect the coin record but these variables did not add significantly to predictions about coins in circulation based only on the numbers of coins found. Some conditions and precautions are suggested when using the assumption and some uses of data based on accidentally lost coins are discussed.

Lithic armatures have been widely noted as key evidence for interpreting the role of indigenous Mesolithic traditions in the spread of the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture, and therefore early agriculture, across temperate Europe. Their role as evidence for the continuity of Mesolithic ‘identities’ has been emphasized without the use of a unified, systematic recording methodology of armatures from both Late–Final Mesolithic (LM–FM) and LBK sites that places armatures in their broader context as part of projectile technologies of late hunter-gatherers and early farmers. In this paper, we present the results of recent research in the southern North Sea basin that utilized a systematic and unified recording methodology to analyse armature assemblages from LM–FM and LBK sites on an inter-regional scale. We report that there is much more inter-regional variability in armature assemblages during the LM than traditionally considered in efforts to interpret similarities and possible cultural transmission processes between Mesolithic and LBK populations. This paper calls for a reassessment of inter-regional LM variability in the construction of Mesolithic-LBK contact models and a focus that places armatures in their broader social and technological contexts.

Research on Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age society in southernmost Scandinavia has to a large extent focused on the creation of social hierarchy and on elite networks upheld by individuals. This has meant that the importance of collective strategies has been underplayed. In the south-west corner of Sweden, about eighty house remains from the Late Neolithic and the earliest Bronze Age have been excavated within a small area. It is the largest concentration of houses from the period so far excavated in southern Scandinavia. The settlement pattern reveals both single farms and one site, Almhov, with a concentration of several contemporary farms with large houses. The aim of this article is to highlight collective aspects, recognizing that both collective and individual strategies are important in the formation of hierarchical societies. House remains as well as graves and their placement in relation to each other within the local landscape are the archaeological material in focus, regarded as materializations of economic and social relations. It is argued that collective strategies were an important part of creating and maintaining economic and social position.

This article investigates the evolution of cremation rites during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Spectacular finds during the last decade have shed much light on this subject; for example, the discovery and excavation of the largest cremation cemetery to date (Can PiteuCan Roqueta with more than 1000 graves); or the restudy of other sites (Can Bech de Baix or Roques de Sant Formatge). Additionally, relevant material has been obtained from studies of: excavations of settlements with exceptional defensive systems (Vilars d'Arbeca); the preceding and founding layers of the Greek colony of Emporion; and the development of political territories in the River Ebro region and surroundings. A detailed analysis of information from these sites has considerably increased knowledge about the social transformations that occurred over the 600 to 700 year timescale of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.

The province of Van in north-eastern Turkey served as a land bridge between Africa and Eurasia during the Palaeolithic. The region is of particular relevance for understanding the movement of hominins between these continents. This study concerns the lithic remains from a locality at Gürgürbaba Hill, named Locality 010, north of the village of Ulupamir (Erciş district). Locality 010 was dated to 311±32 kya by terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides method, which coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9), a Middle Pleistocene interglacial period. The assemblage from this site is attributed to the Late Acheulean and resembles that of the southern Caucasus. This similarity indicates that the artefacts from Locality 010 were probably produced by late Lower Palaeolithic technology in a broad sense. These findings suggest local adaptations of late Middle Pleistocene hominins to high plateau environments.

The possibility of exploring ethnic identities in past societies constitutes one of the most controversial fields of archaeological research. However, the reassessment of the conceptualization of ethnicity in the human sciences and the increasing transference of these theories to archaeological research is helping to develop new analytical frameworks for the study of this problematic subject. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to attempt a theoretical and methodological approach to the complex relationships between ethnic identity and material remains from the standpoint of Iron Age studies, showing both the possibilities and difficulties of archaeological research on ethnicity. For this period, the incipient availability of written evidence allows the development of new interdisciplinary research strategies. Finally, an introduction to practical work in this field is presented, specifically focusing on two case studies: Ruiz Zapatero and Álvarez-Sanchís' approach to the identity of the Vettones of the central Iberian Peninsula, and the author's own work on the Late Iron Age sanctuaries of the Middle Rhine-Moselle region.

This article considers Childe's career in Scotland, where he was Abercromby Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Edinburgh University 1927–1946, and assesses his impact on Scottish archaeology and the Scottish archaeological community. Matters discussed include his development of teaching programmes and resources within the university, and his association with the Edinburgh League of Prehistorians. His excavation and fieldwork at Skara Brae and elsewhere, and his publications during this span, are considered. Childe's collaborations with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the National Museum, especially during the Second World War, are reviewed. The archaeological achievements of some of his Edinburgh students are briefly summarized.

This article is focused on the deliberate orientation of longhouses observed within the wide area of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and succeeding cultures (post-LBK). Spatial analysis is based on the assemblage of 1546 buildings, whose purpose it was to attempt to cover the whole area of longhouse distribution. Despite variability, which considerably increased over time, the alignment of house entrances towards the south or south-east was observed. The widely accepted theory of house alignment towards the ‘ancestral homeland’ is therefore challenged by a new hypothesis, which sees orientation governed by the celestial path of the sun. Using 3D-modelling of light-and-shadow and solar impact, sun alignment is discussed as an integral element of the longhouse concept already present by the time of its genesis. The tendency of aligning longhouse entrances towards the east, which emerged during the LBK expansion westwards, is considered to be a regionally limited pattern, as no analogical shift was observed in the eastern areas of longhouse distribution.

The rise of the Greek city state and political community; art histories of the evolution of archaic and classical Greek style: against a backdrop of such grand narratives is considered the design of a perfume jar belonging to the style known as proto-Korinthian. Lines of thought and connection are drawn which reach into pottery production and pictorial imagery (of a studied sample of some 1930 pots), pointing beyond through the whole economic life-cycle of the artefact, from production to exchange and consumption. In contrast to those processual social archaeologies that set artefacts in a narrow context of social rank, status, and community interaction, reducing style to an expression of ‘society', context is defined pragmatically according to what is suggested in an encounter or interpretation of this particular pot. The result is an attempt to work with the archetypical archaeological relation between the particular and the general in a theoretical framework arising from ‘ post-processual’ discussions of the style and meaning of material culture. Insights are pro-vided into the cultural and ideological milieu of an aristocratic state under pressure and change. It is argued that the changes in pot design known as proto-Korinthian began as creative experiment with the articulation of risk and identity, violence and transgression, through definitions of the body and alterity. The painted images later clarify in their visual ideology of a realm of aristocratic masculinity detached from the domestic. Challenges are set for conventional art histories and processual archaeology, while a wide range of issues is raised concerning the archaeological construction and understanding of culture.

The layout and development of field systems may reflect significant aspects of prehistoric societies such as agricultural strategies, use rights and inheritance practices. This article presents a method for analysing the developments of field systems in their entirety, based on a hierarchical sorting of field boundaries whose intersections have been used to define relations of equivalence and subordination. The formalized relational expression of the field system is analysed using a stochastic optimization algorithm. The method was successfully applied to three Danish Celtic fields from the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age, making it possible to identify five principles behind the layout: primary boundaries (probably established at community level), major parcels (administered at a household level), structured subdivisions (presumably related to inheritance), irregular subdivisions, and small-scale expansions of the field systems. The initial degree of regularity of the field systems seems to have influenced later modifications.