From ethnography and social anthropology ‘the prehistorian learns how particular peoples adapt themselves to their environments, and shape their resources to the ways of life demanded by their own cultures: he thus gains a knowledge of alternate methods of solving problems and often of alternative ways of explaining artefacts resembling those he recovers in antiquity. Study of ethnography will not as a rule … give him straight answers to his queries. What it will do is to provide him with hypotheses in the light of which he can resume his attack on the raw materials of his study’ (Clark, 1957, 172). Such a controlled use of ethnographic parallels has recently been applied successfully in the spheres of art and burial practices (e.g. Ucko, 1969, 262 and references there cited) but not as yet to the study of prehistoric settlement patterns or economy. In this paper it is hoped to show how the consideration of ethnographic parallels can help us to reach some possible alternative interpretations of two classes of excavated evidence: the pits and the two-, four-, five- and six-post-hole structures found mainly on Lowland Zone Iron Age settlements in Britain. These, usually interpreted in the literature as storage pits, ‘drying-racks’ and ‘granaries’ have been taken to be characteristic features of the ‘Woodbury Type’ economy of the earlier pre-Roman Iron Age in the Lowland Zone (Piggott, 1958, 3–4 and Bowen, 1969, 13–5), bearing in mind that ‘the type site must be clearly distinguished from the economy, and the economy itself seems to have been as variable as possible within the rather narrow Iron Age technical limits, (Bowen, 1969, 13).

As part of a continuing programme of assessment and investigation of prehistoric activity in the coastal area of E Cleveland, Cleveland County Archaeology Section excavated an insubstantial and enigmatic monument which had a ritual use continuing from the late Neolithic into the early Bronze Age.

The following is a preliminary report on the results achieved during approximately six weeks' archaeological fieldwork in north-eastern Iran in July and August 1963. The primary objective was to explore the area for traces of the local Upper Pleistocene cultural sequence, and in particular to establish if possible the date and character of the local Upper Palaeolithic. In the event no traces of Upper Palaeolithic were obtained. However, a start was made towards defining the problem by the discovery of two well-stratified deposits, the one yielding a Middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) industry with distinctive regional affinities, and the other an early Post-glacial Mesolithic industry. Reliable samples were obtained for defining the statistical properties of both, together with carbon samples, traces of vertebrate fauna, and some other climatic data.

Representative collections were lodged with the Musée Iran Bastan at Teheran; and the expedition's share is to be offered in part to the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge and in part to the British Museum. The expedition was financed mainly by a grant from the British Academy, supplemented by further grants from the Crowther-Beynon Fund and the British Museum.

The western seaways – an arc of sea stretching from the Channel Islands in the south, up through the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Man, and the Outer Hebrides to Orkney in the north – have long been seen as crucial to our understanding of the processes which led to the arrival of the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland in the centuries around 4000 cal bc. The western seaways have not, however, been considered in detail within any of the recent studies addressing the radiocarbon chronology of the earliest Neolithic in that wider region. This paper presents a synthesis of all existing 5th and 4th millennia cal bc radiocarbon dates from islands within the western seaways, including 50 new results obtained specifically for this study. While the focus here is insular in a literal sense, the project’s results have far reaching implications for our understanding of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland and beyond. The findings broadly fit well with the Gathering Time model of Whittle et al., suggesting that the earliest dated Neolithic in this zone falls into the c. 3900–3700 cal bc bracket. However, it is also noted that our current chronological understanding is based on comparatively few dates spread across a large area. Consequently, it is suggested that both further targeted work and an approach that incorporates an element of typo-chronology (as well as absolute dating) is necessary if we are to move forward our understanding of the processes associated with the appearance of the first Neolithic material culture and practices in this key region.

The human remains excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler from Maiden Castle hillfort (Dorset, England) were recorded by the author in the first re-examination of the sample since Wheeler's 1943 publication. This study focuses on the osteological evidence for trauma, and employed bioarchaeological, clinical, and forensic methods to identify and interpret the skeletal evidence for ante- and peri-mortem fractures, blunt-force cranial trauma, and sharp and blunt projectile injuries. Examination of the human remains found overwhelming evidence for targeted blows to the head and body, assault injuries, and over-kill. Skeletal evidence for trauma was identified in adolescent and adult individuals, suggesting that both sexes and older subadults were exposed to and/or engaged in martial activity during the Late Iron Age. The presence of healed direct-force traumas suggests that many had survived previous episodes of interpersonal violence. The higher crude prevalence rates of trauma in the late Iron Age Belgic war cemetery and Iron Age C groups suggest that these burials reflect multiple episodes of intra- or intertribal warfare and may potentially provide evidence for the Roman invasion in ad 43.

Two shoulder blades with healed lesions found at the Mesolithic settlement Star Carr are described, one of an elk (Alces alces (L.)) and the other front red deer (Cervus elaphus L.). Their presence at the site throws light on the question of seasonal occupation, indicating that the site has been populated at least during winter time. In addition, some comments are made on the supposed lesions on the elk from High Furlong, Lancashire.

The pit alignment at Milfield North, discussed in the preceding paper, is one of six alignments revealed in the Milfield Basin within the last decade. All discoveries have so far been confined to the sands and gravels of the former delta surface, and whereas additional examples, as well as their extension onto the heavier loams overlying the sandstone series, remain to be found, so crisp has been the definition by means of intensive aerial survey in this valley, that only a limited enlargement of the present distribution pattern by this means is anticipated. The characteristics of the individual alignments are as follows:

1. Ewart 1. NT95343209 to NT96103162

An irregular line of closely spaced pits that for most of its observable course follows the crest of a gentle but marked elevation in the sand and gravel-terrace. Two interruptions are visible towards its eastern end before it angles southwards to disappear into a wood. Observed over 1100 m.

Source: Cambridge University Collection. BDE35, BDE36, BKC40.

Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne. A1656–1662.

2. Ewart 2. NT95353165 to NT95803159

Lying to the south of Ewart 1 and running broadly parallel to it. The pit sizes and spacing is similar to Ewart 1 although their inter-relationship is obscured at their eastern end by a plantation. Ewart 2 fades away at its western extremity. Observed over 300 m.

Source: Cambridge University Collection. BDE35, BDE36.

In a former paper, ‘The Problem of the Brochs,’ the writer sought to review the culture which appeared in the Western and Northern Islands and on the Northern Mainland in the 1st century B.C. and to clear away some preconceptions which seemed to hinder a realistic understanding of it. It was there suggested that a clue to the real nature of the culture might be found in a study of the ‘wheelhouse,’ a building which had not accumulated round itself those more romantic conceptions of 19th century archaeology, which made of every house a castle and of every mound a tomb; but was accepted for what it was, a dwelling of a working population. In the present paper this clue is followed with the aim of answering some of the questions which the former paper merely posed. A firm point of departure is sought in a farmstead excavated by the writer in Uist, and thence the inquiry is followed through the abundant, if unequally valuable, reports of earlier excavators to a survey of the culture as a whole.

The survey will be seen to owe much to the earlier one published by Professor Childe in his ‘Prehistory of Scotland’ in 1935, where, for the first time, elements in the material culture were distinguished which were plainly of South-west British origin and the result of immigration thence. To Dr Alex. Curle it owes a debt which will be apparent without reference to footnotes. It is due to Dr Curle's wide ranging excavations in the wheelhouses, the wags, the brochs and the hut circles of the culture, and to his earthfast judgment in regard to them, that we know more of the Iron Age dwellings in the North, and of the life lived in them, than we know of the habitations of any other part of Britain.

The project involved the survey and selective excavation of an area of field system adjoining the Romano-British ‘courtyard house’ settlement of Chysauster, near Penzance, Cornwall, supported by soil and pollen studies and by the extensive landscape surveys. The excavation had two main elements: study of the rectilinear field system and excavation of a Bronze Age funerary cairn incorporated in one of the field boundaries. The earliest field system, probably with origins in the 2nd millennium BC, was largely modified by a more irregular and strongly lynchetted field pattern, probably associated with more intensive Iron Age and Romano-British agriculture. There was also some medieval or post-medieval reuse and modification. The cairn pre-dated a boundary bank of one of the early fields and was the focus for a number of cremation burials. Six of these were accompanied by pots which, together with their radiocarbon dates, provide a significant group of the middle phase of the Trevisker variant of the British Food Urn ceramic tradition. Excavation of field boundaries showed evidence of long periods of modification and lynchet accumulation but lacked good artefactual or radiocarbon dating evidence. Soil and pollen analysis produced significant new evidence for this region, showing the former existence of a brown soil under open oak/hazel woodland, with some cereal cultivation taking place, prior to the construction of the Bronze Age cairn. Later cultivation techniques led to deterioration in soil status and to soil erosion. Some field boundaries may have been constructed at this time to conserve soil or as dumps for clearance stone. The changes, through deforestation, cultivation, and erosion influenced the plant communities in the nearby valley where pollen analysis of a peat section suggested three phases of human activity.

Magdalenian settlement systems and man/land relationships in South-west Germany are reconstructed, using archaeological evidence and modern ethnographic observation. Archaeological sites are divided into four size categories, each with distinctive structural and artefactual records, and assigned to different seasonal and functional uses in the annual subsistence cycle. Hunting of reindeer and horse dominated and, in contrast to previous theories of long-distance reindeer following, a territorial model of land-use is proposed.

The reopening of the gravel pit at Highlands Farm, Henley (742813) in the ancient channel of the Thames between Caversham and Henley in 1955 has afforded an opportunity for studying the Palaeolithic contents of the gravel in detail. A short report was presented to the Society in 1956 after some initial observations, the most important of which was that the majority of the flint implements found were of Clactonian type (Wymer, 1956). In the five years since several hundred hand-axes and cores and many thousands of flakes have been recorded from this pit, many of them in situ, collected in the preparation of witness sections. The Clactonian has still been found to be the most abundant flint industry, but several types of hand-axes have occurred, some very highly finished and seemingly at variance with the early date assigned to the ancient channel on geological grounds.

The collection of material in situ has shown conclusively that all the types of flint artifacts found at Highlands occur at all levels; nowhere is one particular type stratified in relationship to another. It is only by comparing the finds with those made at other sites in the Thames Valley that justification can be found for claiming that more than one industry is represented. The gravel filling of the ancient channel resembles the majority of Lower Palaeolithic sites in the Thames Valley, and elsewhere in Britain: several flint industries are jumbled indiscriminately together. Many tens of thousands of years may divide the individual artifacts within the gravel, but there is no stratigraphical evidence to show it.

The true character of the site described in this paper was first suggested by Mr A. H. A. Hogg, after a visit paid in the course of fieldwork for the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales. Examination of photographic prints of the national air cover had revealed a line of three approximately circular hollows on a gently sloping hillside: these were at first thought to be the remains of round huts whose ruined walls were hidden by the vigorous growth of dwarf gorse covering almost the whole of this part of Mynydd Rhiw. Mr Hogg's visit happened to coincide with a periodical burning off of the gorse which made the banks of the ‘huts’ plainly visible (pl. VII, a). The banks were seen to be of earth and small stones; and the latter were observed to be, not the coarse-grained igneous variety represented on the surrounding hillside in general, but a fine-grained flinty rock bearing abundant signs of artificial working. Closer examination showed that this represented the debris of stone axe manufacture.

The source of the axe material was not immediately apparent. Search of the whole hilltop for outcrops met with no success, but other occurrences of this, or similar, stone were noted as small boulders or fragments. It was at first concluded that some erratic boulders of fine-grained rocks had been brought from Snowdonia, or farther away, by glaciation, and that a particularly large one had been completely broken up and worked out on or near the site of these huts.

This study examines the archaeological significance of the material from a group of Neolithic chipping floors rescued during the rebuilding of the Antrim coast road, at Mad Mans Window, south of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. It shows that the lithic production strategies vary significantly between assemblages although it is presumed that they are all Neolithic in date and come from the same area of coast. It is apparent that flint axe production was of limited importance on these sites and that in spite of the abundance of flint available along the Antrim coast, relatively few polished flint axes were manufactured. Instead the numerous flint caches found in adjacent parts of the north-east of Ireland tend to produce scrapers and blades. Hoards containing arrowheads may be confined to the Bronze Age.

Around 300 polished flint axes and roughouts are known from Ireland. These are frequently small and only partially polished. A limited number of highly polished axes with ground flat side facets have been designated sub-type A. The tendency to use porcellanite rather than flint for axe manufacture may be due to its ability to withstand robust shock.

During the last 100 years, the role of flint as a key resource in the stone age of north-eastern Ireland has always been recognized but this has usually led to an uncritical assumption as to the paramount importance of flint. Work in recent years has shown that its significance in attracting and retaining Mesolithic settlement may have been over-emphasized.

The role of the flint industries in the Irish Neolithic in this region has never been properly assessed, either in relation to older Mesolithic manufacturing traditions or in the broader context of supply to the Neolithic communities of this part of Ireland.

In particular, good or even reasonable quality flint is usually only exposed in Cretaceous outcrops along a narrow strip on the edge of the basalt plateau and, therefore, has a very limited availability in parts of Co. Antrim as well as parts of Counties Down and Deny. As a contrast, erratic and beach flint is available in some quantity down the east coast of Ireland from Co. Down to Wexford. A second potential constraining factor is that unlike Britain, where flint was exploited for axe manufacture in the east and other rocks in the west, flint sources and porcellanite for axe manufacturing are both found adjacent to each other in the same corner of Co. Antrim. In particular, a number of more substantial chipping floors of Neolithic age are known, e.g. the opencast quarry sites at Ballygalley Head. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of flint production on the Antrim coast with particular reference to its significance in the Neolithic. This topic will be developed in the context of an analysis of the material found at Mad Mans Window near Glenarm.

Interest concerning the origins of the faience beads found in Britain has led to much discussion and speculation. Occurring as they do primarily in Scottish EBA contexts and Wessex cremation burials, these beads link together British cultural extremes of the second millennium BC. By their occurrence also in Europe and more profusely in the Near East, they suggest trade connections which require the most searching examination of the evidence before definite conclusions as to their source can be reached. The classic studies on faience beads were completed by Beck and Stone (1936) and Stone and Thomas (1956). Their carefully considered opinions indicated positively an Eastern origin for the British beads, but this view has been challenged recently by Newton and Renfrew (1970) using as a basis for their thesis the spectrographic analyses reported by Stone and Thomas who had ruefully regarded them as non-indicative of provenance. It must be stated from the outset that the work to be described here does not indicate the exact source of the British beads but it can be claimed to resolve adequately the problem of the local as opposed to Eastern origins.

The so-called Dansaren rock carving at Järrestad, southern Sweden, is one of the largest rock carving sites in that country. This paper presents a detailed description and re-analysis of the carvings, examining not only the images themselves but also their topographical location, groupings and position in relation to the available rock surface and possible viewpoints of the observer. The history of research at the site is described together with the methods used for recording. The motifs are described and discussed and it is noted that the various types of images, including footsoles, feet, horsemen, cupmarks, and boats occur in particular combinations and are distributed on the rock surface in such a manner that discrete panels are apparent, delineated by natural cracks in the rock which form an integral part of the design. The location and distribution of other monuments and rock carvings in the region are discussed and a social and symbolic context within the later Bronze Age presented for the Dancer and its associated carvings.

For many years the post-glacial age of palæolithic man in this country was generally accepted, though it was denied by some, especially by Prof. James Geikie and Mr. S. B. J. Skertchly. The latter based his views upon the distribution of the superficial deposits on the western borders of Norfolk and Suffolk, of which more anon.

Of recent years, the work of various continental geologists has shewn that palæolithic man lived in western Europe before the latest glacial episode, and it seems very unlikely therefore, that the same was not the case in our own country. We determined, therefore, to open some sections in the well-known locality of High Lodge, Mildenhall, in order to try to obtain evidence upon this point. We would wish to record our cordial thanks to Sir Henry Bunbury, upon whose estates the High Lodge deposits are found, for giving us permission to make excavations, and affording us every facility during the operations. We also took advantage of a recently opened exposure at Warren Hill, to note the section exposed at that place.

In a study of the faunal changes in the Mediterranean area, Higgs (1961) has suggested that the remains from the cave of Mugharet es-Skhūl may be as much as 10,000 years later than those from the levels yielding human remains in the cave of Mugharet et-Tabūn. If this indeed proves to be the case, then a previously controversial problem will to a great extent be eradicated. It is common knowledge that the skulls from these two caves display a remarkable degree of variability ranging from a typical ‘Classic’ Neanderthal type (Tabūn I) to a specimen (Skhūl V) morphologically very similar to certain Upper Palaeolithic skeletons (McCown and Keith, 1939). Three quite different explanations have been given for this, two of which take the Mount Carmel people as approximately contemporaneous:

(1) The Mount Carmel people represent a single taxonomic group with a high degree of variability (McCown and Keith, 1939; Howell, 1951; Le Gros Clark, 1958).

(2) They are hybrids resulting from the intermixture of H. neandertalensis and H. sapiens (Hooton, 1947; Thoma, 1958; Skerlj, 1960; Weckler, 1954).

(3) A final possibility, least considered of all, is that the et-Tabūn and es-Skhūl individuals may correspond to different populations, not necessarily contemporaneous, and which may have lived hundreds or thousands of years apart (Stewart, 1951).

A long cropmark enclosure at Springfield, Essex, interpreted as a Neolithic cursus, was investigated betwee 1979–85 to confirm its date and establish a site sequence. The enclosure was c. 690 m long and 37–49 m wide the ditch being uninterrupted in all areas examined, features within the interior at the eastern end included a incomplete ring of substantial post-pits which it is suggested originally formed a complete circle. Peterborou pottery, predominately Mortlake style, Grooved Ware, a small amount of Beaker pottery, earlier Bronze Age urn sherds, and flint artefacts of the late 3rd-early 2nd millennium were recovered from the cursus ditch an other features. Collectively the evidence indicates a prolonged period of use. The results of the excavations a described, the site is discussed in its local and regional context and the implications of the excavation for our understanding of cursus monuments are considered.

This preliminary report is the result of an archaeological expedition to Uganda, which took place from February to April 1968, and was sponsored by the Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale at Tervuren (Belgium) and the Comité des Fouilles beiges en Afrique. The expedition staff consisted of Dr F. Van Noten and Mr E. Vertriest of the department of Prehistory at the Tervuren Museum, and the author. The voluntary help of Miss J. Renard during the excavations is gratefully acknowledged here, as well as the advice of Professor M. Posnansky and the administrative assistance of Mr P. Bulenzi of the Uganda Ministry of Culture and Community Development. Much useful information was given by Mrs M. McFarlane of the Uganda Geological Survey, who has elsewhere pointed out the archaeological importance of the Buvuma Island group (McFarlane, 1968). Mrs McFarlane also deposited a series of Sangoan implements in the Uganda Museum. All drawings in this paper are by Miss N. Nypels.

The islands of Buvuma and Bugaia form part of the archipelago situated near the northern shore of Lake Victoria southeast of Jinja and about halfway between Entebbe and the Kavirondo Gulf. Both islands lie immediately to the North of the Equator, approx. between 0°00′–0°15′ North and 33°15′–33°20′ East, Bugaia being to the southwest of Buvuma (see the 1: 50.000 Dept. of Lands and Surveys map, Magyo, series Y 732, sheet 72/4, edition I-U.S.D.).

As will be apparent from this report, several interesting sites were encountered on both islands, two of which were excavated, one on Buvuma and one on Bugaia.