The object of this paper is to describe and illustrate a series of heavily mineralised bone implements of a primitive type which (in the case of the Red Crag) have been found associated with numerous humanly-fashioned flints during diggings conducted in the detritusbed below the base of the Red and Coralline “Crags” of Suffolk.

The author is fully aware of his heterodoxy in claiming that bone was utilised in implement-making at such a remote period as that to which any pre-Crag remains must be referred, but having conducted a number of experiments in which mineralised and unmineralised bones were subjected to the effects of fortuitous blows and pressure, and after having fractured numerous modern shank bones of the bullock by striking and cutting them with flints and other stones held in the hand with a view of thus shaping them to the forms of the sub-Crag examples, he is compelled to regard these latter specimens as undoubted works of man.

Fabric categories.

Fabric 1 : flint tendered (28%)

Inclusions; medium size calcined flint temper of medium abundance (approximately 1000 grains per 1 gm of sherd) with a negligible backing of medium grade sand quartz natural to the clay.

Example of analysed sherd: flint temper (99%0; G - 0.9%, VC - 8#5%, C - 26.8%, M - 39.4%, F - 24.4% quartz sand (1%); M - 11 grains per gram of sherd

Firing and surface finish; surfaces and core are generally reduced but patches of buff, brown and orange exist. Exterior and some internal surfaces show signs of horizontal burnishing.

Sherd wall thickness; 4 - 8 mm

Technology; handmade with evidence of coil construction and subsequent drawing up (Rye 1981, 67-73).

In the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia (Vol. III., Part III., pp. 389–430) I gave an account of the discoveries made at the 16-ft. level in the Pliocene Red Crag at Foxhall, near Ipswich, and in the detritus-bed beneath the decalcified Red Crag in Pits Nos. 1 and 2 at Bramford. During 1922 further excavations were conducted at Foxhall, and a number of humanly-flaked flints recovered from the floor occurring at the 16-foot level. The Bramford pits were also again investigated, and it is the purpose of this paper to figure and describe some of the specimens found at the sites mentioned. Full details were given in the paper quoted above of the Foxhall and Bramford Sections, and there is no need to again describe them here, especially as the recent diggings exposed no new geological features. The money to pay for the wages of the workmen engaged in the diggings was very kindly subscribed by the Percy Sladen Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, Sir John Ganzoni, M.P., and by Messrs. F. H. Barclay, A. S. Barnes, M. C. Burkitt, Henry Coates, Frank Corner, Vernon Favell, Robert Gurney, C. Hartley, J. J. Lister, W. M. Newton, W. B. Nichols, R. A. Smith, and F. S. Stevenson. The illustrations for this paper are produced from drawings by Mr. E. T. Lingwood, who, once again, has given valuable help to the cause of science by the free gift of his great artistic powers.

The Wickliffe Mounds site is a Mississippian town and mound centre dated to c. AD 1100–1350. Excavations at Wickliffe Mounds from 1984–1996 have re-evaluated a 1932–1939 semi-professional project and have provided additional data over much of the remaining area of the site. The site was established c. AD 1100 as a small village clustered tightly around a central plaza. From AD 1175 to c. 1350 the Wickliffe people built two platform mounds next to the plaza plus several smaller mounds around the site, and expanded the village area to the edges of the bluff. The village was abandoned c. AD 1350, but a cemetery appears to be intrusive, indicating the presence of a population in the area with ties to the site. A scenario of a single chiefly cycle, followed by dispersal of the population with continued use of the site as an ‘empty’ ceremonial centre, best fits current data.

The recent discovery at Knossos of a bronze bell helmet (pl. 1; also de Jong and Hood, 1952, and Hood, 1952) of Late Minoan 11, usually dated 1450–1400 B.C., focuses attention on the series of similar helmets that have long been known from Europe. The helmet from Knossos is topped with a knob within which is a tube that penetrates the inside of the helmet. This must have been for a plume. The knob is held in place by seven small rivets. There are also a pair of cheek pieces of a more elaborately curved profile than the plainer ones from Ialysos of Late Helladic III (Lorimer, 1950, 211, pl. XIII), Weissig in Saxony of Bronze Age III b (Kleemann, 1941–2) or the pair belonging to the Pass Lueg helmet from Austria of Hallstatt A or B (Merhart, 1941, 30, fig. 8, 3). Around the rim of the Knossos helmet and around the cheek pieces are rows of small evenly-spaced holes. Inspection of the Ialysos cheek piece shows that it had a similar row of holes, though the examples from Weissig and Pass Lueg did not. Evidently these rows of holes were to attach a padded lining as well as to fasten the cheek pieces to the helmet and to the chin strap. No neck guard was found, though such were in use in the Aegean on boar tusk and other kinds of helmets of this shape (Lorimer, 1950, figs. 16, 22). I am greatly obliged to Mr Sinclair Hood of the British School in Athens for so generously giving me photographs and full information on this important find.

In 1906 I described a “Cissbury type” station at Ringland, Norfolk, the implements lying abundantly on the surface of two fields and covering an area of about 440 yards in length by 90 yards in width. The fields are at the foot of a steep tree-clad ridge known as Cobb's Hills, and slope gently to the river Wensum which is but a few yards distant from the lower part of the fields and is here about 34 feet above O.D. Some of the implements were described and figured in our “Proceedings,” and the site has yielded about 900 implements and several thousand flakes.

The implications of pit-deposits containing aurochs/Bos primigenius skulls dating to the Bronze Age, found in two recent excavations in Bedfordshire are outlined. Involving a review of related findings in south-eastern England, these serve as a platform to consider the dynamics of aurochs extinction, which is held to have occurred in Britain by the middle–later centuries of the 2nd millennium bc. It should be stressed that, although consulting many ‘expert’ colleagues, this paper is not written from a faunal remains-specialist perspective. It is essentially discursive and primarily intended to highlight a significant site-recovery trend. It reflects, moreover, on issues of broad social relevance. Holocene human-induced extinctions have both an inherent curiosity and poignancy. Indeed now, faced with currently threatened mass-species loss, they can even involve – beyond regret – a sense of cumulative guilt.

Recent research has established that south Scandinavia during the Nordic Bronze Age was entirely dependent on imported metal. It was obviously in contact with other parts of Europe and must have participated in a system of long-distance exchange. It is not clear how it would have operated, but it helps to explain the importance of watercraft and drawings of distinctive artefacts in the rock art on the Baltic and Atlantic coasts. A different group of images can be associated with inland areas where the art has a more restricted lexicon. Can the borderland between these traditions shed any light on the relationship between the seashore and the interior, and might this help to identify places where artefacts changed hands? This paper presents the results of fieldwork between Lakes Vänern and Vättern in Västra Götaland county, southern Sweden. It considers the character of inland rock art and whether some locations with more complex panels were used as ‘aggregation sites’.

The Source of the Douix in Châtillon-sur-Seine, France, has been visited by local inhabitants for over 2000 years and served as a watery focal point for the ritual deposition of various types of offerings. While water deposits are by no means uncommon across Europe, the continued use of a single space over multiple millennia is. An examination of the preserved offerings at the Douix indicate there are three phases of depositional activity: late Hallstatt to early La Tène periods, late La Tène to Gallo-Roman periods, and the early modern period. Despite being separated by hundreds of years there are similarities across depositional phases including the importance of modified metallic objects, personal ornamentation, and possible connections to women. Could the persistence of these ritual practices be the result of behavioural and ideological continuities? If not, how can we interpret this complex record of intermittent deposition? We examine the deposits from each phase in their wider social and ritual contexts, including the Douix’s connection to the Hallstatt princely centre of Mont Lassois, Gallo-Roman ritual traditions, and the historic folklore surrounding springs. We then explore the inter-depositional phases and discuss the conditions that could lead to the persistence of ideas despite the dearth of material evidence and summarise what these patterns mean for the history of ritual activity at the Source of the Douix.

Ancient fingerprints preserved in clay artefacts can provide demographic information about the people who handled and manufactured them, leaving their marks as an accidental record of a moment’s interaction with material culture. The information extracted from these ancient impressions can shed light on the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. A key component of the process is a comparator dataset of fingerprints reflecting as closely as possible the population being studied. This paper describes the creation of a bespoke reference collection of modern data, the establishment of an interpretive framework for prehistoric fingerprints, and its application to assemblages of Iron Age briquetage from coastal salterns in eastern England. The results demonstrate that briquetage manufacture was constrained by age and sex.

This tumulus was first noticed by Mr. Sainty and myself in April, 1931, whilst on an expedition in search of implements of Cissbury type, of which we had found a considerable number in this locality. In appearance it did not seem to differ very much from the numerous mounds left bv warreners digging for rabbits, and, in fact, we had examined several such mounds showing almost the same elevation above the surrounding heath; but as this contained no rabbit workings and such parts as were not covered by gorse showed a thick covering of turf, it appeared interesting, and we marked it down for further examination at the next possible opportunity.

We were not able to visit the spot again till August 27th, when after a short time spent in searching for implements in the neighbouring field, we commenced digging, removing turf about five inches thick and opening a narrow trench. It was not long before we came across flakes, and threw out some 15 or 20, all showing signs of human workmanship, some with facetted bulbs of percussion, and finally a good chopper of Cissbury type.

As similar flakes had been found by us in the side of an old stone pit about 120 yards distant, we were very doubtful if it could be a tumulus after all, but decided to settle the matter by excavating till undisturbed earth was reached. At a depth of about three feet a tiny fragment of charcoal was turned up, so we at once enlarged the trench to allow for more careful working.