The last twelve years have seen a new impetus given to prehistoric studies by the multiplication of researches outside Europe. Excavations in Africa, the Near East, Asiatic Russia and China have opened up a new field for speculation, and at the same time have revealed the unsuspected complexity of many problems which to De Mortillet and other pioneers seemed relatively simple. Gone for ever is the straightforward succession of Palaeolithic cultures from Chellian to Magdalenian as laid down in the Musée Préhistorique. Even as early as 1912, when Breuil produced his classic paper on the subdivisions of the Upper Palaeolithic its foundations were sapped, and the discoveries of the last decade have merely completed its demolition as a system of world-wide application.

I need not insist that De Mortillet's scheme, as corrected by Breuil, who first pointed out the true position of the Aurignacian in western Europe, was the best that could be devised given the very incomplete information, relating to a very limited area, possessed by workers at that date. The fault of De Mortillet's disciples lay in their canonisation of a system which could only be applied locally, and which in any case contained enormous gaps.

An occasion such as this is an opportunity for looking both backwards and forwards. I propose first to speak about the activities of our Society during the past year, and then, looking forwards, to throw out a few suggestions. In the second part of my Address I shall not confine myself to the work of our society, but shall review the present position and future prospects of archaeological air-photography. To do so implies an optimistic outlook that I am very far from possessing. Let us leave it at that.

It is usual and proper for a President either to eulogize his predecessor or else to say that he is too distinguished to need any such eulogy. There is no harm in combining both methods. It is now generally recognized that Professor Mahr, working in happy and enviable co-operation with the Government of Eire, and also with his scientific colleagues in Northern Ireland, has built up a thoroughly sound administration and that he has even found time for personal research as well. His Presidential Address, delivered last year, which you will now have had time to read in the pages of our Proceedings, gives proof of that.

Megalithic monuments take an important place amongst the relics of early civilization in Ireland, and within recent years efforts have been made to collect the much-needed information about their distribution and typology. Pride of place in this work must be given to Estyn Evans and others who have made important discoveries in the northern highlands, and have published a distribution map of the Segmented Gallery Graves (Horned Cairns) which they found in that area. The present paper endeavours to give a brief account of some recent work on Irish Passage Graves and to summarise the information available about this type of Irish chambered tombs, which includes such famous sites as New Grange and Dowth.

It is clear from the accompanying distribution map (fig. 1) that the primary settlement area of the Passage Grave builders was on the east coast, and here four foci as well as a number of scattered sites can be distinguished. These foci and the inland tombs derived from them may for convenience be called the Dublin, Boyne, Armagh, and North Antrim groups. A list of the tombs, together with map and bibliographical references, will be found in the Appendix to this paper (p. 247).

The discovery of agriculture marks the greatest advance in the history of mankind— comparable only to that which has followed the discovery of electricity and the invention of steam and internal combustion engines. It is now well recognised that without agriculture man was a food-gatherer, dependent on nature's supplies in hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants, whereas with agriculture he has become a food -producer, able to augment nature's fitful supply in both animal and vegetable kingdoms.

In modern speech the term ‘agriculture’ is often used to cover stock-raising as well as corn-growing; in the present paper, however, it will be used in its literal sense of the tilling of fields, and more particularly the cultivation of corn. This art appears to have been developed before that of stock-raising, and though both the cultivation of corn and the domestication of certain animals are among the elements that led to the first rise of civilization in the Near East, yet there may have existed at first a certain antipathy between the nomad herdsman and the settled farmer. This line of cleavage is well exemplified in the story of Cain and Abel, and the continuation of the story shows very well how it was the settled farmers, represented by Cain's descendants, who built the first cities and developed the working of metal and the arts of music, while the herdsman remained nomadic.

During recent excavations on Stockbridge Down a large sherd of Middle Bronze Age ware was found lying on a rabbit scrape on the open downland. The actual site of the find and of the excavation to be described is marked as X on the sketch map which accompanies this report (fig. 1), and which is based upon the excellent aerial photograph of the site published and described by O. G. S. Crawford and A. Keiller.

Little description of this ridge of the downs is needed. It is a very well known landmark for miles around, and consists of some four or five gorse and scrub covered knolls on elevated downland stretching from the Stockbridge-Winchester road to Woolbury Ring Camp. These knolls are capped with clay, but this does not extend to the saddlebacks connecting them where the short springy turf lies directly upon the chalk, and is separated from it by only some 8 inches of mould.

The site lies on the very top of one of these saddlebacks, and in the middle of a smooth area of downland bounded on the N.E. and s.w. by two of the scrub-capped knolls and on the N.w. and S.E. by ancient lynchets. From the number of scattered Romano-British potsherds in the immediate vicinity it would appear that it lies almost in the middle of one of the ancient fields, the lynchets of which are such prominent features on Stockbridge Down.

The work on which this study is based was originally undertaken with a view to examining the cultures of the geographical area usually comprised in the term ‘Wessex’ in the period immediately following the Beaker phase. For a great many years a remarkable series of grave-groups have been known, incorporating elements (often spectacular in their implication of material wealth) which were peculiar to the area under discussion, and loosely assigned to the Middle Bronze Age. It was clear from the outset that a study of these groups would throw a great deal of light on trade relations, both internal and overseas, and it also seemed likely that in them might be found a culture equivalent chronologically to the Food Vessel phase of northern England, intervening (in a ceramic sense) between the beakers and the cinerary urns and forming a final phase of the Early Bronze Age—a phase which had already been postulated in the typological series of bronze implements, but which had not reached the dignity of a definite culture.

The evidence examined in this paper supports the existence of such a culture in Wessex in the final phases of the Early Bronze Age. It is a highly individual culture whose origin lies in an actual ethnic movement from N. France. The nature of the evidence,—finds from the richly-furnished graves of chieftains—presents us with a view of the material equipment of an aristocratic minority. The basic folk culture appears, from the slight evidence available, to have been similar to the food-vessel culture of the greater part of Britain north of the Thames at this time, but it becomes clear that in Wessex there was; superimposed on this somewhat uninteresting and unenterprising substratum, an intrusive ruling class whose delight in barbaric finery led them to open trade connections not only with their Breton homeland, but with central Europe and Scandinavia, and whose imports of bronze tools and almost certainly of actual craftsmen laid the foundations of the peculiarly individual metallurgical achievements of the British Middle Bronze Age.

There are half a dozen barrows, now restored, on the heath called ‘Rechte Heide’ belonging to the municipality of the village of Goirle in the province of North Brabant, Holland, about 5 km. south-west of the town of Tilburg (fig. 1). The barrows stand on the east bank of the brook called ‘Oude Lei’ a little north of the ‘Rielsch Hoefke’ farm. Although their popular name is ‘De Vijfberg’ (The Five Mounds) in reality they number seven; six of these form a curve with the open side looking east, the seventh one lying a little further south. The height of the surrounding heath is about 20 m. above sea-level. It consists of Rhine-Meuse diluvium, belonging to the so-called high terrace, and it is fairly level.

Although more than once disturbed in the past the importance of this group was only perceived by W. J. A. and J. Willems during an excursion in 1935, when they observed that one of them (fig. 1, no. 1) was surrounded by a bank and ditch. The peculiar-form, recognisable at once from the outside (pl. XLIXa), is in my opinion that of a typical bell-barrow which made it at that time unique in Holland and, as far as I know, in the whole of the European Continent.

The Vale of Glamorgan (fig. 1, 1) is the middle part of the coastal plain of South Wales. An undulating belt of country much dissected by river systems, its highest parts consisting of knolls and ridges which rarely achieve a height of more than 400 ft. above sea-level, it was occupied fairly intensively throughout prehistoric times. Round barrows are found scattered throughout its length. But they are particularly concentrated in one area in the middle portion of the Vale, where, between the ancient towns of Llantwit Major on the coast, and Cowbridge, about six miles inland, between 20 and 30 have been recognised. None of these barrows has hitherto been scientifically examined, nor do they appear to have suffered damage apart from ploughing. The excavation here described was undertaken by the Archaeological Section of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society in the hope that from it might be derived definite information bearing upon the intensive Bronze Age occupation of this part of the coastal plain which the barrows clearly attest.

The Lanhill Barrow stands on the south side of the Chippenham–Marshfield road about 2½ miles west-north-west of the former place. It stands on level ground with a gentle slope to the south down to a small spring a few yards away on that side. The water runs east and at the bottom a dam has been carried across the field thus at one time forming a small lake, this is probably later in date than the barrow itself. The direction of the barrow is slightly south of east and north of west with the larger end to the former point. It is about 185 ft. long by 90 ft. wide at the east end, gradually tapering to a point at the west.

It is intended in this paper to describe briefly the occurrence and, to a limited extent, the variety of ornamented metal axes belonging to the earlier part of the British and Irish Bronze Age, rather than to publish the results of an exhaustive study, such as the present writers have had no opportunity of making. The present aim is to indicate in a general way the importance of these axes in the material culture of our Bronze Age, and that of Western and Northern Europe. The objects themselves have been well discussed up to a point by Wilde (51) and Evans (23), but without special consideration of the significance of their distribution and associations.

These ornamented axes, which are of the ‘flat’ or ‘flanged’ type, are apparently all of bronze. Some analyses have been made (3, 27, 42), but without spectrographic examination (48) it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions as to the source of the ores used or the place of manufacture. Open moulds for casting axes of the ‘flat’ form (e.g. pl. LIII, c, d) have been found in various parts of the British Isles, and their distribution is discussed on page 287.

The existence of two prehistoric sites close on the south-west side of Salisbury was first demonstrated by Mr O. G. S. Crawford, F.S.A., from a chance air-photograph taken by Pilot-Officer Jonas, R.A.F. (Antiquity, III, 452). They are now called Woodbury I and II from a field name. The smaller of the two sites, Woodbury II, was selected for excavation by the Prehistoric Society because its size (diameter 150 m.) made its complete examination financially feasible and its clear markings promised good results. The site lies in the parish of Britford on high ground overlooking the Avon valley from the south-west, one mile west-south-west of Britford parish church. The ground is flat about 280 feet above sea level, and the site is set well back from the edge of the descent into the water meadows of the valley.

It was tested in March 1938 by Mr C. W. Phillips, F.S.A., who proved that the dark band of the enclosure revealed by the air-photograph (pl. LVII) was a ditch of V-shaped section. His discovery of Iron Age ‘A’ pottery in the silting suggested that the site belonged to this culture.

The aim of the Prehistoric Society in undertaking the investigation of this site has been to excavate it in its entirety. Such a work might be expected to fulfil two objects:

(a) by excavating the site completely many problems raised by the numerous partial excavations of analogous sites might be solved. In particular, profiting by previous experience in Germany, it was hoped to reveal something of the nature of such settlements and of the social organisation which they imply.

(b) the investigation might be expected to throw some fresh light on the interpretation of markings on air-photographs.

The restricted area of the site and the shallowness of the surface soil revealed by Mr Phillips's test made it particularly favourable for this kind of work, while the strong probability of building development in the near future lent urgency to the task.

The Iron Age Site at Crayford, Kent, was discovered in 1936 during the development of the Glebe Building Estate. This Estate lies to the west of St. Paulinus' Church, between Watling Street Old Road and Manor Road, and Nos. 103, 105, 107 and 109 Watling Street Old Road now mark the site. The circumstances of the discovery did not permit of scientific excavation, but the finds were reported to Mr S. Priest, F.G.S., curator of the Dartford Public Museum, and thanks to him and to the facilities most generously afforded by Mr Roys ton Phillips, the owner of the Glebe Estate, a large quantity of pottery and other objects was preserved and is now in the possession of the Dartford Public Museum. To Mr Priest the writer is particularly indebted for the opportunity to examine and report upon the discoveries, and for help in the preparation of that report. It was Mr G. C. Dunning, F.s.A., who first drew attention to the largely unpublished comparative material, and a number of his drawings are here used. The writer is also indebted to Dr R. E. M. Wheeler, V.P.S.A., for much help and criticism.

The authors of these notes acknowledge the ready co-operation of the numerous excavators who have contributed information concerning their work carried out during the present year.

Latch farm is situated on the gravel in the fork of the rivers Stour and Avon, and within a mile of their outlet into the sea at Christchurch.

The barrow under discussion was suspected to be such by Mr J. H. Taylor, the owner of the land, in about 1934. It appeared then as a low flat mound, not more than 18 inches or so in elevation, and with no signs of a surrounding ditch. In 1936 gravel digging was started in a large quarry near the barrow, and when its destruction became imminent, Mr J. B. Calkin asked me to excavate the site and save as much material as possible from loss. Accordingly in July and again in September, 1937, with the very ready co-operation of the owner, this was undertaken. Although the contractor was extremely considerate and helped us in many ways it was not possible to keep back the work for many weeks; so in just over three weeks, with two paid men and three voluntary helpers the barrow was excavated as fully as circumstances demanded and time allowed.

The Nympsfield long barrow is situated in the parish of Frocester, but is less than a mile to the north-west of Nympsfield village. The boundaries of the Parish, the Rural District and the Union, run from north to south down the centre of the field, called ‘Buckholt End,’ in which it lies. The position of the barrow is latitude 51° 42′ 35″ and longitude 2° 17′ 54″ (six-inch O.S., Gloucs. XLIX S.W.) and its height 750 feet above sea level. Ninety yards to the east of the barrow there is a road, marked by Grundy as a ‘ridgeway,’ which now runs from Selsley Hill to Uley (fig. 1). The underlying rock is the Inferior Oolite, a formation separable into numerous sub-divisions, here including, in descending order, Clypeus Grit, Upper Trigonia Grit and Upper Freestone. The greater part of the barrow, if not the whole of it rests on Clypeus Grit.