bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
India and the West before Darius
Authors: Childe V. Gordon
Published: January 2016

Before 1918 it was believed that India's contact with the western world began about 3000 years ago with the intrusion into a barbaric peninsula of the half-legendary Vedic Aryans. It was only with the Empire of Darius that India began to figure substantially in the historical records accessible to us. In 1938 we know in the Indus valley a fully-literate and very advanced urban civilization flourishing fully fifteen centuries before the supposed date of the Aryan invasion. We know too that the ancient Indus cities were in regular and intimate contact with the Sumerian cities of Iraq; a stream of Indian manufactures flowed into Mesopotamia, Indian ideas could travel by the same channels. I need not remind you how deeply modern Western civilization is indebted to the ancient Sumerian, how many of the fundamental inventions that make civilization possible are traceable to the Tigris-Euphrates region, how intimately, through the Hebrews and the Greeks, Mesopotamian traditions have been injected into the very core of our spiritual culture. There lie the roots of our mathematics and astronomy, of the myths that, through the Bible, colour our outlook from early childhood. But we can now infer that India too contributed to the formation of the cultural tradition we thus inherit.
The Plough and the Origin of Strip-Lynchets
Authors: Curwen E. Cecil
Published: January 2016

N their recent work, The Open Fields, C. S. and C. S. Orwin devote an appendix to the question of the origin of lynchets, in which they express their difficulties in accepting the current theory that narrow, step-like terraces like those at Bishopstone (Wilts.), for instance, could have been formed as a result of ploughing (PLATE I, facing p. 49). In private correspondence they assure me that these difficulties are widely shared by other agriculturalists, but at the same time they admit that they have no better explanation to offer. They point out that these terraces are found distributed mainly on the chalk of southern England, but also on various other geological formations in the Midlands, west and north, and also in southern Scotland; also that there seem to be many varieties of strip-lynchets, and that possibly one explanation may not apply to all; but while rightly distinguishing between these and the small square plots of the Celtic field-system, they are very much in error in implying that the latter are bounded only by field-banks and not by lynchets (p. 3 19).
Archaeology in Afghanistan
Authors: Wheeler R. E. M.
Published: January 2016

The Government of Afghanistan recently sent two missions to India, where they were warmly welcomed and made many friends. In September 1946, the Government of India sent in return a small mission to Afghanistan to establish contact between the respective archaeological and historical activities of the two countries, with a view if possible to securing closer cultural collaboration. The Indian mission consisted of the Director General of Archaeology in India and his wife ; the Honourable Mr Justice N. G. A. Edgely, President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal—the oldest learned society in Asia; and Mr M. A. Shakur, Curator of the Pesh#x0101;war Museum, sent by the Government of the North-West Frontier Province as the immediate neighbour of Afghanistan. The mission travelled in two ex-U.S.A. Army vehicles, a six-wheeled personnel-carrier and a jeep, with two Indian drivers and two Indian attendants.
Naval Activity in the Days of Solomon and Rameses III
Authors: Hornell James
Published: January 2016

Ever since the beginning of recorded history, Ancient Egypt was dependent upon the goodwill of the Phoenician overlords of the mountain land of the Lebanon for supplies of timber in the long running lengths required for the construction of large ships, especially those intended for use on long voyages by sea ; fine timber was also in considerable demand for the making of the elaborate wooden sarcophagi of nobles and of members of the royal family as well as for furniture of superior quality. This lack of suitable native timber made the Egyptians late comers in sea-trading ; indeed, it restricted progress so seriously that their water-borne commerce was limited to traffic with Nubia and the South by way of the Nile waterway, to occasional expeditions down the Red Sea to Southern Arabia and to Somaliland (Punt) and to short coasting trips to Phoenicia to buy timber logs and to the coasts of the Sinai Peninsula in search of copper.
A Hill-fort in Switzerland
Authors: Bersu Gerhard
Published: January 2016

The great cultural unit of the Hallstatt (A–;B) Period in southern Germany and its neighbourhood is now considered to be the cradle of the Celts. The latest discussion of the problem is that by P. Bosch-Gimpera. A special variety of this culture seems to be represented in the country lying between the Alps and the Jura, extending from the lake of Constance to the lakes of Savoy. It is found in the lake-dwellings which came to an abrupt end somewhere about 700–650 B.C. The top layer in many of these is marked by evidence of burning, indicating a catastrophe that must have been wide-spread and general. This type of habitation, once so prevalent, was never revived; there are no signs of it in the following period (Hallstatt C–D). From the Late Bronze Age onwards there was a continuous development in the lake-dwellings, whose last stage is called in Switzerland the Latest Bronze Age (contemporary with the Rhenish Hallstatt B).
Vortigern and Aetius—a re-appraisal
Authors: Johnstone P. K.
Published: January 2016

Vortigern of Gloucester is perhaps the most maligned figure of British history. There can be little doubt that his reign ended in widespread disaster, but that very fact may have made him a traditional scapegoat. Some at least of the charges against him can readily be disproved—for instance, he certainly was not the father of the British-born Gallic Bishop, Faustus, by his daughter or anyone else. Faustus and Vortigern must have been born within a very few years of each other. Perhaps the Gildasian epithet of infuustus tyrunnus, applied to Vortigern, served as a starting-point.
Cerdic and his Ancestors
Authors: Johnstone P. K.
Published: January 2016

King Cerdic of Wessex (more accurately, of the Gewissae) is perhaps the most enigmatic figure in the whole of British history. He appears as a chieftain with an Anglian pedigree but an indubitably Welsh name, having Jutish kinsfolk, with whose aid he establishes a Saxon kingdom, which nevertheless seems to remain archaeologically British (i.e. non-Teutonic) for a half-century or more after the supposed date of his conquests. Such a series of anomalies may be treated either as evidence of Cerdic's mythical origin, or as the hallmarks of a reality which is under no obligation to be lucid and uncomplicated. In either case, he symbolizes a chapter of half-forgotten history, obscure but crucial.
The Origins of the Romano-British Forum
Authors: Goodchild R. G.
Published: January 2016

In his Report on Excavations at Wroxeter, 1923–27, Professor Atkinson has discussed at some length (Appendix c, pp. 345–62) the origin of the type I of Forum-Basilica block which seems to have been generally adopted for the civic centres of Romano-British tribal capitals. He concludes that this plan (which he designates the principiatype) is of military origin, based on legionary principia, and was adopted ‘perhaps first in the Flavian period, under military influence, in provinces where this was strong and civil development weak and backward … for use as the administrative centre of the civil town’.
The Early Culture of Khwarizm
Authors: Tolstov Sergei P.
Published: January 2016

These brief remarks of Al Makdisi, from his account of the first colonization of Khwarizm, contain much of interest. For evidently in early medieval times there still survived in Khwarizm a vague traditional memory of an ancient culture, when the sandy islands of the great Oxus delta and the lowlands round the Sea of Aral were inhabited by sedentary fisher-folk, the ancestors of the creators of the brilliant but little known civilization of ancient Khwarizm.
Photography for Archaeologists: a review
Authors: Frantz Alison
Published: January 2016

Readers of Sir Mortimer Wheeler's archaeological publications are already aware of the high standard of photography demanded in his excavations. Now Mr M. B. Cookson, who has worked with him for many years, speaks in his own right and reveals in some measure how these standards are achieved.

Mr Cookson's book is addressed primarily to the archaeologist who is about to turn (at least temporarily) photographer. Nevertheless, much of what he has to say may be read with equal profit by the professional photographer who is leaving his well-equipped studio for a season on a remote excavation or by the professional archaeologist who has no photographic intentions.
[Beehive] Villages of North Syria
Authors: Copeland Paul W.
Published: January 2016

Peculiar to the red clay plain of northwest Syria are the ‘beehive’ villages called ‘Campo di Melle’ by the early Venetian and Genoese traders. The characteristic beehive name and shape is a purely Western concept as the local beehive is a small mud cube. These village houses, built of mud brick, are ideally adapted to their environment ; they are warm in winter and cool in summer. The villages cluster about ancient ‘tells’ or dot the plains from Aleppo south to Homs, occupying a total area of roughly thirty by one hundred and fifty miles (PLATES v and VI). To the north and east this distinctive type of building gives way to the square mud brick house with flat mud roof supported on poles and brush, while to the west the rocky outcrops of the Lebanon range provide an easily worked stone for houses and barns.
The Quern-quarries of Mayen in the Eifel
Authors: Röder J.
Published: January 2016

Every prehistorian has heard of the famous volcanic rock of the Eifel from which querns were made in prehistoric and later times. The source from which the querns came has several names, and we read of Andernach, Niedermendig and Mayen lava. Actually, Andernach is merely the Rhineland town nearest to the quarries; there is no lava there. Niedermendig has lava quarries, but they did not begin to be worked until the Middle Ages, and then the output was only about one third of that of Mayen. Since however the output of Mayen passed through Niedermendig on its way to the Rhine, the latter name got attached, and we in Britain usually write of ‘Niedermendig lava’. But all prehistoric and Roman querns came, not from there but from the Mayen quarries, which are still being worked. During a visit to Germany in July 1953, I was conducted round them by Dr J. Röder of Koblenz. The following account, though made possible by that visit, is not an original composition but is derived from an authoritative article by Dr Röder and others, which has kindly been abstracted for me in English by Mr J. D. van der Waals of Amsterdam. I wish also to thank Dr Röder for the loan of illustrations, especially the blocks for FIGS, 1 and 3.
The Ruin at Thésée
Authors: Butler R. M.
Published: January 2016

The aim of this note is to bring to the attention of English readers a Roman building of large size, whose impressive ruins are well preserved, but whose purpose is uncertain and existence little known.

The Roman road from Tours to Bourges ran along the north bank of the river Cher and for much of its length is followed by the modern N76. Two settlements or posting-stations lying on this road and marked on the Peutinger map under the names Gabris and Tasciaca can be located at the villages of Giévres and Thésée respectively. At this latter place, otherwise called Thézée or Tézée, 31 miles east of Tours, the main road, following the course of the Roman route, runs close beside the river, with the railway line separating them and low, bare hills rising immediately to the north. The towns of Montrichard to the west and St. Aignan on the east are respectively 4 and 5 miles away, and the village lies in the Loir-et-Cher département.
The Sword of Korisios
Authors: Wyss René
Published: January 2016

During the reorganization of the prehistoric section of the Bern Historical Museum a chance discovery was made by the writer of the present article. While a fragment of a La Téne sword (without inventory number) was being treated, it was suspected that a punch-mark might be concealed beneath the scabbard, which was rusted on to the sword. The rusty remains were removed, so that the blade could be examined in an oblique light. Most surprisingly there was revealed not only what subsequently proved to be a well preserved punch-mark but also, beside it, a Greek inscription! After taking a photograph of it in its original state the remains of the scabbard were removed, and a single letter of the inscription that was covered by rust was cleaned (PLATE VIII, B, C).
Stonehenge: a review
Authors: Newall R. S. , Atkinson R.J.C.
Published: January 2016

An up-to-date book on Stonehenge by Mr Atkinson is indeed a great acquisition; it is a book for the intelligent reader as well as for the archaeologist, and is by far the best book on the subject that has so far been written.

The author explains how a potsherd or stone, when carelessly thrown away, will gradually sink owing to the action of earth worms, through the earthy top-soil till it reaches an impermeable layer, so that where, as here, the soil is shallow a layer is formed containing objects of all periods. Such a statement made in the 1920’s was laughed at. Further, he goes on to say (p. 168) : ‘The one thing about Stonehenge upon which everyone is agreed is that it is primarily a “temple,” a structure in which it was possible for man to establish contact and communication with extra-mundane forces or beings’. No one in the nineteen-twenties could have made such a statement and survived. Abercromby said it in his book (Bronze Age Pottery, 1912), and his chapter on Stonehenge is still well worth reading, but it is never quoted or referred to. It was Abercromby, not the present reviewer, who first pointed out the importance of the south-westem end of the axis. The only obvious error noticed (p. 195) is the statement that Colonel Hawley was Director of the Society of Antiquaries. However, this slight error is amply made up for by the forty photographs, all but six of which reveal some feature never before published and probably not even photographed; one of them (plate II : Stonehenge from the north) has an artistic quality that no other photograph I can recall has ever had. The effect of light and shade is most beautiful.
Elf-shot Cattle
Authors: Davidson Thomas
Published: January 2016

This paper outlines the beliefs associated with Elf-shot and the influence these had on the treatment of cattle disease and the pattern of field ploughing. The subject may conveniently be introduced and partially defined by way of two examples. In the late Autumn of 1884 a Buchan farmer was heard to complain ‘I’ve gotten an ill job this mornin’ in the deth o’ a fine stirk by elfshot, an’ the pity is he wasna fasent to a hair tether (a halter made of hair) fan the wapin wad a fa’en short o’m’. When asked whether it might not have been due to quarter-ill, he replied ‘that could na be, my neebor an’ me opent up the beast, an’ there was a hole through his hert’. Some few years before in 1867 a Mr Hew Morrison saw a cow which was said to have been killed by the fairies. When he pointed out to the farmer that her death had been caused by rolling over, and her long horns penetrating the ground had kept her in a position from which she could not rise, he was told that was the common way in which cows fall when struck by the saighead sithe or fairy arrow.
St. George the Vampire
Authors: Wace A. J. B.
Published: January 2016

The saints in Greece occasionally have curious epithets. In Attica all know St. John the Hunter. In Naxos there is St. George the Drunken and in Thessaly you will find St. Nicholas the Murderer. Now too in Argolis you will hear of St. George the Vampire.

The little church or rather shrine dedicated to that saint is in a kind of open cave which is really the entrance to a Mycenaean rock cut chamber tomb and it lies on the outskirts of the village of Thymari at the base of the tangle of hills at the western foot of Mount Arachnaeus. If you go to the village and visit the shrine you will probably be told fantastic tales of the Vampire and the English archaeologist who was afterwards killed fighting the Bulgarians. The exact circumstances of the case you will probably not be able to discover. Even those of the village most closely connected with the events which led to the dedication of the shrine have allowed more freedom to their imaginations than they should. The village priest Athanasios nowadays is in his dotage and his cups, and not competent to give a credible or even a coherent version of what really took place and the part he played. Evesham himself is dead, because as you know he was killed on the Salonika front in 1917.
Zosimus on the End of Roman Britain
Authors: Thompson E. A.
Published: January 2016

When we study the end of the Roman occupation of Britain we tend to glue our eyes so closely to the nnumismatical and archaeological evidence that there seems to be some danger of giving the literary authorities rather less attention than they deserve. But the relevant passages of Zosimus are of capital importance, and it is proposed to examine them here.

It will not be denied, I think, that Zosimus is one of the most incompetent of the Greek historians. Nevertheless, as in the case of all ancient historians, we are bound to suppose that Zosimus’ statements are accurate unless we have some sufficient reason for doubting them. It is a mistake in method to ascribe errors to him when there is no evidence for doing so. Now in the passages under discussion he is supported by other writers in some particulars and he is our sole authority in others. It does not follow that where he is our only authority his statements are necessarily wrong. His source here is Olympiodons, who, though an Egyptian Greek, seems to have dealt mainly with Western events in his History. Born c. 365, he was an exact contemporary of the last days of the Roman administration of Britain. His History in 22 books covered the fateful years 407–25, and an examination of his fragments (mostly preserved by Photius) gives good reason for supposing that he was a writer of exceptional interest and reliability. It would be folly to ignore the narrative of such a writer, even though that narrative survives only at second hand.
The Gundestrup Bowl: A Reassessment
Authors: Klindt-Jensen Ole
Published: January 2016

The great silver cauldron from Gundestrup is one of the most fascinating exhibits in the National Museum of Copenhagen. It was imported into Denmark in antiquity and, since its discovery in 1891, has been the subject of considerable discussion. Although most scholars have agreed in assigning it to a 1st-century B.C. Gallic context, this identification is by no means universally accepted. Other suggested areas of origin have ranged from the eastern Danubian countries and South Russia to Denmark and even to northern India; similarly, estimations of the date of the object have varied from the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.

Although the Gundestrup cauldron is a unique object differences in style between the various plates that make up the body of the vessel point to the fact that several artists were involved in its manufacture. In the centre of each of the seven (originally eight) outer plates are placed human busts, with minor figures occupying secondary positions, while the five, long, inner plates, and the bottom plate, bear varied motifs. From a technical point of view it is an outstanding specimen of the silversmith’s art; particularly fine is the bull on the bottom plate, which is executed with boldness and great skill, The cauldron must certainly be regarded as a product of a vigorous school of craftsmanship.
The A B C of the British Iron Age
Authors: Hawkes Christopher
Published: January 2016

This article is something both more and less than the lecture that it represents. The lecture was given in London last December to open the Conference on the Southern British Iron Age which is reported here below by Mr Frere (p. 183). But it had the disadvantage of all introductory lectures to conferences, that they cannot anticipate what the other speakers will be saying later. And in this case, what the others said later was sometimes so new and striking as to leave the introductory lecture rather far behind. Of course, that was the measure of the conference’s success; yet I was gratified to find that what had happened, by the end, was that the others had not so much contradicted as carried further, in their various special fields, much of what was suggested in my more general talk. This surely means—and I think we can be gratified all round—that in the dozen years since the Council for British Archaeology last caused a general survey to be put forward, or the twenty years since Childe was writing in Prehistoric Communities, we have taken our Iron Age studies through a process of expansion, and of revaluation, and yet have emerged still pretty well together.

These milestones in their history are worth remembering. Horae Ferales, in which Kemble and Franks first brought our Iron Age metalwork to recognition, appeared in 1863, and John Evans’s Coins of the Ancient Britons in 1864; Arthur Evans’s monograph on the Aylesford cemetery, with both metalwork and pottery shown for the first time in their European setting, in 1890; Canon Greenwell’s on the Yorkshire chariot-burials in 1906.
The Iron Age in Southern Britain
Authors: Frere Sheppard
Published: January 2016

The Iron Age and Roman Research Committee of the Council for British Archaelogy organized a conference on ‘Problems relating to the Iron Age in Southern Britain’, which was held at the Institute of Archaeology from 12 to 14 December, 1958. A full report on this Conference is to be issued by the C.B.A. in the form of an Occasional Paper of the Institute of Archaeology; all that is here attempted is a short summary of the main points made.

The Conference began on the evening of Friday, 12 December with a brilliant introductory lecture in his best manner by Professor C. F. C. Hawkes entitled The A B C of the British Iron Age. This lecture is represented by the paper printed here above (pp. 170-82), and thus no summary is necessary, though it would be difficult to overestimate its stimulating influence on the remainder of the Conference’s proceedings.
Archaeology in Palestine
Authors: Kenyon Kathleen M.
Published: January 2016

1. The Stone Age of Mount Carmel; Excavations at the Wady-el-Mughara. Vol. I. By D. A. E. Garrod and D. M. A. Bate. Clarendon Press, 1937. pp. 240, 55 plates, 8 text figures. 42s.

2. Lachish I: The Lachish Letters. By Harry Torczyner, Lankester Harding, Alkin Lewis and J. L. Starkey. Published for the Trustees of the late Sir Henry Wellcome by the Oxford University Press, 1938. pp. 221 (including plates, not numbered separately). 25s.

3. The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine vol. vii, Sela-Petra the Rock, of Edom and Nabatene. By G. and A. Horsfield. Published for the Government of Palestine by the Oxford University Press, 1938. pp. 42,74 plates, 10 text-figures. 5s.

4. The Annual of the American schools of Oriental Research vol. xv, Excavations in Eastern Palestine II. By Nelson Glueck. pp. 161, 38 plates, 45 text-figures.

5. Preliminary report of the University of Michigan Excavations at Sepphoris Palestine in 1931. By Leroy Waterman. University of Michigan Press, 1937. 2 dollars.

The group of books here under review is so varied in subject, that connected discussion is difficult. Apart from the importance of the subjects, however, there is a general interest and connexion in the illustrations they give of the comparatively new approach now being made to Palestinian Archaeology. The inevitably preponderant importance to most people of the association of Palestine with Biblical history has had two effects on the study of its archaeology. In the first place, periods outside that of the Bible have not received much attention, and in the second, it has rather often been the case that distinguished Biblical scholars have undertaken excavations without the supplementary training in field-work which modern archaeological technique now requires. Among the books under review are examples of how this tendency has in recent years been corrected. We see Palestine taking its place as an important connecting link between the great lands of the Near East, and we see how modern methods are now applied to all aspects of field archaeology. There is also unfortunately one example of how modern excavations should not be done.
The Roman Camp-Site near Castor on the Nene
Authors: Hawkes Christopher
Published: January 2016

In his Editorial Notes for September 1930, the Editor of ANTIQUITY described an exploratory flight over England and Scotland taken by him and Mr H. J. Andrews in June of that year, in the course of which a most remarkable discovery was made. A main objective of the flight was the Roman town of Durobrivae, where the Ermine Street from London to Lincoln and the North crosses the river Nene, now the boundary here between the counties of Huntingdon and Northampton. Extensive, and for their period careful excavations were carried out in this vicinity by E. T. Artis in the twenties of the 19th century, and illustrated in a sumptuous quarto volume of plates; but despite exhaustive summaries of these and all recordable discoveries contributed to the Victoria County History, by Haverfield for the Northamptonshire side in 1902, and by Miss M. V. Taylor for the Huntingdonshire side in 1926, no systematic modern work has been attempted on any part of the site, and an air reconnaissance seemed an ideal way of re-introducing it in 1930 to the attention of archaeologists.
Donegal Survivals
Authors: Evans E. Estyn
Published: January 2016

Recent articles in Antiquity have drawn attention to the rich sources of material for study in ethnology and archaeology which lie almost untapped in the dwellings of peasant Britain. For Ireland three papers by Åke Campbell1 break new ground in a virgin field and increase the heavy debt which Irish scientific studies owe to Scandinavia; and the interest roused has been fostered by a short statement on the need for enquiry into house-types issued by Colonel R. G. Berry. The Irish Folklore Commission has gathered much information on this and related topics, while a regional survey of the housetypes of north Kerry, clearly inspired by Campbell's work, has lately appeared. The participation of continental workers in this field is further illustrated in the ‘Contributions to the study of the tangible material culture of the Gaoltacht’ published by L. Mühlhausen.
Roman Windows and Grilles
Authors: Webster Graham
Published: January 2016

The problem of Roman windows and their furnishings has never been studied seriously in this country as so little evidence is usually forthcoming. Window glass is found in fair quantities on most sites and, where the pieces are large enough to indicate size, they would appear to be no more than g to 12 in. square, but there is little indication of how they were fastened into the window. Such technical details have unfortunately escaped attention in those countries where sufficient remains have been found to attempt reconstruction. While R. Herbig has discussed windows generally: the most detailed treatment has been that by Vittorio Spinazzola in his survey of the excavations of Via dell’ Abbondanza at Pompeii. As he indicates, while houses were only of one story, the window openings tended to be very small slits but, as soon as an upper floor was built, more light could be obtained without sacrificing safety or privacy. Once the advantages of this became apparent, new and larger windows were inserted on the ground floor, architectural ingenuity being displayed in directing the light to particular parts of a room where it was needed. He touches upon the question of the infilling without adding much detail. Some of the smaller windows appear to have been openings in the wall with wooden, sliding shutters on the inside. The larger ones were filled with iron gratings in a form of a simple grille which has been reconstructed as horizontal flat bars, through which round vertical bars passed, a piece of construction which seems to be unnecessarily difficult. A grille, merely of crossbars, has also been found at Herculaneum.
The Nuraghi of Sardinia
Authors: Lilliu Giovanni
Published: January 2016

One of the most characteristic features of Sardinian architecture, playing an important part in the scenery of the island, is provided by the ancient, forbidding and imposing megalithic structures which the local inhabitants, in the original prehistoric and pre-Indo-European tongue, call nurakes, nuraghes, nuraxzk, nuraccis, nuragis, nuracus, etc., according to district and dialect. We generally know them by the Italian form of the word, nuraghi (singular nuraghe).

Built of large blocks set without mortar in more or less regular horizontal rows, the nuraghe, in its simplest form, appears as a round tower with battered sides. Its height depends upon the number, from one to three, of the storeys it contains, and may sometimes, as at the nuraghe Santu Antine at Torralba in the province of Sassari, reach as much as 20 m., with walls from 2 to 5 m. thick (PLATE VIId).
Flint Mining in Neolithic Denmark
Authors: Becker C. J.
Published: January 2016

Throughout the Neolithic Period the inhabitants of what nowadays is Denmark profited from the country's wealth of flint for implements and weapons. T There were quantities of large and small nodules to be picked up along the shores, but even the most plentiful supplies were not always ample for their needs. In the early part of the Late Stone Age, when numbers of large stone axes were required for forest clearance, and at the close of the Neolithic Period when the idea was adopted of making daggers of extraordinary dimensions, while simultaneously a considerable export trade was started of implements to the flintless regions of the rest of Scandinavia, surface flint no.longer sufficed. There had also to be a rational exploitation of the occurrences of excellent pure flint in chalk deposits that were undisturbed and relatively easy of access.
Pantelleria Revisited
Authors: Trump David
Published: January 2016

Pantelleria is a small island, 34 square miles or so, lying south of the western end of Sicily and within sight of Cape Bon, the projecting tip of the African coast (FIG. I). Though every ship through the Sicilian straits passes close by, it can be extraordinarily isolated, as we found to our cost on a visit in November, 1962. Winter storms can, and occasionally do, cut it off for days at a time. Despite its archaeological wealth, recorded by Paolo Orsi in 1899 (n. 1), it seems that its isolation has discouraged archaeologists from visiting it since the days of Peet and Zammit, early this century. Its ‘sesi’ have become almost a myth.
Autumn Killing
Authors: Higgs E. S. , White J. Peter
Published: January 2016

It is commonly held in the existing literature that prehistoric peoples were compelled to kill off an abnormally high proportion of their livestock in autumn because of a lack of winter fodder. There is literary evidence for autumn killing in several European localities (n. 1). It is therefore a plausible assumption that earlier cultures are hardly less likely to have been more successful in overcoming this difficulty. This article is concerned to examine whether this assumption is valid.

The inference generally made about autumn killing rests almost entirely on Watson’s report on the Skara Brae bones (n. 2). By the use of Watson’s method such a claim may also be made for the Old Sleaford sheep, and this is shown here. But there are grounds for supposing that such a claim is methodologically unjustified, and we have endeavoured to set out a method by which such claims may be tested.
Folklore of Fossils Part I
Authors: Oakley Kenneth
Published: January 2016

Culture includes not only the material products of a human society, but also its non-productive acts and practices. Yet it is these of which we can know so little in regard to prehistoric peoples. However, there is one class of natural objects which, although as a general rule having no obvious practical value, have been noticed, picked up and evidently regarded with some interest since the earliest times: fossils. Certain types of fossil have attracted more attention than others, probably because they are both fairly common and of striking appearance. It occurred to me that it would be worth while attempting to gauge what kinds of ideas may have been associated with such fossils in the various stages of culture.
Hillforts in Wales and the Marches
Authors: Alcock Leslie
Published: January 2016

Wales and its March is a land of fortifications, Celtic, Roman and medieval; and an analysis of any one of these classes in microcosm may also be of value for wider studies. Certainly the student of hillforts has just been presented with an invaluable corpus of material in the completed trilogy of Royal CommissionInventoriesfor Caernarvonshire. As it happens, though the Caernarvonshire forts are deficient in significant finds, they are particularly valuable for settlement studies because house-foundations or emplacements are often still visible within the defences. The implications of this immediately accessible evidence have already been partly explored in a seminal article by the Secretary of the Welsh Commission (Hogg, 1960), but further discussion is both possible and desirable. Moreover, the archaeological evidence for Iron Age settlements makes it possible to discuss and correct the attempts of social historians to probe behind medieval documents to the social arrangements of earlier eras (e.g. Jones, 1964). There is at present a considerable ferment of ideas about the nature of hillforts as settlements and about their place in early Welsh society, which may also be of general interest to students of Celtic archaeology and institutions.
The Destruction of the Palace of Knossos and its Pottery
Authors: Popham M. R.
Published: January 2016

The present dispute over the date of the of the Linear B tablets found at Knossos has been, for the most part, concerned with the question whether they belong to an LM II/IIIA I destruction of the Palace, which Evans dated about 1400 B.c., or to the end of the LM IIIB period, some 150 or more years later, when Evans believed that the Palace ruins were only partly reoccupied [I]. To many archaeologists, however, the problem is a different one. For them the evidence of the pottery and of the sealings associated with the burning of the Palace and with the baking of its clay archives makes the later dating of the tablets impossible. Their concern is rather to determine more exactly when in the 14th century the destruction took place.

The greatest help towards answering this question will come from a closer definition of the style of pottery in use at the time of the catastrophe. The author has been working on this problem over the last three years by studying the considerable amount of unpublished sherd material in the Stratigraphical Museum established by Evans at Knossos. A comprehensive publication of this material will of necessity take some time to complete. Meanwhile it is hoped that it would be generally helpful to illustrate some eight of the pots which the author has been able to have reconstructed from these sherds; at the same time it is proposed briefly to outline the circumstances in which they were originally found according to the excavation reports.
The Vix Burial
Authors: Megaw J. V. S.
Published: January 2016

One of the best known and most quoted finds in western Europe must be that of the ‘princess's burial’ of Vix discovered early in 1953 not far from Châtillon-sur-Seine below the Celtic stronghold of Mont Lassois (Latisco). The contents of the grave are such that classical no less than prehistoric archaeologists have had cause to add to the still increasing literature on the site [I].

Recently, discussion has ranged over two of the foremost problems concerning the Vix burial: first, the question of date and provenance for the greatKrateror mixing bowl, at more than 5 feet tall the largest extant bronze vessel of the Greek Archaic period. Second is the matter of the route taken by Greek and Italic imports into Western Europe from their place of manufacture—whether via the Alps or through the entrepôt of Marseilles, founded as Massalia by Phocaian settlers in about 600 B.c.—a debate which has continued since first opened in these pages more than 35 years ago [2]. Ancillary to these two points is the question as to the reasonwhycostly objects made their way into the heart of Celtdom, to what end, with what exchange in mind—what in fact was the status of those native nobles whose graves and settlements have produced the basic clues for such tantalizing investigations?
An Archaeological Perspective on Eskimo Economy
Authors: Taylor William E.
Published: January 2016

This article attempts to highlight certain qualities of the Eskimo economy seen in overview and, if it repeats some anthropological clichés, perhaps the repetition will serve a purpose for clichés, despite their shortcomings, often become such by an innate worth. Further, some used here seem to have been largely forgotten in recent literature on Eskimo prehistory. A rare exception, and a point of departure for this article, was recently offered by Collins, who notes, 'In America, however, there is sometimes a tendency to see an overly close relationship between specific cultural manifestations and particular kinds of environment, and to overemphasize the role of environment in the dissemination of culture. In the Eskimo field this point of view is reflected in the related concept of a rather sharp dichotomy between inland and coast, with the former the center of origin—a kind of fata morgana that has beset Eskimo archaeology for decades and which still exerts its residual influence, even though the concept in its original elaborated form no longer finds acceptance.' (Collins, 1962, 134.
Moonshine on Stonehenge
Authors: Atkinson R. J. C.
Published: January 2016

The astronomical significance of Stone- henge has been the subject of intermittent debate and speculation ever since 1740, when Stukeley [I] first observed that the axis of the sarsen structure and of the Avenue pointed at least approximately to the sunrise at the summer solstice. Apart from Sir Norman Lockyer [z], however, few professional astronomers concerned themselves with this question, until the appearance in,Natureof the two articles by Gerald S. Hawkins, Professor of Astronomy at Boston University, in 1963 and 1964 [3]. The first of these claimed the discovery of a number of additional alignments of astronomical significance, marked by pairs of stones and other features of the site; and the second suggested that the Aubrey Holes had been used as a neolithic 'computer' for the prediction of movements of the moon and of eclipses. Subsequently these theories received much wider publicity, in Britain as well as in the United States, through a CBS television programme,The Mystery of Stonehenge,which provided a superb example of partiality and tendentiousness in the presentation of an academic controversy.

Professor Hawkins has now elaborated his ideas in a book whose title,Stonehenge Decoded, leaves no doubt of his confidence in the rightness of his conclusions-a confidence explicity echoed in his text. 'There can be no doubt that Stonehenge was an observatory; the impartial mathematics of probability and the celestial sphere are on my side' (p. vii). 'I think I have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that the monument was deliberately, accurately, skilfully oriented to the sun and the moon' (pp. 146-7). 'I think I have put forward the best theory to account for the otherwise unexplained holes' (p. 147). 'I think there is little else in these areas that can be discovered at Stonehenge'(p. 147).
Speculations on Stonehenge
Authors: Hoyle Fred
Published: January 2016

Proposals that Stonehenge was con- structed as an astronomical observatory [1, 2, 3] with the purpose of predicting eclipses [4, 5] imply that the builders of Stonehenge, even Stonehenge I, were possessed of a degree of intellectual sophistication that seems inconsistent with the usual picture of the population of S. England in the and millennium B.C. Either the people were not just primitive farmers or these proposals must be substantially in error. It is not the purpose of this paper to attempt a decision between these alternatives but to explain the nature of the astronomical arguments in more detail than has been done heretofore. My hope is that with a moderate effort it will be possible for the reader to rework the calculations on which the astronomical suggestions have been based; for only when archaeologists and astronomers have understood each other's arguments can we expect to resolve this intriguing dilemma. At several places in the discussion I shall quote the solution of mathematical problems, thereby permitting the whole discussion to be confined to simple trigonometry. These few places will be marked by an asterisk. The reader wishing to cover these gaps will need to consult a text on spherical astronomy, e.g. [6].
Radiocarbon Dates for Northern New South Wales
Authors: McBryde Isabel
Published: January 2016

The archaeological work being undertaken in the New England region of northern New South Wales is part of a long-term study of the prehistory of this part of the state, combining field survey with the excavation of stratified sites. In both these aspects work is proceeding on a regional basis, at present concentrating on a coastal river valley (that of the Clarence), and the Northern Tablelands, areas offering contrasting environments, sub-tropical riverine and coastal conditions and rugged upland over 3,000 ft. above sea level. In reconnaissance the aim is a total regional record, to give a full picture of the range of evidence for prehistoric occupation and exploitation of any area, and the distribution, within the region as a whole, of particular types of site. This should provide a setting within which the excavated material may be interpreted, with the hope of eventually establishing connexions between art, ceremonial and industrial sites, and the dated industries, so gaining a fuller reconstruction of the life of the prehistoric occupants of the area.
Plough-marks, Lynchets and Early Fields
Authors: Fowler P. J. , Evans J. G.
Published: January 2016

The archaeology of early agriculture in Britain was succinctly summarized five years ago (Bowen, 1961). Since then, and largely stimulated by that publication, further work has produced some useful results, not only in the new and continuing field surveys which the author sought mainly to encourage but also by experiment and excavation. Our concern here is primarily with the application of excavation techniques and subsequent molluscan analysis to the study of early fields (cf. Tubbs and Dimbleby, 1965), our discussion arising largely from work carried out since 1961 and in particular from our own excavations in 1966.
The Function of the Yoke Saddle in Ancient Harnessing
Authors: Littauer Mary Aiken
Published: January 2016

Dr Watson's review of Dr von Dewall's Pferd und Wagen im Frühen China in your June issue raised a very interesting question, a hitherto unexplored aspect of which is indicated, if never developed, in the book.

Dr Watson writes that the author ‘Rather surprisingly, sees no problem in the perennial
question of the plac—hest or neck—on which the yoked horses took the load, and assumes
that the system of traces kept the point of draught low and protected the horses from the
choking effects of a band around the neck.’ Dr von Dewall referred to a girth (Bauchgurt) rather than to traces (which did not then exist) as performing this function, but was
over-optimistic in believing it could be successful. But she does assign a role, although a not
entirely correct one, to the yoke saddle: ‘Die Jochgabel auf dem Nacken der Pferde, an der
ein Brustblatt angesetzt haben muss, das von Brust und Schulter die Zugkraft abnahm, war
damit ein wichtiges Verbindungsglied in diesem Zugsystem’ . The saddle is an element of the
harness long neglected in the literature and, although it could never completely have removed the pressure from the throat (‘breast’ is a euphemism), I hope to demonstrate that it
would permit the withers and particularly the
upper shoulder to absorb some of this-at least
when the horse was in certain positions.
Iron Age Forts and Epic Literature
Authors: Hamilton J. R. C.
Published: January 2016

The excavation of the Clickhimin site in the Shetland Islands by the Ministry of Public Building and Works revealed the arrangement of living quarters inside a small stonebuilt fort occupied between the 4th and 1st centuries BC [I]. With the exception of a large communal stonebuilt hut in the centre of the enclosure, the inhabitants dwelt in a series of half-timbered storeyed ranges attached to the inner face of the fort wall (FIG. I). The pent-roofs of these ranges were supported by a dwarf, or casement, wall built on the wall walk, and access between the rooms at first-floor level and the walk was obtained through a series of doorways. Two stonebuilt duns in the Western Isles, Dun Ringill and Dun Grugaig, still retain the jambs of such doorways and at Clickhimin a similar door was preserved in the blockhouse guarding the fort entrance though here it led to a passage which gave access to a stair to the parapet walk at second-floor level [2].
Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Authors: Teicher J. L.
Published: January 2016

The interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls propagated by the overwhelming majority of Scrolls scholars start with the assumption that the Scrolls are not later than the second half of the first Christian century—more precisely, not later than June, A.D. 68—the only exceptions being those of one or two scholars who prefer a slightly later date. The exact terminus ad quem is not, however, based on any evidence contained in the Scrolls themselves, but was propounded by Père de Vaux as a conclusion derived from his excavations of the Qumran building and was taken over from him by the Scrolls scholars.
Centenary
Authors: Murray Margaret
Published: January 2016

As I shall, if I live till mid- July, complete a century of life, the Editor has asked me to write some of my views on archaeology, for I have seen the growth of that subject A practically from its beginning. There was no study of the past unless heavily documented, and the Bible was implicitly believed from 'cover to cover'. Curiously enough the discovery in France of early stone tools could be easily accepted if they were called antediluvian, for then they were the remains of the wicked people who were drowned in Noah's flood. Darwin and Huxley were out-and-out atheists. Fortunately for me my parents were interested in these new ideas, and long residence in Calcutta, where my father was in business, had given them sympathy with non-Christian religions. They had equally free-thinking ideas as to education, which according to them should be a training of the child's mind to think. This of course applied to girls as well as boys. Ordinary subjects, such as arithmetic, geography, history I learnt at home, but specialist subjects like music, drawing, French and German, I learnt from specialists. I had no illusions as to my ignorance or my want of brains. This had been well drummed into me, for when we sat for exams my elder sister always passed among the highest, whereas I never once succeeded in getting enough marks to obtain even a pass. But my family had always been very tactful about my invariable failures and I never was allowed to feel my deficiency. So that when on a day in early January, 1894, I made my way to the Edwards Library at University College to join F. L1. Griffith's class on hieroglyphs, I was as full of enthusiasm for a new subject as if I had always been successful.