bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Prehistory of Southwestern Iran: A Preliminary Report
Authors: Hole Frank , Flannery Kent V.
Published: February 2015

Current research on the prehistory of the Near East is proceeding at a pace unmatched since the ‘golden era of archaeology’ immediately preceding World War II. Iran, because of its great archeological potential and its stable political situation, has become a prime target for new investigations. Expeditions from the United States, Great Britain, Denmark, France, and Japan have all made substantial contributions to knowledge of Iranian prehistory in the last five years.

One recurrent problem in the new research, however, is a lack of coordination and communication between expeditions, which means that many opportunities for useful cooperation are lost. For example, in 1961 we surveyed in some 15 valleys in western Iran, plotting the distribution of pre-Uruk settlements. Unbeknown to us, at least one American and one Danish survey team crossed our path, duplicated many of our survey runs, and excavated one of the sites found on our project. We later learned that we, in turn, had duplicated several survey runs made previously by a British team, who were interested mainly in later sites but would have been happy to share their data on sites in our range of interest. Had all of us known what our colleagues were doing, we could have saved ourselves many hours of duplication.

This situation is worsened by the fact that many surveys and test-excavations remain unpublished, and diagnostic artifacts remain undescribed. With regard to pottery sequences, the urgency of the problem has recently been stressed by one of our colleagues (Young 1966: footnote 28).
Cultural Hominization among the Earliest African Pleistocene Hominids
Authors: Tobias Phillip V.
Published: February 2015

For over 40 years South Africa and for over 25 years East Africa have been yielding fossilized remains of creatures identified on their bony structure as lowly members of the Hominidae or human family. From five sites in the Republic of South Africa (Taung, Sterkfontein, Kromdraai, Makapansgat and Swartkrans) and from three sites in the Republic of Tanzania (Garusi, Olduvai and Peninj) have emerged a considerable number of hominid fossils of the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. Most of them have been classified as members of an extinct hominid genus called by R. A. Dart, the discoverer of the first specimen, Australopithecus. Although variable among themselves, the structural features which aligu these fossils with the Hominidae, rather than with the family of the apes or Pongidae, are as follows:—

(1) Australopithecus showed modifications of his skeleton—especially the pelvis, femur, ankle and foot—which permit us to infer that he walked upright, even though such modifications had not progressed as far as in hominids of the genus Homo.

(2) The calvaria or brain-case of Australopithecus was characterized by a number of hominid features, such as marked flexion of the axis of the cranial base; forward displacement of the occipital condyles by which the skull articulates with the vertebral column; a small, low nuchal area at the back of the base of the cranium, for the attachment of those muscles which tether the back of the cranium to the trunk—the last two features suggesting a different, more man-like poise of the cranium on the spine; the consistent development, early in life, of a pyramidal mastoid process as in man, and unlike the apes in which this process develops inconsistently and then only later in life (Schultz 1950).

(3) The canine teeth of Australopithecus, like those of Homo, lacked the enlargement and marked interlocking which characterizes the upper and lower teeth of the apes—correspondingly, Australopithecus lacked the diastemata or gaps which, in apes, lodge the projecting tips of the enlarged canines.

(4) Another dental characteristic shared by Australopithecus with Homo was the bicuspid structure of the first lower premolar tooth: in apes, this tooth does not possess two sub-equal cusps but is a cutting or sectorial tooth with one predominating cusp, like a canine tooth.

(5) Although the brain-size of Australopithecus (as inferred from the volumetric capacity of the brain-case) was no bigger than that of some largerbrained apes, the shape or morphology of the brain, as preserved in endocranial casts, approached more closely to that of early Homo than to that of the apes. We have, however, no direct evidence whether these external observable differences between the brains of Australopithecus and of apes were paralleled by internal, microscopic, structural differences such as those which have been demonstrated between modern man and modern apes.

(6) Many other detailed morphological features of the skull, the teeth and other bones of Australopithecus showed human resemblances.
Excavation of a Round Barrow on Overton Hill, North Wiltshire
Authors: Smith I. F. , Simpson D. D. A.
Published: February 2015

The barrow is No. 6b in L. V. Grinsell's list for the parish of West Overton (V.C.H. Wilts., 1, Part I, 1957). It stood some 400 feet to the north of the most northerly member of the conspicuous group of bowl and bell barrows that straddles the A.4 road on Overton, or Sevenbarrow, Hill, 4½ miles west of Marlborough (SU 11966835). Its position is marked on the OS. 6-inch map (SU 16NW), but not on the 1-inch (Sheet 157). The height above sea-level is about 580 feet.

The subsoil is Upper Chalk, its surface broken by irregular depressions and long parallel troughs filled with a soft buff material, evidently the result of weathering under periglacial conditions. The topsoil is a rendsina about 6 inches thick.

Most of the barrows on Overton Hill are known to have been dug into in the past. No. 6b had escaped the attentions of antiquarians, but it was evident before excavation that it had nevertheless suffered extensive disturbances.
The Boats from North Ferriby, Yorkshire, England, with a review of the origins of the sewn boats of the Bronze Age
Authors: Wright E. V. , Churchill D. M.
Published: February 2015

The fortunate discovery by the first author and his son, R. W. Wright, in March 1963 of a third in the series of sewn boats from North Ferriby, making the fourth in the group from the Humber basin, if the Brigg ‘Raft’ is included, has provided a convenient starting point for a review of the whole subject in the light of new evidence as to age. This in turn has led to rather firmer conclusions about their possible affinities and origin than were possible when the report on the first two examples was prepared. There are reasonable grounds now for putting out speculations about the pattern which has resulted in the occurrence of related techniques of boat-building over a great span of time and distance.

The preliminary excavation and recovery were directed by Mr Bartlett and the first writer. Preservation is being carried out at the Hull Museum under Mr Bartlett's control. Such photographic recording as was attempted was largely done by Miss Isla McInnes of the Hull Museum Staff, Mr Derek Cutts and his wife (who also achieved a graphic motion picture record of the proceedings in colour) and Mr Allen Binns. Limitations on photography were accepted deliberately in the interests of speed since no attempt was made at detailed cleaning before removal of the remains. The weather seldom helped.
The Kitchen Midden Site at Westward Ho!, Devon, England: ecology, age, and relation to changes in land and sea level
Authors: Churchill D. M. , Wymer J. J.
Published: February 2015

The occurrence of submerged forests in places along the British coast has long attracted attention, and led to speculation on the relative displacement in land and sea levels that enabled such forests to grow. Many of these forest beds are only visible between high and low water of the spring tides; others, not so readily seen, are known to occur in beds to a depth 60 feet below present sea level. The melting of the ice sheets after the last glaciation and the consequent rise of sea level accounts for the submergence of many of these forest beds, although the actual height at which they are found, may be affected by displacement from the contemporary level by subsequent compaction of sediments and tectonic movement. The submerged forest at Westward Ho! rests on consolidated sediments and is not subject to change in level due to compaction. The tectonic factor is discussed in relation to analogous deposits of comparable age elsewhere in southern Britain.

The presence of the submerged forest in Bideford Bay (Barnstaple Bay) at Westward Ho!, was recorded in a survey published by De la Beche in 1839, and in 1866 Ellis called attention to the presence of flints in the submerged forest bed. The peat was found in patches between a pebble ridge and low water mark and in places for about 200 yards along the beach.
Cultural Grouping within the British pre-Roman Iron Age
Authors: Hodson F. R.
Published: February 2015

In a previous article in these Proceedings I raised some doubts about the current system of classifying the British pre-Roman Iron Age (Hodson 1962). My main criticisms were that the first stage of this classification into three divisions A, B and C did not reflect a clear threefold division within the material to be classified and also that this system did not deal satisfactorily with the British Iron Age as part of a wider European phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to look for steps towards a modified first classification that may overcome these objections. Following the four principles of classification suggested (Hodson 1962, p. 153) an attempt will be made to pick out the most distinctive characteristics or type-fossils within the pre-Roman Iron Age and to see whether these features recur together in definite groups in Europe as a whole. These groups should represent cultures in the archaeological sense and afterwards their interpretation should provide a general archaeological account of the early Iron Age in Britain.

Although attempting to put forward for discussion a provisional classification of some sort, the real purpose of this paper is to emphasize serious gaps in the available evidence. Until these gaps are filled, no classification can hope to be in any way definitive.

It is first necessary to establish some simple chronological system by which to inter-relate any cultures that may be established. A direct reference to absolute dates (or periods of, say, a hundred years) would be most convenient.
The Chambered Cairn at Beacharra, Kintyre, Argyll
Authors: Scott J. G.
Published: February 2015

The burial chamber of the Clyde-Carlingford cairn at Beacharra, Kintyre, Argyll, was excavated in 1892 by members of the Kintyre Scientific Association. The finds, consisting of six pots, a jet slider or belt-fastener and a utilized flint flake, were placed in Campbeltown Museum. A newspaper account of the excavation appeared at the time, and with the aid of this and of information from Mr A. Gray, who had been in charge of the excavation, T. H. Bryce was able to compile the first proper report upon the excavation. This he incorporated in the first of two papers on the cairns of Arran. A sketch plan of the burial chamber, prepared in 1892 by Mr P. Mackay and now in the records of the Kintyre Antiquarian Society, is reproduced (fig. 1).

The importance of the pottery from Beacharra was fully recognized by Bryce, but it was not until 1929 that it was related by J. G. Callander to Scottish Neolithic pottery as a whole. Subsequently this evidence was analysed and placed in its British and European context by V. G. Childe and S. Piggott. In 1935 Childe introduced the term Beacharra to describe the pottery from sites of the Clyde-Carlingford culture in Scotland. The term was retained and the classification developed into Beacharra A, B and C by Piggott for the Clyde-Carlingford culture as a whole. More recently, and inadvisedly in the present state of knowledge, it has been suggested that the use of the term Beacharra, at least insofar as pottery from Ireland is concerned, should be discontinued.
The Climate, Environment and Industries of Stone Age Greece: Part I
Authors: Dakaris S. I. , Higgs E. S. , Hey R. W. , Tippett H. , Mellars P.
Published: February 2015

This paper is the result of a survey of a part of Macedonia and Epirus carried out in 1962 and sponsored by the British School of Archaeology at Athens. In 1963 under the aegis of S. I. Dakaris, ephor of Epirus, excavations were carried out to confirm some of the hypotheses resulting from the earlier survey. The cost of the work was defrayed partly by the British Academy and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, and partly by the members of the expeditions themselves. In this paper it is proposed to place on record some of the findings of these expeditions. A more detailed consideration of them will be published after further information has been acquired in 1964.

Prior to 1962 little was known of the Stone Age industries of Greece. In contrast with the industrial successions established in Western Europe, Central Europe, Russia and the Levant, Greece had remained virtually a blank on the Palaeolithic map. As late as 1923 Jardé had written that not a single palaeolithic tool was known from Greek soil. Apart from three pieces of uncertain provenance attributed by Breuil to the Upper Palaeolithic, and one from Saloniki noted by Obermaier, no further progress seems to have been made until the German and Italian occupation of Greece and Albania. In 1941 Stampfuss dug the cave of Seidi between Thebes and Levadia. He discovered an industry which contained backed-blades, burins, shouldered points and thick scrapers. It is undated, but is a Gravettoid industry, possibly at a fully developed or even later stage. Mustilli also reported in 1941 the finding of a Middle Palaeolithic industry in Albania. Since that time Servais has noted the presence of apparently early flints in the Peloponnese, a fact subsequently investigated by Leroi-Gourhan in 1962. Byelor has also reported some flakes of Levallois type. The most important work, however, has been that of Milojčić, published in 1958, and arising out of the work in previous years of the German Thessaly Expedition.
Some Wood and Stone Implements of the Bindibu Tribe of Central Western Australia
Authors: Thomson Donald F.
Published: February 2015

In 1956–57 the remote and almost unexplored desert terrain that stretches for hundreds of miles north and west of Lake Mackay—a great salt morass that lies across the border between Northern Territory and Western Australia—was in the grip of a severe drought which had lasted for more than a year. This great tract of spinifex desert and red sand hills that extends westward to the Canning Desert was named the Great Sandy Desert by Colonel Warburton in 1873.

During 1956 and again in the following year, reports had been coming in sporadically through Alice Springs of the existence of primitive nomadic aborigines far out in the sands beyond Lake Mackay. Some of these nomads were said to have come in to Mt. Doreen Station, which lies 225 miles to the west of Alice Springs on the fringe of the desert, but no accurate information was available.

Having experienced tropical areas of high rainfall with their regular hunting and food-gathering cycle, I had always wanted to work in the arid interior of Australia, where the rainfall is not only extremely low but unpredictable. I had hoped to live and to hunt with a nomadic people of the desert and semi-desert, and to study the background ecology, the adaptation of these people to this arid terrain, and especially their hunting and food gathering, and so to understand the effect of these factors on the territorial grouping and on the social and ceremonial life of the aborigines as I had come to know it.
Archaeological Discoveries in the Raised Bogs of the Somerset Levels, England
Authors: Dewar H. S. L. , Godwin H.
Published: February 2015

When C. E. Moss (1907) first described the vegetation of the peat areas of the Somerset Levels, he referred to them as ‘moors’, a term offering no distinction from upland peats such as those of the Pennines or Dartmoor. It was not until much later that they were recognized as the remnants, much degraded and dissected by peat-cutting, of an extensive complex of raised bogs (Godwin 1941). This was a conclusion of considerable significance since raised bogs belong to the category of ombrogenous mires, that is to say, of peat structures built up in almost total dependence on rain and snow falling directly upon them, and drawing not at all upon ground water. Such bogs receive very little mineral supply and become very acidic and poor in plant nutrients, so that their vegetation is highly specialized and most characteristic, consisting very largely of species of the moss genus Sphagnum, various flowering plants of the order Ericales, cotton-grass, deer-grass (Trichophorum caespitosum) and a restricted number of other species of equally restricted range. It is the various assemblages of the remains of these plants that allow us to identify given peat samples as having formed in raised bog, and often permit us to relate them to given communities characteristic of different aspects of the vegetation of still-active raised bogs.

This is a very helpful circumstance, since the raised bogs are entities in such close dependence upon annual precipitation that they respond quickly to phases of increased or decreased wetness by altered surface vegetation. Thus in periods of dryness they become covered with ling (Calluna vulgaris), cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum) and sometimes trees, chiefly birch (Betula verrucosa), and the peat then formed is very colloidal, dark and fully humified. By contrast, when it is continuously wet the bog surface is covered with actively-growing Sphagna (which form a matrix for the associated higher plants), and the peat formed in these conditions is pale, fibrous, and undecayed. An abrupt transition from the one peat type to the other, if consistent across a bog, is referred to as a recurrence-surface (RY is the familiar contraction from the Swedish word).
Neolithic Bows from Somerset, England, and the Prehistory of Archery in North-western Europe
Authors: Clark J. G. D.
Published: February 2015

The object of this paper is first to describe and reconstruct the halves of two Neolithic bows found in the course of peat-digging in the Somerset Levels during 1961 and second to put these in historical perspective in relation to the development of archery in north-western Europe. The outcome of comparative studies has been to show that the Somerset bows fall into the last quarter of the first major cycle in the history of the bow in this part of the world, one that lasted from the 9th to the 2nd millennium B.C., during which the bow was by far the most important weapon for both hunting and fighting. So soon as metallurgical industry had made swords and socketed spears available these weapons became predominant and indeed bows and arrowheads fade almost, if not in some areas wholly, from the archaeological record of this part of Europe. It was not until around A.D. 200–400 and, then only among the Teutonic peoples centred on Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark, that there is evidence for a revival in archery. So far as Britain is concerned, the use of the bow was reintroduced by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, probably reinforced by Danes. If the traditional source of the English Long Bow in Gwenth is correct, the weapon must be thought of as developing in the immediate wake of the Anglo-Norman invasion of the closing years of the 11th century. As a major weapon in English armies it lasted from the end of the 13th until the second half of the 16th century when it was effectively replaced by firearms.
A Reinterpretation of the Microlithic Industries of Wales
Authors: Wainwright G. J.
Published: February 2015

The distribution of Mesolithic sites in Wales is controlled to a great extent by the terrain, for physiographically, Wales is a highland block defined on three sides by the sea and for the greater part of the fourth side by a sharp break of slope. Geologically the Principality is composed almost entirely of Palaeozoic rocks, of which the 600-foot contour encloses more than three quarters of the total area. There are extensive regions above 1,500 feet and 2,000 feet and in the north the peaks of Snowdonia and Cader Idris rise to 3,560 feet and 2,929 feet respectively. Indeed North Wales consists of an inhospitable highland massif, skirted by a lowland plateau and cut deeply by river valleys, providing only limited areas for settlement. The hills and mountains of Snowdonia with their extension at lower altitudes into the Lleyn Peninsula, and the ranges of Moelwyn, Manod Mawr, Arenig Fach and Cader Idris, are discouraging obstacles to penetration, save for a short distance along the river valleys. To the east of these peaks are extensive tracts of upland plateau dissected by rivers, bounded on the west by the vale of the river Conway and cleft by the Vale of Clwyd. To the east of this valley lies the Clwydian Range and further again to the east these uplands descend with milder contours to the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.

To the south the district merges into the uplands of Central Wales, which are continuous until they are replaced by the lowland belt of South Wales.
The Excavation of the Willerby Wold Long Barrow, East Riding of Yorkshire
Authors: Manby T. G.
Published: February 2015

The long barrow on Willerby Wold, 7 miles south of Scarborough, was dug into about the middle of the 19th century by the Rev. Canon William Greenwell. The results of this excavation are described in his book British Barrows and show the mound to be one of the crematorium long barrows peculiar to Yorkshire.

In September 1958 the present excavations began with the sectioning of the south ditch in search of any evidence of occupation so frequently found in long barrow ditches. Further work in 1959 included sections of the mound and as these showed Greenwell's excavations to be of only limited extent a more extensive programme of work was undertaken during 1960 to clear the whole of the eastern end of the mound.
The Population Ecology of Man in the Early Upper Pleistocene of Southern Africa
Authors: Lee Richard B.
Published: February 2015

The object of this essay is to study the effect of shifting Pleistocene climates on the numbers and distribution of early man. The geographical setting for the study is southern Africa. Chronologically, it is concerned with the cultures of the First Intermediate Phase—the Fauresmith and the Sangoan, which flourished in this region during the period 50,000–40,000 B.C.

The main body of the work is devoted to a description of the ecological zones of southern Africa and an evaluation of these zones in terms of their suitability for hominid occupation. Three maps of ecological zones are employed: the first shows the vegetation as it exists under the present climate; the second and third plot the zones as they might appear under conditions of higher and lower rainfall respectively. The regions of southern Africa are then classified on the basis of their long-term favourability for hominid occupation.

The use of this framework enables one to reinterpret the distribution of archaeological materials and to produce revised estimates concerning the numbers of men in the Pleistocene.
Irish Bronze Age Horns and their relations with Northern Europe
Authors: Coles John M.
Published: February 2015

One of the features of the Irish Late Bronze Age is the appearance of wind instruments, commonly called ‘Trumpets’, often found in groups and only rarely in association with other material. Being conical and curved, these are therefore members of the horn family, to which the other large musical group of the Bronze Age, the north Europeanlurer, also belong.

The Irish horns have attracted the attention of antiquarians for over 100 years, with the principal collection and listing of these beginning in 1860. Evans devoted a section of his 1881 book to the ‘trumpets’, and was followed by Day, Allen and Coffey. The latest treatment, which brought together most of the previous lists of horns, was by MacWhite in 1945. All of these later works were primarily concerned with the typology of the horns, and attention was paid neither to their actual production nor to their music. In the present study, all previously published horns have been examined where possible, as well as a number of unpublished finds, and an attempt will be made not only (i) to describe the typological variations and dating of the horns, but also (ii) to discuss their production as objects from Late Bronze Age workshops and (iii) to consider for the first time their musical potential.
A Late Stone Age Site in the Erongo Mountains South West Africa
Authors: Clark J. Desmond , Walton James
Published: February 2015

The main object of this paper is to draw attention to the existence of Late Stone Age sites in South West Africa where perishable organic remains are preserved, and in particular to the ‘Big Elephant Cave’, discovered by Dr E. R. Scherz in the Erongo Mountains.

These lie some 10 to 15 miles north-north-east of Usakos, at approximately 21° 40′ S., 15° 40′ E., in a region of open grass steppe with stands of thornbush, mainly Acacia, with low sclerophytic scrub supported by an annual rainfall of between 150–200 millimetres. These mountains rest on Basement Complex rocks and consist of Karroo sediments through which have been introduced granites of post-Karroo Age. The western face of the Erongo forms the edge of the plateau escarpment, and looks out to the Namib Desert and the Atlantic Ocean.

The cave, to which we were conducted in May, 1959, by Dr Scherz, is situated in a commanding position on a kopje of rounded granite boulders near Ameib. It was first shown by its discoverer to the Abbé Henri Breuil when he was copying the Erongo rock paintings, but no study of the settlement was made and it was not revisited in the interim. Although the name ‘Big Elephant Cave’ has been adopted from Dr Scherz, it is, in fact, a deep rockshelter rather than a cave. It contains no paintings, but a line of male and female figures, in faded red paint, is drawn low down on a protected rock at the north side of the kopje. These have been published by the Abbé Breuil.
European Bronze Age Shields
Authors: Coles John M.
Published: February 2015

This paper is primarily concerned with the large series of Bronze Age shields known in central, north and western Europe, but, for purposes which will become apparent, some attention has also been paid to certain shields of the Mediterranean world. The first part will be devoted to a culture-historical study of the shields and the second to the methods used in their production.
Excavations at the Early Neolithic Site at Nea Nikomedeia, Greek Macedonia (1961 season)
Authors: Rodden Robert J. , Dimbleby G. W. , Western A. C. , Willis E. H. , Higgs E. S. , Clench W. J.
Published: February 2015

The site of the early prehistoric farming settlement at Nea Nikomedeia, Western Macedonia, was first noted in 1958 by Mr Photios Petsas, Ephore of Antiquities of the area for the Greek Archaeological Service: he investigated the reported discovery of archaeological finds exposed during the course of removing earth from an inconspicuous mound to make a road embankment, and forthwith stopped further destruction of the site. His willing advice and assistance, and the most generous cooperation of the Greek Archaeological Service under the direction of Dr John Papadimitriou, and of the Ministry of Agriculture, made possible the five-week excavation season in the summer of 1961. The excavations were carried out under the aegis of the British School at Athens. Thanks are due to the British Academy, the Crowther-Benyon Fund administered by the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research for providing the necessary funds. I wish to acknowledge help and guidance both in the field and in the preparation of this report from Professor Grahame Clark, under whose supervision I worked at Cambridge University during the academic years 1959–60 and 1960–61. Grateful acknowledgment is also made to Mr R. W. Hutchinson for his valuable help in the field, and to the undergraduates and research students from the University of Cambridge who willingly undertook most of the field and laboratory work. The ready assistance of the Curator of the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and his staff in shipping matters and the loan of equipment is greatly appreciated.
Excavations at Shearplace Hill, Sydling St. Nicholas Dorset, England
Authors: Rahtz Philip , ApSimon A. M.
Published: February 2015

This report describes the excavation of a small complex of earthworks on the Dorset chalk upland (fig. 1) associated with fields and droveways. Several banked and ditched enclosures were present, the main one of which contained two sub-circular houses. The lay-out of these houses may be ascribed largely to the Deverel-Rimbury occupation of the site, but the main earthworks of the farmstead are dated on the evidence of the pottery to the early Middle Bronze Age, if not to the Wessex Bronze Age. From the plans of similar settlements with fields and droveways, then thought to belong to the Late Bronze Age (but now assigned to the Middle Bronze Age), Curwen (1938) deduced the existence of settled cultivation with the two-oxplough. The use of some form of plough during the Bronze Age has since received confirmation from the discovery of marks of cultivation in the fossil soil beneath barrows and other monuments. The placing of the houses in hollows cut into the slope recalls the Itford Hill settlement (Hollyman and Burstow, 1958) and the enclosing ditches, the Cranborne Chase sites mapped by Mrs Piggott (1951). The round houses seem to be the universal type in the Middle Bronze Age of southern England and the farmstead with 2–3 houses is comparable with Thorny Down, Plumpton Plain, Trevisker (St. Eval) and Trewey, to quote only the better known examples. It is uncertain how far we should distinguish these from what appear to be villages with up to 20-30 houses, such as occur on Dartmoor (Radford 1951).
The Stratigraphy of the Mesolithic Sites III and V at Thatcham, Berkshire, England
Authors: Churchill D. M.
Published: February 2015

Since 1922, when Peake and Crawford, first described a flint factory from Thatcham in Berkshire, the area has become increasingly important for comparative studies of the British Mesolithic, and more specifically the Thames Valley, Clark 1932, 1936, Rankine 1956.

At Thatcham, a number of Mesolithic camping sites occur along the edge of a gravel terrace which borders a reed swamp at the junction of the Moor Brook and the Kennet river. The valley of the Kennet joins the Thames at Reading nearly fifteen miles downstream. The early excavations of Peake and Crawford and the more recent ones of Wymer (1959), were confined to the occupation site on the terrace. However from these scattered terrace hearths it was not possible to estimate the commencement of the occupation, its duration or cultural development. With the prospect of recovering a stratified sequence of artefacts, a coffer dam was therefore sunk into the swamp sediments at the foot of the terrace bluff. Inside the dam it was then possible to excavate (pl. XLIX) below the water level of the swamp (Site V).

A stratified sequence of artefacts, animal and plant remains was found, and sufficient fossil pollen and wood were preserved to enable pollen zonation and radiocarbon dating of the profile. It was apparent from the C14 dates that the algal marl accumulated for a period of the order of 500 to 1000 years.
Matrix Analysis and Archaeology with particular reference to British Beaker Pottery
Authors: Clarke D. L.
Published: February 2015

After more than a century of work in the field a wealth of archaeological material has been recovered for analysis and interpretation by the prehistorian in his continuous attempt to understand the cultural traditions and relationships of his own ancestors. A varied array of analytical methods have grown to aid him in his task of defining ancient cultural groups. In many cases these methods have grown without their underlying principles being perfectly understood or clearly stated: they were used first and understood later. A typical example of this process has been the changing implications of the ‘Three Age System’. Curiously the position often taken today seems to suggest that no principles underlie the study of prehistory, since when these are defined they are never used and those used are rarely defined. This position is contrary to the observations of Social Anthropology and Ethnology and the pioneer work of the late Professor Childe. Wherever human actions or their fossil results, the artefact, can be studied they show distinctly non-random action conditioned by the peculiarly human attributes, namely foresight and transmitted culture. In other words they obey certain limiting principles. The present position in the study of prehistory is similar in many ways to the position of the emergent Natural Sciences in the 17th and 18th centuries; data has been amassed, but the principles remain dimly perceived or are even denied existence.
The Lower Palaeolithic Succession in the Thames Valley and the date of the Ancient Channel between Caversham and Henley, Oxon
Authors: Wymer John
Published: February 2015

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 Excavation of a Neolithic Stone Implement Factory on Mynydd Rhiw in Caernarvonshire
Authors: Houlder C. H.
Published: February 2015

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.
The People of Mount Carmel
Authors: Brothwell D. R.
Published: February 2015

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).
The ‘Carlingford Culture’, the Long Barrow and the Neolithic of Great Britain and Ireland
Authors: de Valéra Ruaidhrí
Published: February 2015

There are at the moment several indications that a re-assessment of the problems of the neolithic in Britain and Ireland is required. Since the virtual discovery of the primary neolithic some thirty years ago, so vast has the field become that it is no longer possible for an individual to be familiar with all the material and it is inevitable that each will tend to see the whole from the viewpoint of his own special interest and region. In these circumstances, during the course of any re-assessment, workers on various aspects are especially liable to find themselves at cross-purposes. Moreover, in the developments which followed the brilliant pioneer syntheses many ideas have become traditional and tend to be accepted as axiomatic. The alteration or abandonment of such ideas may prove difficult and more difficult still may be the emendation or rejection of conclusions based on them.

Ireland lies to the west of Britain. To review the whole scene in any detail from a standpoint in Ireland would involve discussing at second-hand too much of the material on which current views are based and such is not the intention. These notes are designed merely to comment on some general issues which have been and may well in the future be sources of difficulty and misunderstanding, and in particular to deal with the Irish court cairns which have been the subject of recent discussion. It is scarcely to be hoped that they will obviate controversy, but they may help a little towards the mutual understanding of differences.
Flint and the Patination of Flint Artifacts
Authors: Schmalz Robert F.
Published: February 2015

The alteration of black or dark-coloured flint artifacts to produce a white surface is familiar to archaeologists. This patination is attributed to weathering, and was first explained by Judd in 1887. Judd suggested that flint is composed of a felted aggregate of euhedral quartz needles with colloidal (opaline) silica occupying the interstices between the crystalline grains. He postulated that carbonate-bearing ground-water leached the more soluble amorphous silica, leaving minute interstitial cavities in the altered margin of the flint. The multitudes of surfaces thus produced reflect and refract light falling upon or passing through the flint, and the resulting scattering causes the white appearance of the altered portion. Judd cited the white aspect of powdered black obsidian as an example of such scattering effects.
Geoelectrical Surveying of Archaeological Sites
Authors: Palmer L. S.
Published: February 2015

Archaeologists have for some time been employing geoelectric resistivity methods to locate buried remains in order to avoid wasteful trial-and-error excavations. The results have been successful in some cases, but unexpectedly disappointing in others. The purpose of this paper is to indicate some of the peculiar difficulties which arise when applying the usual techniques suitable for deep surveys to the location of resistance anomalies buried at relatively shallow depths below the surface. The difficulties which have been experienced depend mainly on the fact that, for small electrical resistance discontinuities at shallow depths, factors arise which are negligible with deep surveys. In other words, when the dimensions and depth of an anomaly (such as a cist in a Bronze-age tumulus or the buried foundations of a Roman Wall) are comparable with the distance between the electrodes, then the usual theoretical assumptions underlying deep surveys need to be re-examined.
The Carlingford Culture
Authors: Corcoran John X. W. P.
Published: February 2015

This paper is devoted to a study of the horned-cairns of the North-east of Ireland and their associated artifacts. The term ‘horned-cairn’ is used to describe those segmented gallery-graves set in a long cairn and entered from a semi-circular forecourt delimited by an orthostatic facade. It is realized that this term is not altogether satisfactory, but it has the virtue of brevity and its usage is now well established. Some contemporary Irish prehistorians, notably Professor Ruaidhrí de Valéra, have suggested the term ‘court-cairn’ for all the manifestations in Ireland of the segmented gallery-grave having elaborate structural forecourts. This would include cairns in the West of Ireland with completely enclosed courts (described as court-cairns in this paper) as well as horned-cairns proper. The confusion which might arise from the use of such terms as ‘full court-cairn’, ‘half court-cairn’, ‘forecourt-cairn’ and the like have decided the present writer to retain in this paper the simple terms ‘horned-cairn’ and ‘court-cairn’.

This study is divided into two main sections. The first is descriptive, being concerned with horned-cairns and associated artifacts and the second attempts to place the Carlingford Culture as a whole in its context in prehistory. In view of the paucity of detailed information about court-cairns, particularly the almost complete lack of excavation, no detailed study is made of these. At the time of going to press it is understood that a paper by Professor de Valéra on the court-cairns of the west is about to be published in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.
The Origins and Development of the Penannular Brooch in Europe
Authors: Fowler Elizabeth
Published: February 2015

This paper is in a sense a by-product of a detailed study of ‘Dark Age’ metalwork and grew out of the realization that any interpretation of post-Roman history depends on an understanding of the archaeology of Roman and Iron Age Britain. For too long, the post-Roman world has been regarded as separate from the preceding periods, and has been seen mainly through aesthetic spectacles. Recent studies of the pottery of the period have to some extent corrected the perspective hitherto largely based on subjective and even nationalistic examinations of the better known art and metalwork. To make a new and comparable survey of the metalwork seemed worthwhile, and in doing this attention was focused on the ordinary, and common, pieces of metalwork which have been overshadowed by the more magnificent and highly decorated pieces. It became evident that in many ways the Roman occupation was not all important but was merely a minor factor in the development of material culture, and that this was particularly true of the Military Province of Britain. The specialist nature of so much of Romano-British archaeology has tended to obscure the continuity of Iron Age culture. It was felt that the selection of one or more pieces of metalwork might illustrate this as well as providing a background for the achievements in metalwork and design in the ‘Dark Ages’.

The penannular brooch was chosen as the ‘type-fossil’ for this study because it was the typical and characteristic dress ornament of the Celtic post-Roman world, was equally common in Romano-British contexts and seemed to be native to these islands. A complete run through from Iron Age to Early Christian times has thus been obtained, and it is hoped that deductions drawn from a study of the penannular brooches may be paralleled and applied to other metalwork of the period and so allow general conclusions to be drawn. A more personal reason for selecting the penannular brooch was a desire to investigate the reasons for such a bewildering variety of contradictory opinions on the origin and development of the type.
A Bronze Age Urnfield on Vinces Farm Ardleigh, Essex
Authors: Erith F. H. , Longworth I. H.
Published: February 2015

Ardleigh lies midway between Colchester on the River Colne, and Manningtree on the estuary of the Stour, the distance from each place being about four miles. Vinces Farm covers an area roughly half a mile to a mile south of Ardleigh church on the road to Great Bromley. The farm lies on a plateau, 110 feet above sea level, and has no particular geographical feature other than its flatness. The soil is a medium loam over gravel and requires no artificial drainage. Grid Ref. TL/056284.

The land has been under arable cultivation for centuries, but not until 1955 was a deep-digging plough introduced, ploughing to a depth of a foot or more. In September of that year the plough brought up sherds of Roman pottery in the Long Eleven Acres field (O.S. 716) and with these, sherds of Bronze Age ware.
The Excavation of a Long Barrow at Nutbane, Hants
Authors: Morgan Faith de Mallet
Published: February 2015

The excavation of the long barrow at Nutbane, Penton Grafton, Hants, took place from August to October 1957, covering a period of nine weeks, and was carried out by the writer on behalf of the Andover History Group. The barrow, which was not included in the Ordnance Survey's Map of Neolithic Wessex (1932), had only been discovered at the end of 1955 when the attention of Ordnance Survey Officers was drawn to its presence by Mr North of Penton Mewsey. Describing the barrow to Mr W. Woodhouse of the Ordnance Survey on 10 December 1955, Mr North stated: ‘In this field is a mound which, when ploughed, shows as an oval area of chalk. Black marks can be seen on either side. I dug a pit about 5 feet deep in the mound and the chalk was loose and easy to dig. I found nothing’. Mr Woodhouse reported that it was a typical long barrow of Wessex type. Later an air photograph provided confirmation and indicated the flanking ditches.