bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Where Eagles Dare: the Iron Age of Norfolk
Authors: Davies John A.
Published: February 2014

A survey is presented of the Iron Age in Norfolk, the area containing the heartland of the tribal territory of the Iceni during the Late Iron Age. It makes use of new information from prolific artefact finds from recent excavations and fieldwork, and employing unpublished data from the county Sites and Monuments Record. Settlement evidence and artefact distributions are analysed and used to construct a model for the development of settlement from the Early Iron Age to the Boudican rebellion of AD 60–61. The model emphasises a process of continuous change, showing the population expanding, moving from west to east and finally onto the central claylands. Evidence for field monuments is reviewed, revealing regional groupings and an association between hillfort-type and rectangular enclosures and linear earthworks with strategic locations on the boundaries of better soils. Three zones are thus defined. Artefact types including tores, coins, coin hoards, and horse equipment also reveal distinct regional patterning. Some larger sites are identified as serving more than simple agricultural functions, playing a key role within and between the three defined zones. The importance of ritual and religion within Iron Age society is emphasised and is considered to underlie the deposition of artefacts and hoards around Snettisham and in the vicinity of the south Norfolk border; a practice later revived in the Romano-British period.
Seeing the Sites: Survey and Excavation on the Anglezarke Uplands, Lancashire
Authors: Howard-Davis Christine , Bain M. , Bamford H. , Barnes B. , Leech R.H. , Quartermaine J.
Published: February 2014

The Anglezarke/Rivington uplands of central Lancashire have, in recent years, suffered severe erosion. In response a programme of field survey was undertaken during 1983 and 1985, supplemented by palynological investigation, modern vegetation survey, and sample excavation. Two sites were investigated in detail, a cairn of likely Bronze Age date and a flint scatter of earlier Mesolithic type. The field survey demonstrated human activity on the upland throughout the prehistoric period and emphasised the heavy post-medieval exploitation of the moorland. Sample excavation confirmed the prehistoric activity and, in the case of the Mesolithic site at Rushy Brow, demonstrated the possibility of recognising and reconstructing periods of prehistoric activity of very short duration — perhaps only a few hours.
The Excavation of Cairns at Blawearie, Old Bewick, Northumberland
Authors: Hewitt Ian , Beckensall Stan , Gale J. , Turner J. , Nye S.
Published: February 2014

Blawearie Cairn was first excavated by Canon William Greenwell in 1865. His findings indicated that the cairn was a cist cemetery of the Early Bronze Age. Recent excavation has demonstrated that the cairn was originally a kerb circle and that funerary rites were not necessarily its prime function.
‘Crown’ Antler Maceheads and the Later Neolithic in Britain
Authors: Simpson D.D.A.
Published: February 2014

This paper is a study of the 58 recorded antler maceheads of the so-called ‘crown’ type, their technology, distribution, dating, and possible origins and relationships. An illustrated catalogue is appended.
The Stone Axe in Neolithic Britain
Authors: Pitts Michael
Published: February 2014

A new framework for the consideration of Neolithic axes is proposed, consisting of six rock classes defined by rock composition and working properties. The use of rock from these classes varied systematically in Britain, and reflected local geology. Flint exploitation, whose significance in the production of axes has been grossly underestimated, is considered in especial detail (with a full survey of flint mines and quarries). A major study of axe morphology is reported on. The paper includes gazetteers of caches of stone axes (many previously unpublished) and of axes found in burials.
Patterns of the peasant landscape
Authors: Waterbolk H. T.
Published: February 2014

In a slightly different form this paper was given as the Europa Lecture for 1994

The subject of this contribution is the origin of the diversity in the 19th century peasant landscape in the northern Netherlands. The first goal of the paper is to introduce a British audience to a line of research, which so far has been mainly reported on in Dutch and German. The second goal is to lay my finger on some basic properties of peasant landscapes elsewhere in the world. The third goal of my efforts in landscape archaeology is to identify ancient structures in today's landscape, which explain their identity, and to present this information to all those who are concerned with landscape conservation and landscape planning in the study area.
Coygan Cave, Laugharne, South Wales, a Mousterian Site and Hyaena Den: a Report on the University of Cambridge Excavations
Authors: Aldhouse-Green Stephen , Scott Katharine , Schwarcz Henry , Grün Rainer , Housley Rupert , Rae Angela , Bevins Richard , Redknap Mark
Published: February 2014

Excavation by Charles McBurney and John Clegg during the early 1960s revealed a sequence with a Mousterian occupation, of which the principal finds were two bout coupé handaxes, stratified close to the base of a Middle Devensian hyaena-den accumulation. The human occupation should belong within the period 64–38 ka with comparative and stratigraphic evidence favouring a date within the earlier part of this range before 50 ka. The hyaena-den occupation probably extends from at least 40 ka (if not 60 ka) until c. 24 ka.
Social Histories and Regional Perspectives in the Neolithic of Lowland England
Authors: Harding Jan
Published: February 2014

Recent studies have illustrated a series of marked regional differences in the distribution and design of Neolithic monuments throughout lowland England. They fail, however, to provide an interpretative framework for the discussion of these contrasts. This paper proposes that such regional variability can only be understood with a scale of analysis which outlines the fundamental distinctions between political communities in different parts of lowland England. It is argued that factors such as population size and density can be clearly related to the variability from area to area in the number and structural complexity of causewayed enclosures. It is also possible to link these demographic factors to a long-term process of social change whereby the small autonomous groups of the earlier Neolithic were transformed into larger political units. The cursus and henge monuments were an important component of this process, and regional variability in the distribution and design of these sites can be taken to demonstrate that the extent of this transformation differed throughout lowland England. It is evident that there were important contrasts between those regions which had previously been distinguished by the variability in the layout of causewayed enclosures. The stylised morphology of the cursus and henge monuments appears to have deliberately accentuated such contrasts. These sites therefore provide clear evidence for the existence of long-term regional traditions across lowland England.
Food for the Living: a Reassessment of a Bronze Age Barrow at Buckskin, Basingstoke, Hampshire
Authors: Allen Michael J. , Morris Michael , Clark R.H. , Applin Barbara , ApSimon A.M. , King Andrew C. , Newbury M. , Russell M.J.G. , Smith Rachael Seager , Whitbread I.K.
Published: February 2014

The analysis of Bronze Age barrow sites excavated as long ago as 25 years can provide information on more significant and wide ranging topics than basic funerary rites. At Buckskin no primary burial rite was recorded nor any high status artefacts found. The analysis, of stored soil samples and animal bones however, produced evidence for ceremonial activity and feasting prior to the construction of the barrow mound. This encourages discussion on both the role of this barrow and the primary function, other than interment, of similar monuments, especially from the evidence of environmental data. Study of both land Mollusca and faunal remains enabled a greater explanation of the cultural history of this monument and aided the site phasing.
A place for the dead: the role of human remains in Late Bronze Age Britain
Authors: Brück Joanna
Published: February 2014

The disappearance of an archaeologically visible burial rite at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age has puzzled archaeologists for some years yet has never formed a specific focus of research. This paper aims to look at the problem in detail for the first time. A corpus has been compiled listing sites from which human remains dating to this period have been recovered. The contexts in which these remains are found are documented and discussed; these include, for example, finds from settlements, hoards, and wet places. It is argued that many of the sites do not represent the residues of ‘normal’ mortuary rituals but may instead result from other ritual practices or from refuse disposal activities. It is concluded from contextual patterning in the data that human remains were used in situations where concepts of liminality, identity, continuity, and renewal needed to be highlighted. The potential of human remains for symbolising these themes was drawn upon in activities during which concerns central to Late Bronze Age communities were confronted. The nature of these concerns is discussed in relation to wider developments that occur over the Late Bronze Age. It is argued that the ways in which human remains were deposited were intimately related to the development of new discourses within society as the basis of socio-political power changed from practices surrounding the consumption and exchange of bronze to the control of agricultural production and human and agricultural fertility. The symbolic themes dealt with during the deposition of human remains in specific locations relate to these changing concerns and allowed individuals to situate themselves within a changing society and to negotiate their relationships with others.
Mortuary Ritual of 4th Millennium bc Malta: the Zebbug Period Chambered Tomb from the Brochtorff Circle at Xaghra (Gozo)
Authors: Malone Caroline , Stoddart Simon , Bonanno Anthony , Gouder Tancred , Trump David , Barber Geraldine , Brown Carol , Dixon John , Duhig Corinne , Leighton Robert , Schembri Patrick
Published: February 2014

As part of the research of the joint Anglo-Maltese project on the island of Gozo, a Zebbug period rock-cut tomb was discovered in the south-east corner of the Brochtorff Circle. The integrity of this tomb and the interdisciplinary approach applied to its study make it a unique find from the Maltese islands and rare within the southern central Mediterranean.

The article presents the stratigraphy, pottery, stone, shell and bone artefacts, skeletal remains, animal bone, molluscan samples, and radiocarbon dates from the tomb. At the same time the significance of the tomb for the formative phases of collective burial, exchange and symbolic processes in the central Mediterranean and the origins of Maltese insularity is explained.
Rock art and the prehistoric landscape of Galicia: the results of field survey 1992–1994
Authors: Bradley Richard , Boado Felipe Criado , Valcarce Ramón Fábregas
Published: February 2014

This paper discusses the relationship between the earlier prehistoric pattern of settlement in Atlantic Europe and the creation of rock art. It investigates the organisation of the Copper Age and Early Bronze Age landscape of north-west Spain using the evidence provided by the distribution, siting, and composition of rock carvings. It presents the results of field survey in three sample areas extending from the centre to the outer edge of their distribution. Although these drawings cannot be interpreted as illustrations of daily life, they may have helped to define rights to particular resources in an area which experienced abrupt changes of ground conditions over the course of the year.
Pathways to World Prehistory Presidential Address 1994
Authors: Harris David R.
Published: February 2014

Several previous Presidents, most notably Professor Sir Grahame Clark, have stressed in their presidential addresses the worldwide scope of our subject; but so far only one, my distinguished predecessor, Thurstan Shaw, has chosen to speak mainly about the prehistory of a non-European part of the world, in his case Africa (Shaw 1990). My aim today is to develop this theme by exploring three pathways to world prehistory: first, the pathway followed by the Society itself; second, the pathway that led humanity to people the world's continents; and third, the pathway that links prehistoric archaeology to the concerns of the modern world. This agenda may appear unrealistically ambitious for a short address, but, by briefly considering these three inter-twined pathways, I hope to show that the study of prehistory is not only worthwhile for its own sake, but that it also has direct relevance to the social and political problems of our late 20th century world.

On the occasion of our 50th Anniversary Conference, held in Norwich in March 1985, Grahame Clark described the eventful history of the Society, and that of its predecessor, the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia. He analyzed the trend in membership and publication that signalled the Society's transformation, from a local band of mainly amateur enthusiasts to a national society of professional and amateur prehistorians, with, increasingly, an international view of their subject (Clark 1985). The sub-title of Professor Clark's paper — From East Anglia to the World — neatly encapsulated this theme, which he illustrated by analyzing the geographical coverage of articles published in the Proceedings between 1911 and 1982: an analysis that brought up-to-date the earlier examination of publication trends that he had included in his own Presidential Address in 1959 (Clark 1959).
Prehistoric Soul Beliefs in Northern Europe
Authors: Gräslund Bo
Published: February 2014

Prehistoric burial rites and burial finds ought to be studied also in the light of primitive soul beliefs. It is argued that the customs of submitting prestige grave goods in northern Europe during the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age consistently reflect a pluralistic soul idea with a free soul aimed for the next existence.
The philosopher and the field archaeologist: Collingwood, Bersu and the excavation of King Arthur's Round Table
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: February 2014

It is not generally known that a famous philosopher, Robin Collingwood, and an influential field archaeologist, Gerhard Bersu, excavated the same prehistoric monument in successive seasons. Their preoccupations differed, and their observations were completely inconsistent with one another. This paper relates the progress of that project and reflects on its implications for archaeological theory and practice.
Jade axes from Scotland: a comment on the distribution and supplementary notes
Authors: Murray Jane
Published: February 2014

Spatial separation between the English and Scottish distributions of jade axes gives validity to the latter as a discrete entity, the characteristics of which are examined. The majority of Scottish finds are large, thin, highly polished axeheads, unmatched in continental Europe, for which no datable contexts can be found. Distribution of these ceremonial axes is dispersed widely across Scotland south-east of the Great Glen, with little display of cultural exclusivity. Details of circumstances of recovery are reviewed, confirming the prevalence of deliberate deposition in both funerary and watery contexts.

Notes areappended additional to theCatalogue and Supplements of Jade Axespublished by Campbell Smith (1963; 1965; 1972) and by Joneset al. (1977).
Excavations at the Sarn-y-bryn-caled cursus complex, Welshpool, Powys, and the timber circles of Great Britain and Ireland
Authors: Gibson Alex , Aldhouse-Green S. H. R. , Brownsett M. , Burl H. A. W. , Debenham N. , Hook D. , Morgan G. C. , Stead S. , Vince A.
Published: February 2014

Excavations between November 1990 and February 1992 have produced important information on the date and development of the Sarn-y-bryn-caled cursus complex between 3000–2000 BC. In particular a timber circle of 2000 BC, two penannular ring-ditches and a section across the cursus monument were excavated. A radiocarbon sequence has been obtained. The results of the excavations are described in Part I. Part II comprises a discussion of the forms, dates, functions, and reconstruction of timber circles. A corpus of and chronology for timber circles is presented.
Tool-kits and Burial Rites: The Case of the Janisławice Mesolithic Grave
Authors: Tomaszewski Andrzej Jacek , Willis Richard
Published: February 2014

In the autumn of 1936, a prehistoric grave was discovered near the village of Janislawice, Skierniewice Voievodom, central Poland, by two local farmers whilst digging for gravel. The grave was located on the north bank of the Lupia River (a tributary of the Bzura River), 13m above the river valley and 159 m above OD. It was dug into gravelly-sandy fluvioglacial deposits of the penultimate glaciation, on the slope of a kame hill (fig. 1). Although the grave was partially damaged in the discovery, in April of the following year the site was investigated by K. Jazdzewski, from the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. A stratigraphic sequence was recorded, and the skeleton and a variety of grave goods were excavated.

The single skeleton had been placed in a sitting position, the legs outstretched and the back leaning against the wall of the grave pit. Red ochre powder was also probably present in small quantities in the fill. The skeleton was that of a man, aged about 30, having a ‘robust’ build and showing craniometrical similarities to modern Lapp populations (Steslicka-Mydlarska 1954).
A Neolithic Downland Monument in its Environment: Excavations at the Easton Down Long Barrow, Bishops Cannings, North Wiltshire
Authors: Whittle A. , Rouse A. J. , Evans J. G. , Barker C. , Cartwright C. , Cruse G. , Dennis I. , Fairbairn A. S. , Hamilton M. , Macphail R. I. , Noddle B. , Pollard J.
Published: February 2014

Excavations at the Easton Down long barrow were part of a wider programme of research into the Neolithic sequence and context of the Avebury area in north Wiltshire. The short barrow, on high chalk downland to the south-west of Avebury and the upper Kennet valley, and containing only a few inhumations according to Thurnam's 19th-century investigation, dates to the later 4th millennium BC. Test pits around the barrow produced very little struck flint, and virtually no colluvium in the adjacent dry valley to the west. The mound covered a thin calcareous turfline above a rubbly soil, probably formerly cultivated. The pre-barrow molluscan fauna, soil micromorphology and other environmental data indicate a clearance adjacent to woodland. In the secondary fill of the flanking ditches there is a succession from renewed woodland to open conditions in the Late Neolithic.

The Easton Down monument falls relatively late in the regional sequence of long barrow construction. Its setting was probably one of scattered, non-permanent clearances in woodland. Woodland was still widespread on the higher downland of the region in the middle of the Neolithic. Renewed and bigger-scale clearance towards the end of the Neolithic may be connected with the construction of very large monuments elsewhere in the region. The later prehistoric landscape became both more open and less diverse.
Beakers: Deconstruction and After
Authors: Case Humphrey
Published: February 2014

Taking grave and non-grave pottery together, five summary regional groups of beaker pottery are proposed for Britain and Ireland: Group A, Ireland; Group B, north Britain and eventually widespread; Group C, north and to some extent south Britain; Group D, south Britain; and Group E, East Anglia and south-east England. It is anticipated that further discoveries and research will enable these groups to be refined regionally.

These groups are set in a quarter-millennium calendrical chronology, which suggests that they may all have appeared around or near the mid-3rd millennium BC, and that many of their aspects were long enduring, some surviving to the 2nd quarter of the 2nd millennium BC.

Decorative features especially are related to bell-beaker pottery in western Europe, to Single Grave pottery across the North Sea, and to native Late Neolithic pottery. In presenting the chronology of these relationships, it is argued that a widely held view that bell-beaker pottery evolved in north-west Europe requires modification.
The Siting of Prehistoric Rock Art in Galloway, South-west Scotland
Authors: Bradley Richard , Harding Jan , Mathews Margaret
Published: February 2014

The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studies have sought to integrate it within a more broadly based landscape archaeology. They emphasise the special character of this material, not only as a system of distinctive motifs, but also as a source of information employed by people engaged in a mobile pattern of settlement. This paper investigates the character of the rock art of south-west Scotland, comparing the positions of the petroglyphs with two series of control samples in the surrounding landscape. The carvings seem to have been situated at viewpoints. They may have been directed towards the coastline and the Galloway hills and commanded a significantly wider field of vision than locations in the surrounding area. There is some evidence that differences in the size and complexity of the motifs are related to their placing in the local topography, with the simpler carvings around the edges of lowland ‘territories’ near to the shoreline, and the more complex compositions in upland areas, especially around shallow basins and waterholes. The changing character of the designs may reflect differences in the composition of the audience who viewed them.
The Dorsey: A Reinterpretation of an Iron Age Enclosure in South Armagh
Authors: Aitchison N. B.
Published: February 2014

This paper evaluates traditional and current interpretations of the Dorsey, a large earthwork and timber piled enclosure in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland. It casts doubt on the interpretation of the site as a frontier defence and, on the basis of parallels with other Irish sites such as Navan Fort, suggests that it may have been a focus of ritual activity. Although concentrating on a single site, specific features are identified which may, with further analysis, provide an alternative and enhanced understanding of a range of Iron Age sites in Ireland.
Excavation and Survey of Sub-peat Features of Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age Date at Bharpa Carinish, North Uist, Scotland
Authors: Crone Anne , Armit I. , Boardman S. , Finlayson B. , MacSween A. , Mills C.
Published: February 2014

Excavation and survey has revealed evidence of activity around the long cairn, Caravat Barp during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. A series of three hearth complexes comprising stone-built hearths within an ash/charcoal spread associated with post-holes and pits were the earliest features on the site. A large sub-rectangular stone enclosure was built soon after peat had begun developing over the area. When the peat had developed to a thickness of 0.2 m another fence line was laid down, apparently utilizing the earlier enclosure. Finally, a small cairn was formed just west of the long cairn. Palynological work was carried out to establish the nature of the contemporary environment while the macrofossil record was analysed in terms of wood use and the foodstuffs available.
A Reconsideration of the ‘Ain Sakhri’ Figurine
Authors: Boyd Brian , Cook Jill
Published: February 2014

The calcite figurine of a human couple in coitus said to be from Ain Sakhri in Judea has been interpreted as a symbol of fertility reflecting the economic and social concerns of the Natufian period. This paper presents a critical history surrounding its discovery, an evaluation of its archaeological context and a description of the piece itself, in order to address the broader issues surrounding its interpretation.
The Balkans in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: The Gate to Europe or a Cul-de-sac?
Authors: KozŁowski J. K.
Published: February 2014

During the Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic industries of Crvena Stijena-type rich in side-scrapers with Levallois technique of recurrent type are specific to the Balkans. These industries have analogies in Anatolia and the northern part of the Middle East (Zagros-Group), but are different from industries typical of the middle Danube basin (Taubachian) and northern Central Europe (Moustero-Levalloisian). In the period preceding and immediately following the Lower Pleniglacial the Balkans were dominated by typical Mousterian and Moustero-Levalloisian, frequently with leaf points, similar to the industries of the lower Danube and Dniester basins, but unknown in western Anatolia. During the same period Eastern Micoquian developed in the middle Danube basin and northern Central Europe. Moustero-Levalloisian with leaf points persisted until the Early Interpleniglacial, but only in exceptional cases developed some Upper Palaeolithic features, and always without typical Aurignacian forms. The Aurignacian, unless it appears as a first Upper Palaeolithic culture in the Balkans with earliest dates in Europe (>40,000 years BP), seems to be an intrusive unit without any roots in the local Middle Palaeolithic. After 30,000 years BP, parallel to the Late Aurignacian, the first industries with backed blades appear. In the early stage these developed independently from those of Central Europe. Only after 26,000/24,000 BP were they followed in the eastern Balkans by assemblages strongly linked both morphologically and by raw materials to the Gravettian of the middle Danube basin. In the western Balkans, after 20,000 years BP, assemblages with shouldered points appeared, also probably of middle Danube origin. During the Last Interglacial and Interpleniglacial the territory of Balkans played an important transitional role between Anatolia and Central Europe; in the two Pleniglacials of the Würm this territory became some kind of cul-de-sac as the refugium for population groups from the middle Danube and northern Central Europe.
The Population of Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Britain
Authors: Smith Christopher
Published: February 2014

In the absence of direct evidence, archaeologists interested in the demography of stone age hunter-gatherer societies are forced to turn their attention to sites as the unit of analysis. The distribution of sites and their varying density across space and through time have been considered to be acceptable, proxy, population records (see for example Constandse-Westermann & Newell 1984,158–64). This note is a contribution to these studies, but one which is not based on the site as a unit of analysis.

Smith & Openshaw (1989) have argued that the conventional archaeological site is a poor unit of analysis in considering regional settlement patterns. It is poorly defined and the recorded distribution of sites is potentially subject to too much distortion by post-depositional factors such as geomorphological processes and landuse practices, and biases inherent in archaeological method.
A Reassessment of the Origins of the Predynastic in Upper Egypt
Authors: Tangri D.
Published: February 2014

Recent arguments about the origins of the Predynastic in Upper Egypt have posited connections between the lithic industries of that region and those of the Western Desert. It has been further claimed that a mid-Holocene arid period may have led the inhabitants of the desert regions to migrate to the Nile Valley. This essay argues that the evidence of stone tools, as well as ceramic evidence from Dakhla Oasis, fail to support the ‘desert migration’ model, at least as it applies to Dakhla Oasis.
The Excavation of an Oval Barrow beside the Abingdon Causewayed Enclosure, Oxfordshire
Authors: Bradley Richard , Cleal R. , Cook M. , Levitan B. , Mead B. , Harman M.
Published: February 2014

The excavation of an oval crop mark close to the Abingdon causewayed enclosure showed a complex sequence of development, starting with a rectangular ditched enclosure and most probably ending with an oval barrow of a type with parallels elsewhere in lowland England. The site included the grave of two individuals associated with a polished knife, a belt slider and most probably a leaf shaped arrowhead, and produced a series of radiocarbon dates extending from the Earlier to the Later Neolithic. A number of formal deposits around one end of the site are matched by similar material from the inner ditch of the causewayed enclosure, suggesting a direct link between the two monuments.
The Sanctuary, Overton Hill, Wiltshire: A Re-examination
Authors: Pollard Joshua
Published: February 2014

This paper presents a re-assessment of the date and constructional sequence of the Sanctuary, a later Neolithic timber and stone setting on Overton Hill, near Avebury. Previous interpretations involving elaborate phasing and a protracted chronology for the site are rejected. Instead, it is argued that the site represents a single or double phase monument, constructed around 2500 cal BC and associated with pottery of the Grooved Ware tradition. The character of the pre-monument activity, construction and use of the site is examined. Patterns of formal deposition, involving pottery, lithics and human bone, are recognized, and considered in the context of the site's architecture and the structured organization of space, access and movement.
Ancient Forests in Spain: A Model for Land-use and Dry Forest Management in South-west Spain from 4000 BC to 1900 AD
Authors: Stevenson A. C. , Harrison R. J.
Published: February 2014

Five pollen diagrams from two mires in the province of Huelva in south-west Spain are re-evaluated in the light of 15 radiocarbon dates, and multivariate numerical analyses of modern and fossil pollen samples in the region. The results of these analyses suggest that managed woodland of dehesa type can be detected in pollen diagrams, and can be interpreted within the archaeological sequence known from the area.
Long-Handled ‘Weaving Combs’ in the Netherlands
Authors: Tuohy Christina
Published: February 2014

Long-handled combs, predominantly made of antler — although some are of bone or perhaps whalebone — and traditionally associated with weaving, have been thought to be an almost exclusively British phenomenon (Hodson 1964, 103). They are first found in middle or later Bronze Age contexts, but are more usually associated with the Iron Age and go out of use in the later 1st century AD. Although dating of these tools is imprecise, on some sites such as Glastonbury (Bullied & Gray 1911) and Maiden Castle (Wheeler 1943, 298) one can say that the earlier ones are plain and later ones decorated, often with dot and circle and linear patterns. However evidence from Danebury shows the reverse to be the case (Cunliffe & Poole 1991). The combs measure between 80 to 222 mm with an average length of 150 mm. They are mostly dentated only at one end, although some are double-ended. There are usually between 8 and 13 teeth and at the other end the shape of the butts can be plain or they may have squared or rounded ends with or without perforations.

Anna Roes (1963) drew attention to a comb from the Frisian terps in the Netherlands (fig. 1, no. 1), housed in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden. She considered that it may well have been imported from Britain. The comb is undecorated but polished. Its length is 141 mm and width at teeth 37 mm and at the butt end 18 mm. The comb is very concave at the dentated end. There had originally been 12 teeth of which only one outer tooth remained and this is worn on its inner side. Recently two further combs have been found in the Netherlands on two domestic sites of the pre-Roman Iron Age (sites 15.04 and 16.59). Both were excavated by A. Abbink from the Institute of Prehistory of the University of Leiden in 1989 and 1990 respectively (Abbink 1989; 1991).
Stone Axe Studies in Ireland
Authors: Sheridan Alison , Cooney Gabriel , Grogan Eoin
Published: February 2014

This paper starts by outlining the history of stone axe studies in Ireland, from their antiquarian beginnings to 1990. It then offers a critical review of the current state of knowledge concerning the numbers, distribution, findspot contexts, morphology, size, associated finds, dating and raw materials of stone axes. Having proposed an agenda for future research, the paper ends by introducing the Irish Stone Axe Project—the major programme of database creation and petrological identification, funded by the National Heritage Council, currently being undertaken by GC and EG.
Stone Axe Trade in Prehistoric Papua: The Travels ofPython
Authors: Rhoads James W. , Mackenzie Douglas E.
Published: February 2014

Explaining the evolution of prehistoric trade systems dominates archaeological research in the Papuan Lowlands of New Guinea. However, important evidence in the form of ground stone axes, which had to be imported into this region, is largely ignored. This paper provides a summary of relevant ethnographic accounts of axe exchange systems, describes the archaeological finds from a restricted area near Kikori Station using sourcing and morphological analyses and interprets the meaning and significance of results. As this is a radical departure from traditional studies, we take this opportunity to sketch some major research questions which may aid future investigations.
Fürstensitze, Celts and the Mediterranean World: Developments in the West Hallstatt Culture in the 6th and 5th Centuries BC
Authors: Pare Christopher
Published: February 2014

The traditional definition of a Fürstensitz, outlined in 1969 by W. Kimmig, is in need of modification. Greater precision is needed in the interpretation of imported and imitated Mediterranean pottery and élite burials. From our discussion, it becomes clear that both rich settlements and burials underwent crucial changes within the late Hallstatt period: the élite burial rite was becoming increasingly exclusive, and imported or imitated Mediterranean pottery generally appeared on hillforts only after the end of Hallstatt D1. Clearly, a model for the West Hallstatt culture should take account of its dynamic nature. Some important trends are described: (1) the spread of élite burial practices, (2) the foundation of the Fürstensitze, and (3) the ‘concentration of power’ in the late Hallstatt culture north-west of the Alps.

The emergence of an élite during the Hallstatt period had an internal logic which did not necessarily require a Mediterranean instigator. The foundation of Massalia in 600 BC has traditionally been seen as providing the impulse for the emergence of the ‘princely’ culture of Hallstatt D. But neither the internal developments of the Hallstatt culture, nor the degree of contact with the Greek colonies in Hallstatt D1, can support this view.

Previous emphasis on influence from the Greek colonies in the South of France has obscured the effects of contacts and trade with Italy, although it is certain that the increasing acquaintance with the civilized neighbours across the Alps led to events of historic importance: the Celtic invasion of Italy and the start of the Celtic diaspora. This process of acquaintance must be assigned to the late Hallstatt period (Hallstatt D2/3), when Italic imports became frequent north of the Alps. In fact, the transalpine areas which in the late Hallstatt period had especially close trading relations with Italy (particularly east central France) seem to have been the origin of most of the important contingents of Celtic invaders. The imported or imitated Italic objects in Hallstatt D2/3 and La Tène A reflect the changed political situation before and after the Celtic invasion. Whereas in both phases the Celts imported luxurious feasting equipment, only in the Early La Tène period is Italic influence apparent in Celtic weaponry.
The Female Image: A ‘Time-factored’ Symbol. A Study in Style and Aspects of Image Use in the Upper Palaeolithic.
Authors: Marshack A.
Published: February 2014

The ‘art’ of the early Upper Palaeolithic refers to the images and symbols of the hunters of horse, bison and mammoth during the last European Ice Age that began more than 32,000 years ago. It is therefore interesting that it isnotthe image of the animal that develops in complexity and variability across Ice Age Europe for the next 20,000 or so years, but the image of the female. The image and theconceptof the Ice Age female has perhaps been the subject of more intense emotional debate in the last century than the image of the animal (Ucko 1962; 1969; Clottes and Cerou 1970; LeroiGourhan 1965; Ucko and Rosenfeld 1972; Stoliar 1977–78). The debate continues, both with new finds and new ideas (Rosenfeld 1977; Delporte 1979; Rice 1981; Gamble 1982; Cerda 1983; Guthrie 1984; Praslov 1985; Sonneville-Bordes 1986; Lorblanchet and Welte 1987; Gvozdover 1989; Duhard 1989).
Palaeolithic Art and Archaeology: The Mobiliary Evidence.
Authors: Sieveking Ann
Published: February 2014

Art is unique amongst the categories of evidence which survive from the Palaeolithic period in that it was originally structured to communicate. It is true that style is an aspect of tool-making, and the particular forms adopted in the manufacture of tools may be intended as practical innovations or as recognizable types that define distinct social groups (Wiessner 1983) but art is only communication; it has no practical use. Its purpose is to convey a message, simple perhaps, as with ornamentation, or more complex as is suggested by the repertoire of painting and engraving in caves. In a culture without a literate tradition music, mime, recital and art are the vehicles of information. Only one of these remains from the Palaeolithic and, in isolation, the visual evidence is to a certain degree illuminating and to a certain degree frustrating in that certain deductions can be made from its intrinsic features, but not an explanation of its meaning.
Reflections on the Art of the Cave of Altamira.
Authors: de Quirós F. H. Bernaldo
Published: February 2014

Discovery of the cave of Altamira in 1879 introduced a new aspect to ideas on human evolution, requiring a fresh approach to previous notions of life and customs among prehistoric groups. In the final years of the 19th century the prevailing view of prehistoric life was still coloured by the prejudice and concepts which had marked early discussion on the origin of man. From what was known of their tools and art forms, early men were presented as living in simple communities which were considered equivalent to the ‘primitive peoples’ being described, often with a Euro-centric superiority, by contemporary ethnographers. The already classical volumes of the period, such as the Reliquiae Aquitanicae recording Lartet and Christy's discoveries, were full of interesting parallels to Eskimos and Bushmen. Up to this time, known Palaeolithic art was confined to engraved bone, some of it of high technical competence as at Chaffaud and La Madeleine. Consequently when the discovery of Altamira was presented at the Lisbon Congress it was received with some degree of caution.
Pleistocene Images outside Europe.
Authors: Bahn Paul G.
Published: February 2014

At first sight it may seem a pointless exercise to produce a survey of late Pleistocene ‘artistic activity’ around the world, but there are two specific aims involved here: first, to show that human beings in different parts of the world were producing ‘art’ at roughly the same time, i.e. from about 40,000 BC onward, and particularly at the end of the Pleistocene, from about 12,0000 BC, and second, to show that the well known Ice Age art of Europe is no longer unique, but part of a far more widespread phenomenon (Bahn 1987; Bahn and Vertut 1988, 26–32). The European art remains supreme in its quantity and its ‘quality’ (i.e. its realism and its wide range of techniques), but that situation may well alter in the next decade or two as new discoveries are made elsewhere and new dating methods are refined and extended.

Ironically, the first clue to Pleistocene art outside Europe was found as long ago as 1870, only a few years after Edouard Lartet's and Henry Christy's discoveries in southern France were authenticated. Unfortunately, the object in question was badly published, and dis-appeared from 1895 until its rediscovery in 1956, and consequently very few works on Pleistocene art mention it. This mineralized sacrum of an extinct fossil camelid was found at Tequixquiac in the northern part of the central basin of Mexico. The bone is carved and engraved (two nostrils have been cut into the end) so as to represent the head of a pig-like or dog-like animal (pl. 18a). The circumstances of its discovery are unclear, but it is thought to be from a late Pleistocene bone bed, and to be at least 11,000 or 12,000 years old (Aveleyra 1965; Messmacher 1981,94). At present it is on exhibit in Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology.
Palaeolithic Parietal Art and its Topographical Context.
Authors: Michael  , Eastham Anne
Published: February 2014

Our purpose is to examine the hypothesis that Palaeolithic parietal image sites in south-west Europe model or map a specific area of the terrain around them in so far as that terrain was useful to the people who made the images. So far as we are aware the hypothesis has not received wide attention (Eastham 1979; Kehoe 1990). Maps were made by some hunter-gatherer peoples. There are Amerindian maps (Brody 1981; Leacock 1969), and maps have been used as an explanation of some Australian parietal figures (Mountford 1956; 1961). There has been, however, little systematic application of the hypothesis to Palaeolithic images.

The images under discussion are the recognizable representations of animals painted, engraved or carved on the walls, floors and roofs of caves and rock shelters during the last glaciation. They are recognizable because the marks of which they are composed make redundant reference to known species. They may be accompanied by others which can be interpreted as representations of human beings and ambiguous configurations of animals.
Trends in the Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art of Western Europe and Australia.
Authors: Layton Robert
Published: February 2014

Rock art associated with modern human populations has a comparable antiquity in Western Europe and Australia (table 1). In Western Europe personal adornment, human and animal statuettes and some carved stone blocks date from the early Aurignacian. In Australia a date of 30,000 BP has been claimed for the origin of the geometric art tradition of the Olary Province of Southern Australia, a date which would make it contemporary with the modern human community at Lake Mungo 150 miles to the east, who were practising deliberate burial (Bowler and Thome 1976, 129,138). This date, however, depends on the cation ratio method, whose calibration is still open to question (Nobbs and Dorn 1988; Clarke 1989; Watchman 1989).

Secure dates based on C14 measurements show that both geometric motifs and engraved animal silhouettes in northern Australia are contemporary with the flowering of European Palaeolithic art during the Magdalenian (for Dampier, see Lorblanchet 1988, 286; for Laura, see Rosenfeld 1981, 12, 53).
Bones in Africa Presidential Address 1989
Authors: Shaw Thurstan
Published: February 2014

From my title, you might think that this was to be a discourse on human origins and the story of early Man — about the fossil and genetic evidence for regarding Africa as the cradle of mankind such as the lecture to our Society by Mary Leakey four years ago. However, such is not my intention. My title is taken from a poem by A. E. Housman, the relevant portion of which reads:

‘Oh I will sit me down and weep For bones in Africa‘.

Housman (1956, 123) was uttering a threnody for a soldier who died in Africa, but I utter my lament on behalf of others.

But first, a brief look at aspects of the Prehistoric Society which show that it continues to flourish and grow. In these days of falling memberships, the Society has actually grown. We have made a modest increase in our Research Fund. TheProceedingsand the maintenance of their high standard remain the Society's greatest contribution to prehistoric archaeology and justify the large proportion of our resources which we devote to them. This is in the realm of scholarship and research. In addition, we are moving into archaeological policy, with the intention of making the Society's voice heard in the councils of the nation as they affect prehistoric archaeology.
WHS 784 X (Yutil al-Hasa): A Late Ahmarian Site in the Wadi Hasa, West-central Jordan
Authors: Olszewski Deborah I. , Clark Geoffrey A. , Fish Suzanne
Published: February 2014

A collapsed rockshelter site, WHS 784 X (Yutil al-Hasa), in the Wadi Hasa drainage in west-central Jordan was tested in 1984. Technological and typological analyses of the stone artifact assemblages suggest that it pertains to the latest phases of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic ‘Ahmarian Tradition’. Excellent faunal preservation allowed the identification of several ungulate species, as well as other taxa. These data and the topographic setting of the site indicated that WHS 784 X was probably a hunting camp used in part to monitor the (seasonal?) movements of herds of equids and gazelles. Dating at 19,000 uncal BP, the occupations fall at the Upper Paleolithic/Epipaleolithic transition as conventionally defined, and represent one of the first well-documented occurrences of an Ahmarian limited activity site. Work at WHS 784 X contributes to the rapidly improving state of Levantine Upper Paleolithic systematics and provides a fuller understanding of life at the end of the Upper Paleolithic in the southern Levant.
Petrographic Analysis of Hammerstones from the Neolithic Quarries at Great Langdale
Authors: Bradley Richard , Suthren Roger
Published: February 2014

This paper examines the sources of the hammerstones imported to the Neolithic axe quarries on Pike o' Stickle. Two basic groups are identified, and these probably originated in separate areas of Cumbria. They have largely distinct distributions among the quarries, raising the possibility that different parts of the stone source could have been used by people coming from different areas of the surrounding lowlands. This has implications for the social importance of axe production on these sites.
Anthropomorphic Wooden Figures from Britain and Ireland
Authors: Coles Bryony
Published: February 2014

Since 1840, a number of anthropomorphic wooden figures have been discovered in Britain and Ireland. They are described and illustrated, and aspects of their manufacture discussed. Previous interpretations of date and function are reviewed, noting the lack of recent interest, and the evidence available for dating the figures is summarized, demonstrating that although they were generally attributed to the later prehistoric period no firm evidence supported this conclusion. AMS radiocarbon dates have recently confirmed the prehistoric age of the carvings, ranging from about 3000 BC cal. to about 350 BC cal. Similar wooden figures from the continent are briefly examined, along with comparative representations in other media, and some common features are identified. The significance of various similarities and attributes is discussed, noting affinities with Scandinavian rock-art and bog-burials. The sexual ambiguity of the figures is recognized, along with a tendency to asymmetry and slighting of the left side of the face. It is suggested that these attributes may relate to the original symbolism of the carvings.