bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Fire on Archaeological Soils and Sediments: Temperature and Colour Relationships
Authors: Canti M.G. , Linford N.
Published: February 2015

Although fire is a fundamental building block of interpretation, details of its effect on archaeological substrates are still poorly understood. The key questions, from an interpretative point of view, are the level of heating produced in the soil underneath different fires and the degree of reddening preserved in the final stratigraphy. This paper explores these questions by examination of previous studies and through a series of instrumented experimental fires. We conclude that, although there is some variation, temperatures beneath most surface-built fires remain below 500° C and reddening of the soil happens only rarely. These two generalisations are, however, linked in a complex way which is not fully clarified. Some sediments redden dramatically at temperatures commonly found under the experimental fires and in the literature on soil heating, while others fail to redden even at significantly higher temperatures. These ‘anomalies’ could relate to either organic matter content or chemical variations affecting the progress of the iron oxide transformations that lead to soil reddening.
The Neolithic Quarries and Axe Factory Sites of Great Langdale and Scafell Pike: A New Field Survey
Authors: Claris Philip , Quartermaine James , Woolley A. R.
Published: February 2015

The central massif of the Lake District around Great Langdale and Scafell Pike was one of the major locations for the production of Neolithic, polished stone axes. In response to the continuing erosion of the axe production sites a field survey was undertaken in 1984 and 1985. 566 distinct working sites were identified, within 35 groups; each site was recorded and the site data and high-scale survey plans are presented in microfiche. A fourfold categorization of the working sites is suggested which relates production methods to significant geological, topographic and geomorphic elements of the landscape. The quantity of axe waste, particularly in the Langdale area, confirms that production was on a massive scale and the variations in strategy and methods of extraction suggest a development through time towards greater sophistication and organization. Estimates of relative flake quantities for each group of sites have been used to compare the varying levels of activity at each group. A similar analysis was used to estimate the extent to which differing strategies were used at the two main production areas. Petrographic analysis of the outcrops which were exploited and the debitage associated with axe manufacture suggest that it may be possible to attribute dispersed products to specific production areas.
The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks
Authors: Morris Ronald W. B.
Published: February 2015

The prehistoric rock art of Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — is surveyed, with specific reference to the over 900 sites bearing motifs more complex than cup-marks alone and apparently random grooves. Of sites bearing cup-marks alone, there are at least 700.

The majority of motifs is geometric, with a few animals, weapons and human hands and footprints. Two main groups are recognized, the Boyne or Passage Grave type and the Galician type. The former occurs mainly on the slabs of Neolithic tombs, especially in Ireland, and includes spirals, rings, lozenges, zigzags and flower-like figures, only some of which occur in Britain. The latter is more restricted in design, with mainly cup-and-rings, rings, and spirals, usually on rock outcrops and boulders. A third group is recognized by some workers, in which cist and burial stones are carved with mostly the Boyne type, but sometimes with Galician or simple cup-marks or a mixture of these. There is also occasional overlap between Galician and Boyne types, occurring on natural rocks and tombs.

The main characteristics, locations in relation to topography and archaeology, and distribution are detailed. Dating and significance are briefly discussed.

Most of the art occurs in a central belt of Britain, but within that it is recognized as being distributed spatially among 16 main regions which are defined both geographically and with regard to concentrations of sites.

There is a gazetteer of all sites, similarly arranged.
Ritual Hoarding in Migration-Period Scandinavia: A Review of Recent Interpretations
Authors: Hines John
Published: February 2015

Non-funerary deposits of an apparently ritual character are a persistent, often very prominent aspect of all periods of Scandinavian prehistory from the Neolithic to the later Iron Age (post 600 AD). The hoards of the nearer end of this series have recently been brought within theoretical and analytical studies from a variety of modern perspectives differing in ideology and specialism. This paper offers a critical review of those studies in the light of a detailed case-study from the nearer end. Harmonies can be found between the shaping force of economic and social factors posited by Richard Bradley's model and the evidence of this case, although, perhaps inevitably, the effects of these may appear more complex and even quite different from what a description of the general model can encompass. More cautionary conclusions reached which have important implications within the construction of general theory are that greater care ought to be exercised in identifying the establishment of polities and socio-economic crises from this and other contemporary categories of material, and that the specific content of ideology, particularly religious concepts, which affects the fact and the form of ritual hoards, while probably incapable of being built into a general model like Bradley's on the same implicative basis as specific types of economic and social structures, merits a more prominent place in studies of the topic.
Mesolithic and Neolithic Activity and Environmental Impact on the South-east Fen-edge in Cambridgeshire
Authors: Smith Alan G. , Whittle Alasdair , Cloutman Edward W. , Morgan Lorraine A.
Published: February 2015

Investigations into Mesolithic and Neolithic activity and environmental impact on the Cambridgeshire fen-edge are described, consisting of stratigraphic and pollen analytical research at Peacock's Farm, and trial excavations at Peacock's Farm and Letter F Farm. At Peacock's Farm, the bulk of archaeological occupation was found to be of Mesolithic date, around 8000 BP uncalibrated; minimal signs of Earlier Neolithic activity were recovered. At Letter F Farm there was mainly Earlier Neolithic occupation, around 5000 BP, but there had also been Mesolithic activity. Radiocarbon dating at Peacock's Farm shows that the Mesolithic black band within the peats flanking the sand ridge, first described by Clarket al.(1935), covers a surprisingly long period: over 1700 years, mainly between approximately 8500 and 6800 BP. Dates from Mesolithic occupation areas on the sand ridge coincide with the first half of this period. Consideration of the stratigraphic results, radiocarbon dates and two pollen diagrams suggests that a channel was eroded through the Mesolithic black band at an early stage of its formation, probably not long before 7500 BP. In one area infilling of the channel apparently took place in a number of stages; in another it filled progressively with shell muds. A tentative reconstruction of the sedimentary, environmental and archaeological sequence is made. Before the Mesolithic occupation the landscape appears to have been densely forested both on the wetland and the elevated sands. Minor damage to this cover took place around 8500 BP, coinciding with the beginning of the Mesolithic occupation. This was followed, at about 8250 BP, by a substantial opening of the forest cover, when the site may have been more actively used than before, possibly as part of a new settlement pattern. Relatively open local conditions persisted for some 700–1500 years before the forest cover was re-established. Regeneration may have involved alder as a colonist, coinciding with the classical Boreal-Atlantic transition of Godwin. The relative importance of human impact and the occurrence of a period of dry climate are discussed. The balance of evidence, some admittedly circumstantial, points to a pronounced human impact on the local environment in the Mesolithic period. Burning may have been connected with short-stay visits in a settlement pattern spanning both wetland and dry areas; the context for this apparent lowland change might be sought in the insulation of the British Isles in the 9th millennium BP and increased territoriality from that date as reflected in microlith styles. By contrast in the Neolithic period there is very little pollen evidence of local environmental damage at Peacock's Farm. The Neolithic archaeological evidence from Peacock's and Letter F Farms suggests small short-stay visits only, as part of a regionally now more differentiated settlement pattern.
Sticks and Stones: A Possible Experimental Solution to the Question of how the Clacton Spear Point was Made
Authors: McNabb John
Published: February 2015

Unretouched flakes, Clactonian notches, true notches and a unifacial chopper were all used in a series of experiments on staves of yew wood. The aim of the experiments was to see which of the various Clactonian tool types could best reproduce the sharp, straight-sided taper of the Clacton spear point. Because of the hardness of the wood the experimenter was forced to begin close to the end of the wooden staves. The unretouched flakes when used in an outward whittling motion tended to produce point profiles with rounded tips; these resemble the point of the Lehringen lance. The Clactonian notch, better suited to an inward scraping motion, reproduced the same profile as the Clacton spear point. The experiments were repeated on four softer woods than yew in order to see how far the nature of the raw material affected the results. Irrespective of the hardness of the wood, rapid inward scraping consistently produced a point profile resembling the Clacton spear point using both an unretouched flake and Clactonian notches. The sharp, straight-sided taper of the Clacton spear point is therefore interpreted as being a result of the motion and technique of manufacture. Observations were taken on the efficiency and best ways of using the various stone tools used in the experiments. The most efficient of the tool types used for replicating the profile of the Clacton spear point using rapid scraping in an inward motion was the Clactonian notch.
A Comparison of the Medieval White Castle Flute with the Chalcolithic Example of Veyreau
Authors: Scothern Paula M. T.
Published: February 2015

The clearance of White Castle, Gwent, in the late 1920s led to the discovery of an end-blown flute or flageolet in the moat (Megaw 1961). This was a metatarsal of red deer, pierced by five regularly spaced finger-holes, two rear thumb-holes, a sound and suspension-hole (pl. 35 a, b). Its association with medieval pottery suggested a 13th-century date which was supported by its scratch and dot engraving reminiscent of medieval examples from Bornholm and Wartburg (fig. 2). Megaw considered it to be one in a long tradition of block and duct flutes dating as far back as Avebury (1500 BC) and Malham Tarn (Iron Age).
Far'ah II: A Middle Palaeolithic Open-Air Site in the Northern Negev, Israel.
Authors: Gilead Isaac , Grigson Caroline
Published: February 2015

The middle palaeolithic open-air site of Far'ah II was discovered and tested by the British Western Negev Expedition during the years 1972–73 (Price Williams 1973; 1975). After the British team concluded its field programme in 1976, the Archaeological Division of Ben Gurion University of the Negev in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem took over. For three seasons during 1976, 1977, and 1978, the site was excavated under the direction of I. Gilead.

A preliminary report of the results of the 1977 season described the basic aspects of the flint technology and typology (Gilead 1980). It is the intention of this article to discuss new data acquired during the field season of 1978 and to present a more detailed analysis of the flint artefacts and animal remains and of their spatial distribution on the archaeological surfaces.
Structured Round Cairns in West Central Wales.
Authors: Leighton D. K.
Published: February 2015

An assemblage of cairns, distinguished by the incorporation of orthostatic elements suggestive of ring structure, is described from an area of central Wales. The morphology and distribution of the sites are discussed in terms of geology, erosional processes and land-use history. It is concluded that the form taken by individual cairns is largely a function of local environmental constraints, their distribution limited by factors of survival and discovery. The susceptibility of the monuments to superficial modification is stressed and caution is urged in the application of classificatory schemes.
Excavations at Cherhill, North Wiltshire, 1967
Authors: Evans J. G. , Smith I. F. , Darvill T. , Grigson Caroline , Pitts M. W.
Published: February 2015

A sequence of deposits ranging in date from Late-glacial to the present produced detailed evidence of environmental changes, reflecting both climatic fluctuations and the effects of human activities. A Later Mesolithic occupation horizon, with lithic industry and associated faunal remains, is dated at about 5280 bc. It was sealed by a deposit of tufa. An irregular linear excavation, dated at about 2765 bc, is interpreted as a quarry; the backfill contained Earlier Neolithic pottery and other settlement debris. The first phase of later activities is marked by the deposition of a large quantity of Peterborough ware. Later on, part of the site was ploughed over and at the same time a series of small ditches, interpreted as elements of a system of land boundaries, was dug in the adjacent area. Late Beaker and Food Vessel sherds indicate the approximate date of these events.
The Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, Co. Sligo
Authors: Kitchin F. T.
Published: February 2015

This paper is inspired by and based upon a field survey of the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery carried out by the writer and Mr Desmond Smith, then Hon. Secretary of the Sligo Field Club, in 1972–73 and revised in 1977 following the clearance of scrub from a number of sites which had hitherto been incapable of proper examination. So far as is known, this is the first attempt at a definitive, if admittedly superficial, survey of this unique assemblage of tombs and other sites since that conducted by Col. W. G. Wood-Martin almost a century ago and recorded in The Rude Stone Monuments of Ireland (1888). The only other definitive survey was that made in 1837 by George Petrie, archaeologist to the Ordnance Survey, and recorded in the Ordnance Survey Letters for County Sligo. In addition, Petrie prepared a map of the area of the cemetery (unfortunately not reproduced in the Ordnance Survey letters) in which he marked and numbered all sites to his knowledge then extant. This map was revised and used by Wood-Martin and it is on this later version that the identification of sites in the present survey is based.

A fairly close acquaintance with Carrowmore over the past twenty years or so has encouraged the conviction that the problems posed are of greater variety and complexity than have up to now been acknowledged.
The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor Part 2: North and East Dartmoor
Authors: Fleming Andrew
Published: February 2015

This paper describes the distribution of reaves (Bronze Age land boundaries) on North and East Dartmoor (cf. Fleming 1978a for South Dartmoor). It is suggested that they form a pattern which reflects the territorial arrangements of several communities distributed around the edge of Dartmoor. Each of these territories tended to be about 3–4 km in breadth and to include a single block of enclosed land laid out on one axis, sometimes covering over 1000 ha. The scale of territories here is more independent of the incidence of major geographical features than is the case on South Dartmoor. There is normally a simple division between enclosed land and upland pasture, without the intermediate settled valley zones which are important on the South Moor. Classic parallel reave systems occur, but so do simpler ‘block systems’, and this variability can best be conceptualized as a continuum, within a broad tradition of laying out enclosed land on a major axis and in rectangular parcels. It is suggested, mainly on the basis of the interdependence of the pattern's components, that most boundaries on Dartmoor were laid out in response to a single decision taken around 1300 bc (1700/1600 BC), although some cross-ridge reaves may be earlier in date. Some details of the layout reflect different levels of social organisation — what are here termed the neighbourhood group, the community, and the regional level of organisation. The paper also discusses the settlement history of different regions of Dartmoor, suggesting that a third major upland common, the East Moor, should be considered equivalent to the North Moor and the South Moor in terms of the development of land use. The East Moor was eventually encroached upon by the Rippon Tor parallel reave system, probably the largest prehistoric field system known in Britain.
Centralized Storage in Later Prehistoric Britain
Authors: Gent Henry
Published: February 2015

Archaeological evidence for centralized storage facilities may provide useful information about the organization of prehistoric economies. In the background are a range of explanatory ideas. ‘Redistribution’ is a term which has been applied to the evidence from some British hillforts. Resources might be collected and then re-allocated through a permanent agency of co-ordination. They might be mobilized as tribute to elites as part of political strategy. This has been suggested for early British hillforts, and the evidence is reviewed. Much depends on the interpretation of the ‘four-poster’ structures at these sites as storehouses. A survey of these structures on British and continental sites strengthens this interpretation, and a further survey shows that, in Britain, disproportionate numbers of these structures are found at massively enclosed sites. A modified form of site catchment analysis suggests that some of the hillforts stored produce mobilized from an area which was greater than is likely to have been farmed directly from these sites. One possible inference is that resources were mobilized from subordinate settlements. It is suggested that stored grain was a critical commodity if rising populations and climatic change combined to increase the risk attached to the cereal harvest.
Artificial Stone Arrangements in the Acheulean Site of Mitzpeh Yiron, Israel
Authors: Ohel Milla Y.
Published: February 2015

At this newly discovered site on the Yiron Plateau, Galilee Heights, nine basaltic stone formations susceptible of reflecting constructional activities by Acheulean people were discerned. The configuration of the formations and data on the associated artefacts along with basic details of the stones incorporated are provided. Mitzpeh Yiron thus joins the list of very few Lower Palaeolithic open-air sites where evidence of some sort of ‘building’ practice has been reported.
Later Bronze Age Downland Economy and Excavations at Black Patch, East Sussex
Authors: Drewett Peter , Ellison A. B. , Cartwright C. R. , Hinton P. , O'Connor T. P.
Published: February 2015

The Later Bronze Age site at Black Patch consisted of hut platforms and enclosures set in a system of rectangular fields. The settlement area is overlooked by round barrows. Area and sample excavations of the settlement revealed circular huts and activity areas within a C-14 date range of 1070 ± 70 bc–830 ± 80 bc. Extensive economic data in the form of seeds, animal bones, foreign stones and artefacts were recovered. These formed the basis of an economic resource-area analysis undertaken around Black Patch and other contemporary occupation sites on the South Downs. From this an economic activity model is proposed.
The Origins and Early Development of European Fibulae
Authors: Alexander John , Hopkin Sheila
Published: February 2015

The invention and acceptance in Europe of an ingenious metal clothes-fastener in the late second and early first millennia BC has long been known. Interest in it and its several thousand variant forms has been concentrated mainly on their importance as type fossils for chronological systems and, more recently, on how they were used, but there has been little study of how or why the ideas spread (Alexander 1973b). Here an attempt will be made to show where the inventions took place and which communities first accepted them.
Thermal Alteration in Mesolithic Assemblages
Authors: Price T. Douglas , Chappell Sylvia , Ives David J.
Published: February 2015

Experimental, analytical, and archaeological evidence is presented to describe the characteristics of thermal alteration in mesolithic assemblages from the northern Netherlands. Experiments, both in the field and in the laboratory, have established the sequence of changes that occur when flint is subjected to heat. Analytical techniques involving the scanning electron microscope and thermoluminescence analysis are used in an attempt to recognize thermal pretreatment and to define the stages in manufacturing in which it was used. The proportions and spatial distributions of thermally-altered artefacts are employed to compare archaeological assemblages and to locate heat sources on occupation floors. In spite of high incidence of heat alteration in the assemblages, there is no conclusive evidence for intentional thermal pretreatment.
The Re-excavation of Zarzi, 1971
Authors: Wahida Ghanim
Published: February 2015

Stratigraphic and typological analysis tends to confirm the two-fold division of the Zarzian suggested by Dorothy Garrod, while palaeobotanical data indicate that a very dry steppe prevailed throughout the sequence. Both the low carrying capacity of the contemporary vegetation then and at present in winter, and the resultant winter migration to warmer areas of wild game at present (and presumably in the past) suggest cyclical short distance movements by hunter-gatherers and fishers within two ecological zones: 1, the mountainous area which must have been occupied from spring to autumn; 2, the winter camping grounds in the upper plains along the foothills region of the Zagros Mountains.
Excavations at the Neolithic Enclosure on Bury Hill, Houghton, W. Sussex 1979
Authors: Bedwin Owen , Drewett P. L. , Thomas K. D. , Cartwright C.
Published: February 2015

Summary. Excavations at Bury Hill dated a small, continuously-ditched enclosure to the early Neolithic. The interior of the enclosure,c. 1 ha in extent, was sampled by two trial cuttings, 9 m wide, running across the enclosure at right angles to one another. No Neolithic features were found. Sampling the ditch produced early Neolithic pottery, flintwork and animal bone. Though continuous, the ditch had a ‘beaded’ appearance, with a single entrance. No corresponding bank survived, though aerial photographs indicated its existence on the inside of the ditch.
Some Aspects of the Prehistory of Northern Italy from the Final Palaeolithic to the Middle Neolithic: a Reconsideration on the Evidence Available to Date
Authors: Biagi Paolo
Published: February 2015

This article concerns the prehistory of Northern Italy from the end of the ninth to the beginning of the fourth millennium bc. The main aim in this work is to interpret the available archaeological evidence in an attempt to understand the cultural change which occurred through the period under study.

The gap existing in our knowledge between the Late Epigravettian and the Early Mesolithic has been partially rilled by recent discoveries of Final Epigravettian encampments on the Baldo (Bagolini and Nisi 1976) and Bondone (Bagolini 1976) mountains in the Veneto. and Trentino regions. Unfortunately nothing is known about the natural history of the area, because the Baldo and Bondone sites did not yield any faunal remains. Only a few charcoal samples were recovered from the peat bog of Viotte on Bondone, where Final Epigravettian hunters settled. These charcoal samples have not yet been identified. In my opinion, the Bondone encampment might be attributed to the Alleröd oscillation. Palynological evidence of this period is almost totally lacking except for the area south of Lake Garda. At the Castellaro Lagusello peat bog, Bertoldi (1965) identified both the Bölling and Alleröd oscillations from the same core at the depths of 6·50 and 6·0 m respectively. The presence of oak pollen at the depth of 6·50 m varies from 0·2 to 0·6%. This pollen disappears after this moment to reappear at the depth of 6·0 m when birch pollen increases and pine decreases abruptly. The Bölling oscillation has been dated by the radio-carbon method to 11250±250 bc, while no date is available for the Alleröd one.
Fish Otoliths as Indicators of Seasonality in Prehistoric Shell Middens: the Evidence from Oronsay (Inner Hebrides)
Authors: Mellars P. A. , Wilkinson M. R. , Fieller N. R. J.
Published: February 2015

The samples to be discussed in this paper derive from a series of late Mesolithic shell-midden sites on the island of Oronsay in the Inner Hebrides. Despite the small size of the island (less than six square kilometres) at least six separate middens have now been identified on Oronsay, of which all except one are located along the south-east-facing coast of the island (fig. 1). Radiocarbon dates ranging from 3695 ± 80 to 3200 ± 380 bc have been obtained on samples of charcoal from the middens, and point to a considerable measure of chronological overlap in the occupation of the different sites (Mellars 1978).

Archaeologically, the chief interest of these sites lies in the excellent conditions for the preservation of faunal remains, which provides a unique insight into the economic activities of coastal-living groups shortly before the appearance of formally ‘Neolithic’ communities in northern Britain. In addition to a wide range of molluscan, mammalian and bird remains, the sites have yielded exceptionally large numbers of fish bones. While the total range of fish exploited from the sites is impressive (comprising at least 12 species), analysis has shown that by far the major emphasis in the fishing activities was placed on the exploitation of a single species—the saithe or coalfish (Pollachius virens L.). In all the samples so far analysed this species accounts for at least 95 per cent of the total fish-bone material, and in many of the samples it is the only species represented.
Stone Axes as a Guide to Neolithic Communications and Boundaries in England and Wales
Authors: Cummins W. A.
Published: February 2015

Six of the twenty-five British implement petrology groups (Clough and Cummins 1979, 127)—Group I (Penzance, Cornwall), Group IV (Callington, Cornwall), Group VI (Langdale, Lake District), Group VII (Penmaenmawr, North Wales), Group VIII (South-west Wales), and Group XVI (Camborne, Cornwall)—account for almost half of all the stone axes so far examined from England and Wales. In every part for the country, one or other of these six is the most abundant individual group. On the basis of stone axe distribution studies (Cummins 1979), the country seems to fall naturally into three major provinces (fig. 1), which might possibly be interpreted as Neolithic tribal territories. Northern and Central England, the largest of these provinces, is dominated by Group VI axes which, though originating in the Lake District, seem to have been distributed from a secondary centre in Humberside. Wales, including Herefordshire and part of Shropshire, forms another province and is dominated by Welsh axes, Group VII in the north, and Group VIII in the south. Southern England, the third province, is dominated by Cornish ‘greenstone’ axes, mainly Group I but locally, in the south-west, Groups IV and XVI.

Cumulative percentages of all axes belonging to each group plotted against distance from its distribution centre (Cummins 1979, figs. 4–9) give an indication of absolute frequency variation in relation to that centre. The shape of the plots is controlled by two variables, (i) the cumulative increase of area with distance from the centre, and (ii) the variation in average frequency of the grouped axes (per unit area) with distance from the centre.
Carbonised Cereals from Grooved Ware Contexts
Authors: Jones Martin
Published: February 2015

In their report of Durrington Walls, Wainwright and Longworth (1971) comment ‘It is noteworthy that not one certain grain impression has been recorded on any Grooved Ware sherds, nor is there any other evidence for the cultivation of cereals’. They conclude that the economy of Grooved Ware cultures is based on pastoralism and strandlooping rather than agriculture, and this conclusion has been generally accepted. Two points may be raised about this conclusion. First, the absence of grain impressions need not imply the absence of cereal cultivation. Hubbard (1975) has convincingly argued that the occurrence of pottery impressions does not provide the representative picture of crop economy suggested by Jessen and Helbaek (1944, 28). Such variables as the nature of the refuse deposited in the potter's working area and the degree of cleanliness required by the potter in his work will strongly influence the occurrence of impressions. For example, Hubbard has suggested that the sharp decrease in the frequency of impressions of emmer wheat in the Bronze Age may reflect its careful storage for human consumption, in contrast to barley which, as animal feed, would be more likely to get scattered around the site and incorporated into pottery.

The second point concerns the apparent absence of carbonised grain. This may be an illusory consequence of inadequate methods of retrieval in the field. Over the last decade, the use of water flotation has demonstrated that carbonised grain and seeds are many times more common than had previously been thought (Jones 1978).
An Assemblage of Late Bronze Age Metalworking Debris from Dainton, Devon
Authors: Needham Stuart , Silvester R. J. , Howard Hilary
Published: February 2015

Excavated sites referable to the earlier first millennium B.C. are rare in the south-west peninsula. Although Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor exhibit well preserved Bronze Age landscapes, most of the upland settlements are attributed to the second millennium and there are few which on present evidence fall within the succeeding centuries (Silvester 1979). Beyond the granite moors, pottery from Kent's Cavern, Torquay and the Mount Batten peninsula, near Plymouth, suggest sporadic occupation, while radiocarbon dates from Killibury in Cornwall imply activity prior to the construction of the hillfort (Miles 1977, 111). Yet such is the imbalance of archaeological activity in the region that even in well worked areas such as west Cornwall, few sites of relevant date can be readily identified. In Devon, other than on Dartmoor and Exmoor, the limestone plateaux around Torbay provide the only surface evidence of open settlements. A small proportion of the modern fields and woods on the limestone preserve groups of clearance cairns and rubble banks of varying complexity; many of these are undoubtedly medieval in date, but in two locations at Dainton, also known as Miltor Mator Common (SX 859668), and Walls Hill, Torquay (SX 935651), there are the unobtrusive remains of rectangular field systems. The former consisted of a minimum of perhaps ten fields, averaging just over 0·4 ha. in area, and randomly spaced cairns, most of which are presumably contemporary (fig. 1). Part of Walls Hill is covered by dense ashwood scrub, a recurring feature of the limestone plateaux, but on the cliff top are the vestiges of nine fields which are generally of smaller size than those at Dainton. That these sites survive is fortuitous but perhaps not surprising; the soil on the plateau is well-drained but normally less than 0·3 m in depth (Clayden, 1971, 122). Loose rock occurs frequently and occasional outcrops add to the problems of agricultural use. Consequently the limestone hills tend to be given over to permanent pasture and are ploughed only rarely.
Two Recent British Shield Finds and their Continental Parallels
Authors: Needham Stuart
Published: February 2015

In the course of research on Bronze Age metalwork from Surrey 1972–4, the writer's attention was drawn to an unpublished bronze shield in Chertsey Museum found locally at Mixnam's Pit several years earlier. The find obviously did not fall into any known British type, and closer parallels evident amongst the continentalNipperweiseclass made this, potentially, the first recognised import of a Bronze Age shield to Britain. With the aid of theSir Cyril Fox Memorial Awardfor 1974, it was possible to study continental bronze shields in West Germany and Denmark, in particular three of the five known examples ofNipperweisetype. Subsequently, in June 1977, by curious chance, a second BritishNipperweise-likeshield was recovered at Long Wittenham, and this has amplified the need for a detailed consideration of relationships within the class. First, however, it is necessary to describe the two British shields and their find circumstances, and to give descriptions of the relevant continental examples.
The Later History of Icenian Electrum Torcs
Authors: Sealey P. R.
Published: February 2015

Torcs made from the gold/silver alloy known as electrum are among the most striking features of British Iron Age craftsmanship; yet despite the interest they generate, little effort has been directed towards unravelling the problems of their development. This paper seeks to correct this neglect by considering the reasons for the decline of electrum torc art, with particular reference to those found in East Anglia.
Excavation of Three Long Barrows near Avebury, Wiltshire
Authors: Ashbee Paul , Smith I. F. , Evans J. G.
Published: February 2015

The three long barrows described in this report were totally excavated between 1959 and 1967. They have been presented in a single report because they had several features in common: they were in close proximity; they were built as single phase monuments; two conformed to a common specification which required elaborate internal structures; and they produced no evidence of funerary function or intent. There are four sections: I. The Horslip (or Windmill Hill) Long Barrow (P. A.). II. The Beckhampton Road Long Barrow (I.F.S.). III. The South Street Long Barrow (J.G.E.). The fourth section (IV) deals with the environmental history of the area as revealed in the long barrow soils and sediments (J.G.E.).
Earthen Long Barrows and Timber Structures: Aspects of the Early Neolithic Mortuary Practice in Denmark
Authors: Madsen Torsten
Published: February 2015

More than twenty years have elapsed since Stuart Piggott suggested the possibility of a connection between the primary Neolithic cultures of Britain and the early phases of the Funnel necked Beaker (TRB) Culture of northern Europe (Piggott 1956). What appeared at that time to many scholars, not least in Denmark, to be a very far fetched idea, must today in the light of the many new Danish excavations be considered seriously. Piggott pointed to three categories of finds which could possibly be advanced as indicators of contact: Pottery, causewayed camps and ‘unchambered’ earthen long barrows. In all three areas decisive new results have been obtained, and although this paper deals with the earthen long barrows, both the pottery and the causewayed camps will be briefly commented upon.

C. J. Becker's division of the Danish early Neolithic pottery into four major classes, the A, B, non-megalithic and megalithic C types of pottery, is still useable for the general categorization of site inventories (Becker 1948). The neat derivative system that he built, with A originating somewhere in eastern Europe, followed by B, and terminating with two contemporary C-groups, is however no longer warranted, and especially not with reference to the radiocarbon dates. Nor can the clear-cut typological division of the pottery into the four groups be maintained, since many types of pots and ornamentation occur in more than one group. For instance the B type beaker, with lines of twisted cord beneath the rim, is an integral part of the inventory of non-megalithic C sites, and also occurs in connection with megalithic C pottery.
The Use and Character of Wood in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland
Authors: Coles J. M. , Heal S. V. E. , Orme B. J.
Published: February 2015

Wood was one of early man's most valuable and important raw materials. It furnished him with shelter, heat and a range of tools and weapons necessary for his survival. It was perhaps the first material to be employed for tools, even before stone was actively worked, yet wood hardly figures in the minds of many archaeologists, and it plays no part in the traditional, outmoded but convenient Three Age system of European Prehistory: Stone-Bronze-Iron. Yet there is hardly a tool or weapon used by Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age man or woman which did not have a wooden part, and it is the purpose of this paper to point out the wealth of information that is available, or could be obtained, from studies of wooden artifacts.

The reason for neglect of such studies is obvious. Wood is perishable; it decays if left exposed, it is easily broken, it burns to nothing, it rots in the soil, it loses its surface in moving water. Its survival for long periods of time is exceptional, and requires certain conditions of deliberate or accidental burial. Yet wood as a fact and a feature of prehistoric economy cannot be disputed. Without the survival of wooden remains, our knowledge of the Neolithic and Bronze Age lake-side settlements in Switzerland would be quartered, and our information about the Iron Age villages at Glastonbury and Biskupin would be substantially reduced. Only in circumstances where conditions are exceptionally favourable has wood survived in an identifiable state, and in these situations it can tell us much about economic life. Grahame Clark expressed the view long ago that ‘less attention (should be) paid to amassing residual fossils from sites unfavourable to the survival of the organic materials which play so important a part in the economy of simple societies, and more to exploring sites where these materials are likely to survive’ (Clark 1940, 58).
A Bronze Age Flint Industry from a Barrow Site in Micheldever Wood, Hampshire
Authors: Fasham P. J. , Ross J. M.
Published: February 2015

The excavation of a multi-tumped oval barrow led to the discovery of a post-barrow flint industry, which utilized flint nodules incorporated in the mounds, thus damaging the original profile of the monument. 16,030 pieces of worked flint were recovered, 10,539 from the industrial levels. The material was analyzed by computer making use of programmes already developed for daily use by the M3 Archaeological Rescue Committee.
The prehistoric landscape of Dartmoor Part 1: South Dartmoor
Authors: Fleming Andrew
Published: February 2015

This paper discusses the landscape pattern made by the reaves—second millennium bc land boundaries—of South Dartmoor. The upper moorland of the South Moor was probably used as common grazing by 6–7 major sociopolitical units. Each possessed its own grazing land, normally in a valley zone near settlement enclosures. Each group had a ‘parallel system’ of reaves used partly for cultivation. 2 or 3 groups shared the Hameldon Ridge, in similar fashion. The paper discusses gateways, gang junctions, alterations to reaves, and the question of their original height, concluding that stock was probably watched, so that reaves were primarily boundaries, although some may have been built as barriers. The contour reaves, which separate the common grazing land from that in the valley zones, seem to have been less important, and perhaps built later, than the reavesbetweenthe sociopolitical groups, and the contour reave zone seems to have been chosen quite often by the builders of stone rows. There were subdivisions within the private grazing areas. It is concluded that the pattern of several territorial groups, clustered round an extensive, probably common resource, is well-known in second millennium British prehistory, and deserves further study.
Linear Pottery Culture Houses: Reconstruction and Manpower
Authors: Startin W.
Published: February 2015

The Linear Pottery Culture (LPC), dated from the mid-fifth millennium bc, is generally held to have originated to the north of the Hungarian Plain (Case 1976, 48) and has a distribution stretching westwards to the Netherlands. One of its distinctive type fossils resides in the consistent forms of its houses (fig. 1).

The archaeological evidence for reconstruction consists almost entirely of ground plans (examples in Modderman 1958–9, 1970) although we can also consider house models of ancestral and derivative cultures. Modderman (1970, fig. 12) has shown that LPC houses in the Netherlands can be divided into single-unit, bipartite, and tripartite structures (fig. 1). Their alignment is generally consistent so that in the case of tripartite structures we can speak of northwest, central, and southeast sections. The ground plans are made up of five longitudinal rows of postholes. We may define wallposts (rows 1 and 5) and inner posts (rows 2–4). The end sections were more heavily constructed than the central unit; although the number of posts decreased in later periods a tripartite division was often maintained. Transverse lines of posts were frequently slightly offset and the inner postholes in the central unit of earlier structures often form a Y-configuration, with the top of the Y invariably on the northern side.
Excavations at a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure, Orsett, Essex, 1975
Authors: Hedges John , Buckley David , Bonsall C. , Kinnes I. A. , Barrett J. C. , Drury P. J. , Wadhams M. C. , Cartwright C. , Hubbard R. N. L. B. , Evans J. , Wilkinson A. J.
Published: February 2015

The Causewayed Enclosure at Orsett, Essex, was trial trenched in 1975 to determine the state of site preservation and confirm its postulated Neolithic date and site sequence. The enclosure consisted of three incomplete circuits of discontinuous ditch with an associated timber palisade slot lying inside and concentric to the middle ditch. Within the interior was an oval post hole structure of a contemporary date. Quantities of Mildenhall style pottery and flint artifacts of the mid third millennium b.c. were recovered from the primary ditch silts and other features. A small quantity of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age wares came from the secondary ditch silts and the interior.

Later phases on the site were represented by unenclosed Early Iron Age occupation, a Middle Iron Age sub-rectangular enclosure and Saxon ring-ditch burials.
A Reappraisal of the Clacton Spearpoint
Authors: Oakley Kenneth P. , Andrews Peter , Keeley Lawrence H. , Clark J. Desmond
Published: February 2015

The wooden artifact widely known as the Clacton Spear (pl. 1) was discovered by Samuel Hazzledine Warren, F.G.S., in 1911. He dug it out of an undisturbed part of the freshwater sediments, probably a peaty seam, exposed on the foreshore at Clacton-on-Sea, c. 80 km ENE of London (Warren 1911; 1914, and in conversation with K.P.O. 1933). On 30th September 1911, Warren conducted a party of members of the Essex Field Club on a visit to see the outcrop of Pleistocene fluviatile deposits on the shore west of Clacton Pier, and in the brief report on this excursion, reference was made to the occurrence of fossil mammalia and Palaeolithic flint artifacts. At first Henri Breuil tentatively identified the worked flints with the Mesvinian industry of Belgium; but after Warren's amassment of a larger collection, he recognized that the Clacton flint artifacts represented a distinct Palaeolithic industry, or tradition, for which he proposed the name Clactonian (see Warren 1922 and 1926; Breuil 1932).
The Excavation of Winklebury Camp, Basingstoke, Hampshire
Authors: Smith Ken
Published: February 2015

Winklebury Camp (SU61355290), an Iron Age 'plateau fort’, now of some 7.6 hectares (19 acres), is situated in the parish of Basingstoke, approximately 1 mile north-west of the town centre of Basingstoke, (fig. 1), though it is now surrounded by housing estates. It occupies a hill of Upper Chalk which has been isolated from the main mass of the North Hampshire Downs by two dry river valleys, one trending south-east, the other north-east. Both are tributary to the R. Loddon. The hill rises to a maximum height of 126 m a.s.l., near the projected line of the western rampart and slopes off gradually to north and south, and more steeply to the south-east. About half a mile to the south of the fort, a tributary of the R. Loddon, now culverted, would have provided the nearest source of water.

Winklebury Camp has suffered from gradual encroachment by the surrounding housing estates, losing the ditch and rampart face to the north and east, and ditch, rampart and a small part of the interior, to the west. Only to the south does any of the bank and ditch survive. In the south-west corner of the fort, in an area protected by the remains of a small copse, a 90 m length of eroded rampart remains to an approximate height of 2 m. There is no ditch fronting this rampart now, but immediately east of the end of the stretch of rampart is the only remaining length of ditch. This extends for some 200 m along the remainder of the south side of the fort, averaging 2 m deep and 5 m wide. It rises in the south-east corner at a causeway, beyond which is another short stretch of ditch which is rapidly lost in house gardens. This causeway is faced by rampart, but there are indications, for example a slight change in the direction of the rampart at this point, that this is in fact a blocked entrance.
Rock Carvings of Chariots in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Outer Mongolia
Authors: Littauer Mary Aiken
Published: February 2015

Petroglyphs of light, spoked-wheeled chariots have recently been discovered in Armenia, in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan and in the western Gobi. These will have to be considered in any future general surveys of chariotry. Although some have not yet received full publication, and although not all publications have been accessible to the author, the carvings seem too important to wait longer before being brought to the attention of the West. Lacking archaeological contexts, most of them have been dated only roughly by their publishers on the basis of typology. We shall not attempt here to appraise these datings, but by pointing to differences or similarities between these chariots and ones east or west, in both manner of rendering and in what is known of the actual construction of extant vehicles, we may provide greater means for doing so.