bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Change and Land Use in Prehistoric Dalmatia
Authors: Chapman John , Shiel Robert
Published: February 2014

The Neothermal Dalmatia Project is an Anglo-Yugoslav collaborative project whose aims are to define and explain changes in physical environment, settlement pattern and social structure in north Dalmatia over the last 12 millennia. The Project's fieldwork included archaeological field survey, analytical survey, trial excavation of Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman sites, soil and land use mapping, ethnographic survey of modern villages and hamlets and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions (pollen, sediments, sea-level change, etc.). Within the long-term constraints of a limestone-dominated study region, the short-term events and medium-term agrarian and demographic cycles of the Dalmatian social groups have been studied in an inter-disciplinary manner. In this article, an attempt is made to examine the environmental and archaeological data within the frameworks of four explanatory models: the Land Use Capability (LUC) Model, the Cyclic Intensification–Deintensification (CID) Model, the Communal Ownership of Property (COP) Model and the Arenas of Social Power (ASP) Model. In the LUC model, reconstructions of past land use capabilities are used to derive postdictions of the most likely settlement patterns for successive periods (Neolithic–Roman); a high degree of postdictive success is met. In the CID model, Bintliff's model of cyclic variations in agricultural intensification and private land-holding is refined and tested against survey and excavation data. In the COP model, Fleming's model of communal land ownership is tested against similar data, with contrasting results. Finally, the ASP model is used to explain the expanded range of arenas of social power which develops from a place-based worldview in the early farming period. The conjoint use of these four explanatory models, which operate at different scales of duration, provides a broader basis for understanding changes in the prehistory of north Dalmatia in the Neothermal period than had previously been constructed.
Excavations at Heywoods, Barbados, and the Economic Basis of the Suazoid Period in the Lesser Antilles
Authors: Drewett Peter L. , Harris Mary Hill , Newsom Lee Ann , Wing Elizabeth S.
Published: February 2014

The Suazoid period lasted some three hundred years (c. AD 1100–1400) in a small geographic area in the Lesser Antilles from Tobago to Southern Martinique. Defined by a relatively narrow ceramic series, the people represented by this material are still poorly understood. Deriving from peoples from mainland South America, they evolved a marine-based settlement area of some 35,000 square miles including six main islands and many smaller ones. This paper discusses the economic basis for one Suazoid group based on evidence from test-pitting an extensive site at Heywoods, Barbados. Formerly a mangrove swamp, the site yielded extensive evidence for a marine-based economy. In addition, the first evidence on Barbados for an Archaic presence (c. 2000 BC) was located, together with Saladoid (c. 2.00 BC–AD 650) and Troumassoid (c. AD 650–1100) activity.
Segmented Embanked Pit-Alignments in the North York Moors: A Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England
Authors: Lofthouse C. A.
Published: February 2014

This report describes a group of distinctive earthworks in the north-east of the North York Moors (fig. 1) that, prior to investigation by the RCHME, had been categorised as double pit-alignments. The earthworks consist of two or three pairs of pits, with the spoil from the pits spread into parallel enclosing banks. The orientation of the segments is fairly consistent along an axis north-west to south-east; in each case there seems to be a tangential alignment on burial mounds, putatively Bronze Age in date, which may give a clue as to their age and function.
Individuals, Groups and the Palaeolithic Record: A Reply to Clark
Authors: Mithen Steven
Published: February 2014

I am very grateful to Geoff Clark for his comment on my ecological interpretation of Palaeolithic art (PPS 58, 107–109, see Mithen 1990, 1991). I had no idea that it was a ‘post hoc accommodative argument’ with an ‘underaxiomatised’ theoretical framework and ‘unwieldy systematics’. I suppose this means he doesn't like it. Clark says that my interpretation reminds him of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying but not ‘sticking with you’ for very long. In 1992 Clark wrote that ‘Mithen's … work goes a long way to explaining the art of this period’ (Lindly & Clark 1990, 61) — he seems to have taken two years to digest the Chinese meal of my interpretation.

Clark's main objection is that I tried to develop a theoretical framework around individual decision making and then attempted to use this to interpret the variability and patterning in Palaeolithic art and other elements of the archaeological record. He objects to this on paradigmatic grounds, seeing no rationale for models of individual agency, but primarily on operational grounds, arguing that individuals cannot be monitored in the archaeological record.
Choppers and the Clactonian: A Reinvestigation
Authors: Ashton N. , McNabb J. , Parfitt S.
Published: February 2014

Choppers and chopping tools have long been associated with the Clactonian industries of Britain. They have either been dismissed as cores, or often described as woodworking tools, but have rarely been studied from a functional perspective. The purpose of this paper is to publish the results of a series of experiments which has been carried out to investigate the functional efficiency of choppers or chopping tools as compared to other alternative tools. These results are then reviewed in the light of the archaeological information from Clactonian and other Lower and Middle Pleistocene sites.

Due to the problems of definition, for the purposes of the experiments both chopping tools and choppers have been taken to be small nodules of pebbles which have had several flakes removed bifacially along at least one edge. The morphology of the working edge is identical to that found on the edges of many of the Clactonian cores. For this reason, chopping tools, choppers and cores are regarded as artefacts with potentially an identical function. In the experiments they are termed simply as chopping tools.
Excavations of a Mesolithic Site at Thatcham, Berkshire
Authors: Healy F. , Heaton M. , Lobb S. J. , Allen M. J. , Fenwick I. M. , Grace R. , Scaife R. G.
Published: February 2014

Excavations were undertaken in advance of construction work at Newbury Sewage Treatment Works on the outskirts of Thatcham in Berkshire, close to the sites of previous excavations undertaken by Wymer and by Peake and Crawford. Worked flint of Mesolithic date was recovered from a sandy layer overlying river gravel in two distinct concentrations suggesting two distinct episodes. Use wear analysis of the flint suggests that the sites were used as home bases at which a wide range of activities took place, with an emphasis on the processing of plant foods. A14C date of 9100±80 BP was obtained from a sample of hazel-nut shells from within one of the concentrations. Analysis of the soil and sedimentary sequence as well as the pollen indicates constantly changing localised environments in the early Holocene in the Thatcham area, with sporadic occupation by Mesolithic communities on the drier areas at the edge of the floodplain.
A Comment on Mithen's Ecological Interpretation of Palaeolithic Art
Authors: Clark G. A.
Published: February 2014

Steven Mithen's ‘Ecological Interpretations of Palaeolithic Art’ (PPS 57, 103–14) reminded me of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying, but it doesn't stick with you for very long. While I subscribe to broadly similar paradigmatic biases at the level of the metaphysic, the ‘thoughtful forager’ model itself, proposed to relate various aspects of the art under the aegis of a particular kind of adaptationist perspective, seems to be conceptually muddled and operationally problematic. Also, Mithen's starting-point, the notion of an inherent contradiction between human creativity and an adaptationist point of view, is a red herring—wherever did he get it?! I will confine these brief remarks to three points that bear on different conceptions of adaptation and how they effect construals of pattern and the meaning of pattern in Palaeolithic art. I also respond to referees' comments.

Mithen takes me, Straus and Gamble to task for omitting the individual and individual decision-making in our conceptions of adaptation (pp. 104, 105). A conception of adaptation that is focused on the group is juxtaposed with one invoking selection operating at the level of the individual organism in a direct analogy with group vs. individual selection in biological evolution.
The Development and Date of Avebury
Authors: Pitts M. , Whittle A.
Published: February 2014

Radiocarbon dates on samples excavated earlier this century by Gray and Keiller and one more recently by Pitts, confirm that the henge at Avebury is in the same general Late Neolithic horizon as the other great Wessex enclosures of Durrington Walls, Marden and Mount Pleasant. They leave open to interpretation the details of Avebury's sequence. The monument may have been constructed in a series of stages, but further investigation is badly needed.
Excavations at Three Early Bronze Age Burial Monuments in Scotland
Authors: Russell-White C. J. , Lowe C. E. , McCullagh R. P. J. , Boardman S. , Butler S. , Collins G. , Cowie T. , Dickson C. , Crone A. , Davidson D. A. , Finlayson B. , Hall D. W. , Lee F. , McKinley J. I. , McLellan V. J. , O'Berg A. , Rushe C. M. , Sheridan J. A. , Speller K. M. , Stevenson J. B. , Tipping R. , Wilthew P.
Published: February 2014

The excavations of the cemetery groups at Balneaves, Loanleven and Park of Tongland facilitate an examination of many aspects of Bronze Age burial practices in Scotland. They are notable as much for the differences in burial ritual they imply as for the very narrow chronological period in which they were used. The three sites produced a total of seventeen14C dates, two of which are aberrant, with means of the remaining fifteen falling within a period of 250 years (3370–3610 bp in radiocarbon years). The excavations were sponsored by Historic Scotland (formerly Historic Buildings and Monuments, Scotland).

At Balneaves, a penannular ditch enclosed sixteen features, including a group of seven pits with cremation burials, four of which were associated with a distinctive assemblage of collared urns. The cremated bone was well preserved. At least one large standing stone had been erected on the site, and this was buried in the medieval period.

At Loanleven, only a segment of the enclosing ring-ditch survived, within which were four cists, two containing inhumations and two cremations, one of the latter (Cist 2) associated with a fragment of a food vessel. A decorated slab, in so-called ‘Passage Grave Style’, was recovered from Cist 1, and the same cist produced palynological evidence for grave furnishings in the form of a mat of plant material which probably underlay the body.14C dates give a terminus ante quem of 3620±50 bp (GU–2543) for the re-use of the decorated slab, and aterminus post quemof 3410±50 bp (GU–2542) for the food vessel grave.

Park of Tongland, regarded as a Four-Poster stone circle, was excavated after the fall of a standing stone. It was shown to be of multi-period construction, consisting of a cairn which overlay seven pits containing fragmentary cremation burials, two associated with collared urns. The standing stones may not all have been erect at the same time. A series of14C dates fell within the range of 1480–1530 bc.
‘A Cybernetic Wasteland’? Rationality, Emotion and Mesolithic Foraging
Authors: Mithen S. J.
Published: February 2014

In a recent discussion of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, Julian Thomas decribed the Mesolithic as a ‘cybernetic wasteland’ (1988, 64). By this he was presumably referring to the picture we gain of Mesolithic society when ‘human behaviour [is seen] in terms of adaptive responses to environmental pressures’ (ibid., 59), which Thomas states as the basis of Mesolithic research. Is he justified in the use of this damning phrase? When archaeologists see human behaviour in an ecological framework do they deny people their humanity by turning them into robots, helpless ‘victims of externally-imposed circumstances’ (ibid., 61).
The Hollow Men? A Reply to Steven Mithen
Authors: Thomas Julian
Published: February 2014

This article constitutes a reply to a piece by Steven Mithen, in which an earlier contribution in this journal (Thomas 1988) is criticized as misrepresenting the character of Mesolithic archaeology. Mithen contends that the ‘processual’ archaeology which dominates that period can be humanized by introducing a consideration of emotion into the adaptive process. In this contribution it is suggested that the emphasis on emotion and rationality betrays a misunderstanding of the character of ‘post-processual’ archaeology, while the attempt to encompass emotion in an evolutionary ecological framework does no more than extend the remit of an inherently reductionist perspective. Emphasis is laid upon the notions of history and contextualized social action, and it is recognized that these concepts cannot be accommodated unless we allow that the fundamental characteristics of humanity are not fixed, but are themselves contingent and historically situated.
An Early Bronze Age Pit Circle from Charnham Lane, Hungerford, Berkshire
Authors: Ford Steve
Published: February 2014

During the course of archaeological investigations in advance of a business and residential development, an unusual structure was discovered. The site is located on a silty clay-capped terrace of the River Kennet immediately to the north-west of Hungerford, Berks, (SU 334692).

The structure, initially thought to be a round house, comprised a ring of seven equally spaced pits in a 6 m diameter circle. At its centre was an area of fire-reddened clay over 1 m in extent. Two shallow scoops cut this burnt area (fig. 1). The pits were generally bowl shaped, 60–80 cm across and 15–30 cm deep. Some of the pits had clear evidence for the presence of small posts. These posts had been burnt and replaced on more than one occasion. There was no evidence for an encircling ditch or a covering mound. A single 14C date of 3360 ± 40 BP (BM–2737) was obtained on oak charcoal from pit 5008, which is consistent with the Early Bronze Age date of the pottery.
Portable and Wall Art in the Volp Caves, Montesquieu-Avantès (Ariège).
Authors: Bégouën Robert , Clottes Jean
Published: February 2014

The complex system of subterranean passages at Montesquieu-Avantès in the foothills of the central French Pyrenees through which the River Volp flows is conventionally divided into three caves, Le Tuc d'Audoubert to the west, Les Trois-Frères in the centre and Enlène to the east. While the east two are connected by a narrow corridor, no usable passage connects Tuc d'Audoubert with Trois-Frères and the only current means of access is by boat. At Tuc d'Audoubert the galleries lie on three levels, the lowest carrying the River Volp, the ‘median’ with decorated galleries (La Salle Nuptiale, La Galerie des Gravures) and the upper with further decoration (La Chatière, Salle des Talons) terminating in the Salle des Bisons containing the celebrated modelled clay bison (Bégouën and Clottes 1984b). The position of Trois-Frères and Enlène approximates to the upper level of Tuc d'Audoubert. Trois-Frères has numerous galleries with several possible original entrances, although the only certain Magdalenian access was through Enlène. Whereas Trois-Frères contains one of the most prolific arrays of wall art (Galerie des Mains, Chapelle de la Lionne, Galerie des Points, Salle du Grand-Eboulis, Sanctuaire, Galerie des Chouettes, Galerie de l'Hémione), Enlène has none. However excavations at Enlène have revealed a considerable range of engraved bones and stone plaquettes from occupation deposits (Bégouën and Clottes 1984a).
Elk and Ogopogo. Belief Systems in the Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art of Northern Lands.
Authors: Coles J. M.
Published: February 2014

The northern world, from the wide expanses of North America across the even wider spread of Asia and Europe, was subjected to the effects of the Pleistoceneice for centuries after areas to the south had been released from nature's grip. But as conditions eased the north, and open landscapes were newly created, plants and animals began to colonize and humans were not far behind. Across enormous territories of the Old and New Worlds, hunters, gatherers and fishers began to explore the resources of the virgin lands, and from before 8000 BP for at least five millennia their societies were seemingly in balance with nature's gifts. Settlements from all around the vast northern latitudes demonstrate a reliance upon wild resources that were abundant, varied and easily exploited. In such circumstances, the opportunities existed for the development and elaboration of systems of belief concerned with the principles of existence. Such systems in all likelihood took many forms of expression, only a few of which have survived today. Burials, tools and weapons, settlement organization and territorial exploitation are capable of demonstrating the systems for survivaldeveloped by these communities of people, and rock carvings and paintings add other possibilities for those who seek to understand the social scenes of the past.
Notes on some Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Events in Long Barrow Ditches in Southern and Eastern England
Authors: Evans J. G.
Published: February 2014

This note draws attention to similar sequences of archaeology and environment in three long barrow ditches on the Chalk of southern and eastern England. Although the data have already been, or will shortly be, published in individual site reports, the events warrant consideration as a group because they are of regional importance. They are significant specifically for the later Neolithic use of long barrows and more generally for the identification of areas of arable, pasture and abandoned land in the later Neolithic and Bronze Age. The state of the Bronze Age soils has implications for their later use.

To start, the basic lithopedostratigraphy of a large ditch infilling on chalk (Evans 1972.) is iterated. There are four main stages:

(1) Primary fill. Coarse rubble with finer layers and turves derived from the contemporary soil. Formed by high energy, but seasonally intermittent, processes of physical weathering and gravity.

(2) Secondary fill. Loam, generally fining upwards and becoming increasingly humic as chemical weathering supersedes deposition. Formed by low energy processes of soil creep, rainwash of earthworm casts and others subsumed under the term colluviation; the details are unknown because such deposits have never been observed forming.

(3) Soil. Formation of soil profile after the natural depositional processes have ceased. Essentially this involves the increasing humification and weathering of the deposits as infilling slows down and ultimately ceases, so there is a merging boundary between the secondary fill and the soil.
Two Beaker Burials from Chilbolton, Hampshire
Authors: Russel Andrew D. , Boismier W. A. , Foxon A. , Green F. J. , Stirland Anne , Williams Diane
Published: February 2014

The stripping, for commercial purposes, of an area of chalk downland near Leckford, Hants., led to the excavation of a small ring ditch containing the remains of two male inhumations. The earlier, 3740±80 BP uncal., buried in a mortuary chamber, was accompanied by a bell-shaped beaker of early type (with European or Wessex/Middle Rhine affinities), an antler spatula, two pairs of gold earrings, a gold tubular bead, 55 stone beads, a copper dagger, a flint strike-a-light, a marcasite nodule and a number of flint tools and flakes. The second burial, 3780±80 BP uncal., interred shortly after the first in the same grave, was accompanied by a finger-nail decorated beaker and two flint flakes.
Concentric Antenna Enclosures — A New Defended Enclosure Type in West Wales
Authors: James Terrence
Published: February 2014

Air photography in the drought of 1984 and in the dry summer of 1989 has produced cropmark evidence in Dyfed for a number of defended enclosures whose morphology suggests a new site type that may be commonplace throughout the region.

The county of Dyfed has good surviving earthworks of defended enclosures and small hillforts, and hitherto most discussion on settlement patterns has been confined to upstanding sites. Air surveys since 1978, especially in dry summers, have begun to produce evidence for an inadequacy in our understanding of prehistoric and native Romano-British settlement patterns with the discovery of many new defended enclosures surviving only as cropmarks. Building on the work of Professor St Joseph, numerous straight-sided defended cropmark enclosures have been revealed, although the probably mistaken assumption that some of these are of Roman date has tended to exclude them from consideration of prehistoric settlement patterns. The straight-sided cropmark noted by the author in 1984 underlying the surviving earthworks of the later prehistoric Woodbarn Rath (SN 01681703) has corroborative excavation evidence (Vyner 1986) that this cropmark at least is of earlier prehistoric date.
Before Babel A Review Article
Authors: Yoffee Norman
Published: February 2014

Editorial summary. This paper began as a review of Renfrew, Archaeology and Language. The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins (1987). It was expanded with a further review, of Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans (1989). It has ended by considering not only the books in question, but also wider issues of the relationship between archaeological and linguistic evidence.

The hypothesis of Renfrew for an early dispersal of Indo-European speakers from Anatolia with the spread of farming from the 7th millennium bc is contrasted with the view of Mallory that Indo-European speakers emerged from a diverse background in a broad homeland between the Pontic and Caspian Seas in the period 4500–2500 bc. One major difficulty, among many others, for Renfrew's view is that there is no historical evidence for Indo-Europeans in western Asia until the early 2nd millennium bc; the Indo-European-speaking Hittites appear to have been intrusive into Anatolia only slightly before this time and to have made use of the non-Indo-European language of the indigenous Hatti; and in Iran, Indo-European speakers may not have appeared until the end of the 2nd millennium bc.

Both Renfrew and Mallory are seen to seek congruence between the archaeological and linguistic records. The opposite view is argued, that historical, linguistic and archaeological evidence each represent different kinds of human behaviour. The metaphor is employed of an incomplete jigsaw puzzle, three-dimensional and with past, present and future, and possessing both picture and text; picture and text each require separate specialists in their reconstruction. The independence and importance of archaeological evidence is reaffirmed.
The Environmental Setting of Erw-wen and Moel y Gerddi: Prehistoric Enclosures in Upland Ardudwy, North Wales
Authors: Chambers F. M. , Price S.-M.
Published: February 2014

The environmental setting of two late-prehistoric enclosures in upland Ardudwy, Gwynedd was investigated by pollen analysis of nearby valley mire deposits and of old ground surfaces revealed during excavation of the sites. Radiocarbon-dated pollen data indicate human influence on the local environment since Mesolithic times, with the major period of woodland clearance in the early Bronze Age. The two enclosures appear to have been constructed in an environment already substantially deforested. Remanent upland timber resources appear to have been substantially depleted during occupation of the sites, whilst soil acidification and/or climatic change may also have contributed to their eventual abandonment.
The Evolution of the Minorcan Pretalayotic Culture as Evidenced by the Sites of Morellet and Son Mercer de Baix
Authors: Rita Ma Cristina , Topp Celia
Published: February 2014

The cultural period immediately prior to the Talayotic phase in Minorca, the Pretalayotic, belongs to the Chalcolithic—Early Bronze Age and is represented by a series of megalithic monuments. When of a funerary nature, these consist of megalithic chamber-tombs in the eastern part of the island and of rock-cut graves of elongated plan in the western. So far, apart from the newly-discovered site of Morellet, no habitations are known in eastern Minorca and the new site appears to indicate that they were either of a seasonal nature or merely rock-shelters. In the western half of the island dwelling-sites are clearly evidenced by villages of habitation — navetas (navetiforms) such as Son Mercer de Baix which continued in use during the Early Talayotic period. It should be noted that although their method of construction would incline one to class them all as belonging to an identical Mediterranean cultural group, the finds indicate an autochthonous evolution which in time gave rise to the insular peculiarities, including some of a constructional nature, typical of Minorca.
Tranchet Axe Manufacture from Cliffe, Kent
Authors: Ashton Nick
Published: February 2014

In the summer of 1978 pottery and flintwork were noticed in the sections to the south of Cliffe Village during the laying of a pipeline by British Gas (TQ 734744) (fig. 1). This led to the excavation of a series of small trial trenches by Mr David Thomson with the help of local volunteers in the same year. The retrieval of a Beaker and Collared Urn suggested an early Bronze Age site, and excavations by Dr Ian Kinnes for the British Museum were done in September 1979. Although the excavated features contained mainly Iron Age pottery and metalwork, both seasons' work also produced a large quantity of flint artefacts ranging from Mesolithic to Bronze Age in date. The following report is an analysis of the Mesolithic tranchet axe manufacturing debitage which could be distinguished as a discrete group from the other flintwork. It is not intended to present a comprehensive flint report for Cliffe, but to provide a framework for analysis at other sites where tranchet axe production has been shown to take place (Wymer 1962; Parfitt and Halliwell 1982).
Excavations at Cass ny Hawin, a Manx Mesolithic Site, and the
Position of the Manx Microlithic Industries
Authors: Woodman P. C.
Published: February 2014

The excavation of a mesolithic site at Cass ny Hawin, Isle of Man, is
described. Later agriculture had destroyed all but a few features including
a hollow, which was certainly artificial but probably not a residential
structure. There was an extensive lithic industry, dominated by microliths.
The distinctive nature of the Manx microlithic industry is discussed, as
well as the subsistence economy and human colonization of the island.
The Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure at Staines, Surrey: Excavations 1961–63
Authors: Robertson-Mackay Reay , Butcher S. , Cameron F. , Chandra H. , Conway B. , Dawes J. , Dimes F. , Grigson C. , Healey E. , Helbaek H. , Higgs E. , Hodges H. , Pengelly H. , Whittle A.
Published: February 2014

The partial excavation under rescue conditions in 1961–63 of the ditches and interior of an enclosure of the earlier neolithic period is described. The enclosure, covering a total area of approximately 2.4 ha, was defined by double concentric interrupted ditches, which were for the most part naturally filled. There were many traces of activity within the interior, presumed to be contemporary with the ditches, including pits, gullies, post- and stake-holes, and varying concentrations of struck and burnt flint and pottery. Human burials were found. There is a little Ebbsfleet pottery in secondary contexts and there are later prehistoric, Roman and medieval finds. It is probably not possible to ascribe a single or specific role to the site, which may have been important as a place where several activities were concentrated, including occupation, subsistence, exchange, enclosure or defence, burial and ritual.
Excavation of a Bronze Age Funerary Cairn at Manor Farm, near Borwick, North Lancashire
Authors: Olivier A. C. H. , Clare T. , Day P. M. , Gurney D. , Haddon-Reece D. , Healy F. , Henderson J. D. , Hocking L. , Howard-Davis C. , Hughes M. , Jones R. T. , Keeley H. C. M. , Needham S. P. , Sly J. , van der Veen M.
Published: February 2014

The excavation of a large circular dished earthwork near Carnforth, North Lancashire, in 1982, has revealed a substantial Bronze Age funerary monument. The earliest structure was a sub-rectangular enclosure of limestone boulders dated toc.1740–1640 BC cal. and associated with parts of two poorly preserved inhumation burials lying on the previously cleared ground surface. Both burials were accompanied by typologically early metalwork. The central inhumation was associated with a flat axe and dagger, suggesting an individual of high status as well as providing an important link between the early stages of development of both bronze types. The subsequent overlying cairn of smaller stones included eleven fairly discrete concentrations of inhumed bone, and seven of cremated bone and pottery. All this material was extremely fragmentary, and was probably derived from later re-use of the cairn.
Stages in the Chronological Development of Hoards and Votive
Deposits
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: February 2014

Some recent literature on the problem of hoards is reviewed, dealing
particularly with the distinction between votive deposits and stores of
objects. An alternative approach is developed, considering the long-term
variations in the nature of intentional deposits in European prehistory.
Three stages are suggested. In the initial stage, a unitary system of
deposits prevailed, especially of food and selected artefacts, including
metal when available. In the developed stage, characteristic of the Bronze
Age, a dual system allowed both votive deposition and accumulation and
recycling, especially of non-local metal. The final stage, in the later Iron
Age, saw renewed emphasis on votive deposits, especially on the borders of
emerging polities.
Mesolithic Sites at Malham Tarn and Great Close Mire, North Yorkshire
Authors: Williams D. J. , Richardson J. A. , Richardson R. S.
Published: February 2014

The occurrence of mesolithic artefacts around Malham Tarn and Great Close Mire has been noted from the 1920s onwards. Pollen analysis at Tarn Moss to the west of Malham Tarn in the 1950s indicated that forest clearance had begun during Zone VI (c. 7000–5500 bc). Between 1972 and 1982, five prolific flint sites and a sixth, minor site were located in this area. The sites are of ‘Narrow Blade’ affinities and may have formed a summer base camp for hunter/gatherer groups operating in the Craven Pennines. Some artefacts of neolithic date have been found on the sites and this may indicate continuity. There is evidence for forest clearance and settlement in the later neolithic and this was well established by the Early Bronze Age.
Early Co-axial Field Systems on the East Anglian Boulder Clays
Authors: Williamson Tom
Published: February 2014

In some areas of Britain landscape reorganization in the post-Roman period has not destroyed earlier systems of land division, which have instead been preserved in modern arrangements. Topographic analysis of landscapes on the heavier soils of East Anglia reveals sometimes very extensive co-axial field systems of probable later prehistoric origin. Other such systems, however, are probably of later date. Co-axial planning may be not a continuous tradition of landscape organization, but rather a recurringly adopted solution to the problem of competing claims to large areas of open land.
Pottery-making in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria: An
Ethnoarchaeological Study
Authors: Okpoko A. Ikechukwu
Published: February 2014

Pottery-making in parts of Igboland is discussed from an ethnoarchaeological
perspective. In line with a long tradition of descriptive studies, the
pottery manufacturing processes are here outlined, but emphasis is laid
firstly on studying pottery decorations (techniques and motifs) prevalent in
parts of Igboland within their socio-cultural and economic contexts; and
secondly, on observing and studying how the Igbo people (potters and users
of pots) classify pottery products (traditional pottery classification). A
second set of observations concerns functions of pots, their distribution,
consumption, life span and eventual disposal. Finally, the paper also looks
at the social and cultural setting of pottery production — factors which
still favour pottery production in Igboland and those that may lead to its
eventual abandonment (including the status of potters in Igbo society and
the learning process of pottery manufacture).
Towards a reappraisal of henge monuments: origins, evolution and hierarchies
Authors: Clare T.
Published: February 2014

A simple derivation of henges from causewayed camps is rejected. Attention is also drawn to a range of neolithic structures, some covered by a mound, some not. Though interpreted as mortuary structures, they have affinities to henges. Henges may thus best be derived from a broad tradition of neolithic structures; this may in turn have been part of a more widely distributed north-west European tradition of both ritual and domestic structures. Within Britain, similarities of form and function suggest that henges should be seen as a parallel development to ring banks, ring ditches and stone circles. Regional preferences rather than distinct regional types of monuments emerged. Later survival of henge traditions into the first millennium is also discussed.
A Reconsideration of the Tramore Passage-Tombs.
Authors: Ó Nualláin Seán , Walsh Paul
Published: February 2014

The megalithic tombs of the Tramore group in County Waterford, south-eastern Ireland, are described and reconsidered. Three are confirmed as passage-tombs, but two are now identified as wedge-tombs. The passage-tombs have their best parallels not in Ireland, but in the Scilly Isles and Cornwall.
British Rapiers with Trapezoidal Butt found in Belgium.
Authors: Warmenbol Eugène
Published: February 2014

Our knowledge of the Belgian Bronze Age is still very partial. Most of the bronze objects of this period — and I am not the only one to say they are important — remain unpublished. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that a great many bronzes have been, or still are, part of private collections. Objects fundamental to our understanding of Bronze Age economics have remained inaccessible for years; moreover, some of these, probably in consequence of this regrettable situation, have been stigmatised by this or that scholar's doubts about their authenticity. It is true that they have been traded by not always very scrupulous dealers.

Many scholars have been discouraged by the doubtful quality of part of the material, but too many scholars have therefore lost interest in its totality. A few important hoards, though in public collections, have thus been neglected, and remained unpublished for more than a century (Warmenbol forthcoming a and b). The largest collections, those of Edouard Bernays (Antwerp), George Hasse (Antwerp), J. Moens (Ghent) and J. Maertens de Noordhout (Ghent), were all greatly expanded through the acquisition of objects found during the extensive dredging carried out in the 1910s and 1920s, mainly in the Schelde, but also in other rivers. Great quantities of bronzes were found at places such as Melle, Wetteren, Wichelen and Schoonaarde. All these objects got on the market, and assuredly some dealers improved their stocks by enriching them with objects certainly found elsewhere.
Milking the Stones or An Acheulean Aggregation Locality on the Yiron Plateau in Upper Galilee.
Authors: Ohel Milla Y.
Published: February 2014

The central and most intricate occurrence among the acheulean sites of the Yiron Plateau and environs, Israel, is studied. All lines of evidence favour an interpretation of Mitzpeh Yiron (Y25) as an aggregation node where small groups assembled to concentrate on the exploitation of a relatively short-term seasonal subsistence resource. Concurrently the congregation event enhanced co-operative activities, sociocultural relationships, and particularly kinship ties. With the present effort a better understanding is hopefully achieved of the general configuration of the settlement system of the area along with the technological and other variabilities of the constituent units.
The Prehistoric Society, Prehistory and Society
Authors: Chapman Robert
Published: February 2014

Towards the beginning of her novel Excellent Women Barbara
Pym recounts a telephone conversation of more than passing relevance to our
meeting today.

I dialled the number fearfully and heard it ring. ‘Hello, hello, who is
that?’ a querulous elderly woman's voice answered. I was completely taken
aback, but before I could speak the voice went on, ‘If it's Miss Jessop I
can only hope you are ringing up to apologize’. I stammered out an
explanation. I was not Miss Jessop. Was Mr Everard Bone there? ‘My son is at
a meeting of the Prehistoric Society’, said the voice. ‘Oh, I see. I'm so
sorry to have bothered you’, I said. ‘People are always bothering me — I
never wanted to have the telephone put in at all’.

After a further apology I hung up the receiver shaken and mystified but at
the same time relieved. Everard Bone was at a meeting of the Prehistoric
Society. It sounded like a joke. (1952, 29–30)

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, if this is a typical reaction to the
Prehistoric Society, then on 23 February we become a fifty-year-old joke! If
we allow for the history of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, then we
reach well and truly back into the days of the Music Hall joke.
Individual and Community: The Changing Role of Megaliths in the Orcadian Neolithic
Authors: Sharples Niall
Published: February 2014

This paper is an exploration of the chronological development of a series of elaborate and architecturally distinctive chambered tombs on the Islands of Orkney. It begins with a short critique of the present views of the Orcadian Neolithic and highlights a failure to understand chronological developments as the most significant problem. Thus after a brief classification of the monuments there is a detailed discussion of the chronological evidence which consciously avoids typological assumptions. This is followed by an examination of the various uses the tombs were put to and involves an assessment of the location and architectural visibility of the monuments and the remains found in the chamber. When combined with the chronological evidence a series of changes in monument size, type, location and use can be hypothesized for the neolithic period. This culminates in a shift away from burial monuments to physically defined spaces, presumably used for ceremonial purposes. These changes can be interpreted as deliberate manipulation by groups within that society to change the ideological concepts which defined the role of the individual in relation to the other members of the society.
The ‘Policultivo Ganadero’, or the Secondary Products Revolution
in Spanish Agriculture, 5000–1000 bc
Authors: Harrison R.J.
Published: February 2014

In the Secondary Products Revolution model advanced by Sherratt it was
predicted that increased use of animals for labour and dairy products would
be visible archaeologically in animal bone collections. Published faunal
data from Spain and Portugal for the period 5000–1000 bc show that horses,
traction animals and dairy products all became more important after 2000 bc.
An historical-geographical analogy from pre-industrial Spain suggests that
by 1500 bc there was a degree of specialization in stockraising which could
be understood best if sites were integrated economically over a wide region.
This is the ‘policultivo ganadero’ of Spanish geographers, and the title is
selected deliberately to compare with the Mediterranean polyculture based on
plants.
The Palaeoenvironment of Some Archaeological Sites in Greece: The Influence of Accumulated Uplift in a Seismically Active Region
Authors: King Geoffrey , Bailey Geoffrey
Published: February 2014

Observations made soon after recent major earthquakes in Algeria, California and Japan have shown that repeated motions on buried fault planes in seismically active areas cause incremental folding of the overlying rocks and sediments. The deformation causes characteristic changes to river profiles and is therefore a factor which must be considered when applying techniques of site catchment analysis in areas of tectonic uplift. Here we examine the relationship between tectonic uplift and the palaeoenvironments of palaeolithic sites in North-west Greece, which is one of the most seismically active areas of Europe. Uplift can substantially alter local topography and sediment distributions and therefore undermine the economic viability of human settlements. Paradoxically uplift can also create stable conditions highly favourable to long-term habitation in two ways: by maintaining well-watered sediment traps which provide a climatically insensitive environment; by accentuating enclosed topography, which facilitates the control of mobile prey species.
The Stratigraphy of Kirkhead Cave, an Upper Palaeolithic Site in Northern England
Authors: Gale Stephen J. , Hunt Christopher O. , Southgate Graham A.
Published: February 2014

The sediments of Kirkhead Cave, a truncated phreatic conduit in the Morecambe Bay karst of northern England, have been investigated by scanning electron microscopic, granulometric, petrographic, palynologic and stratigraphic methods. These show that almost all the deposits in the cave are glacigenic sediments, reworked into the cave by a variety of transporting agencies. Investigation of the deposits by radiometric, magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic methods suggests that the fill represents a near-continuum of deposition from at least pollen zone III of the Late-glacial until modern times. Within the deposits is evidence of use of the cave by man from later upper palaeolithic (Creswellian) times onwards. However, no definite evidence has been found of later upper palaeolithic use of the cave prior to the middle of pollen zone III. It is therefore suggested that the occupation of marginal areas of upper palaeolithic colonization, such as the far north of northern England, after the last glaciation may have taken place somewhat later than has previously been recognized.
Mortality and Morbidity Among Rwandan Refugees Repatriated from Zaire, November, 1996
Authors: Banatvala Nicholas , Roger Alison J. , Denny Ailsa , Howarth John P.
Published: February 2014

Introduction:

Following renewed ethnic violence at the end of September 1996, conflict between Tutsi rebels and the Zairian army spread to North Kivu, Zaire where approximately 700,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees resided following the 1994 genocide. After a major rebel offensive against the camps' militia groups on 15 November, a massive movement of refugees towards Rwanda through Goma town, the capital of North Kivu, began. Massive population movements such as this are likely to be associated with substantial mortality and morbidity.

Objective:

To study patterns of mortality, morbidity, and health care associated with the Rwandan refugee population repatriation during November 1996.

Methods:

This study observed the functioning of the health-care facilities in the Gisenyi District in Rwanda and the Goma District in Zaire, and surveyed mortality and morbidity among Rwandan refugees returning from Zaire to Rwanda. Patterns of mortality, morbidity, and health care were measured mainly by mortality and health centre consultation rates.

Results:

Between 15 and 21 November 1996, 553,000 refugees returned to Rwanda and 4,530 (8.2/1,000 refugees) consultations took place at the border dispensary (watery diarrhea, 63%; bloody diarrhea, 1%). There were 129 (0.2/1,000) surgical admissions (72% soft tissue trauma) to the Gisenyi hospital in the subsequent two weeks. The average number of consultations from the 13 health centres during the same period was 500/day. Overall, the recorded death rate was 0.5/10,000 (all associated with diarrhea). A total of 3,586 bodies were identified in the refugee camps and surrounding areas of Goma, almost all the result of trauma. Many had died in the weeks before the exodus. Health centres were overwhelmed and many of the deficiencies in provision of health care identified in 1994 again were evident.

Results:

Non-violent death rates were low, a reflection of the population's health status prior to migration and immunity acquired from the 1994 cholera out-break. Health facilities were over stretched, principally because of depleted numbers of local, health-care workers associated with the 1994 genocide. Health-care facilities running parallel to the existing health-care system functioned most effectively.
Morphological and Chemical Analysis of Fe-doped Nanotitanates
Authors: Costa A.M.L. , Marinkovic B.A. , Smith D.J. , Paciornik S.
Published: February 2014

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.
Pulsating variables from the OGLE and Araucaria projects
Authors: Pietrzyński G.
Published: February 2014

We present some results of long-term studies of pulsating stars conducted in the course of the OGLE and Araucaria projects. In particular, very scarce eclipsing binaries containing pulsating stars are discussed. Such systems provide a unique opportunity to improve calibration of the cosmic distance scale and to better calibrate stellar evolutionary models.
Theoretical properties of regularities in the oscillation spectra of A-F main-sequence stars
Authors: Suárez Juan Carlos , Hernández Antonio García , Moya Andrés , Rodrigo Carlos , Solano Enrique , Garrido Rafael , Rodón José R.
Published: February 2014

We study the theoretical properties of the regular spacings found in the oscillation spectra of δ Scuti stars. A linear relation between the large separation and the mean density is predicted to be found in the low-frequency domain (i.e. radial orders spanning from 1 to 8, approximately) of the main-sequence δ Scuti stars' oscillation spectrum. This implies an independent direct measure of the average density of δ Scuti stars, analogous to that of the Sun, and places tight constraints on the mode identification and hence on the stellar internal structure and dynamics, and allows a determination the radii of planets orbiting around δ Scuti stars with unprecedented precision. This opens the way for studying the evolution of regular patterns in pulsating stars, and its relation to stellar structure and evolution.
Spectroscopy of γ Doradus stars
Authors: Brunsden E. , Pollard K. R. , Cottrell P. L. , Wright D. J. , De Cat P. , Kilmartin P. M.
Published: February 2014

The musician programme at the University of Canterbury has been successfully identifying pulsation modes in many γ Doradus stars using hundreds of ground-based spectroscopic observations. This paper describes some of the successful mode identifications and emerging patterns of the programme. The hybrid γ Doradus/δ Scuti star HD 49434 remains an enigma, despite the analysis of more than 1700 multi-site high-resolution spectra. A new result for this star is apparently distinct line-profile variations for the γ Doradus and δ Scuti frequencies.