bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Recent Excavations at Newferry, Co. Antrim
Authors: Woodman Peter C. 
Published: February 2015

The Newferry area is situated to the north of Lough Beg which is almost a northern extension of Lough Neagh, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Newferry is not a precise geographical area; it lies on both the Antrim and Derry side of the River Bann, and is an extensive area of diatomite flats nearly one mile wide which is bounded to the east and west by the drumlins lining either side of the valley. In early post-glacial times this would have been an extension to Lough Beg and until the Bann was dredged in the 1930's it was still liable to flood during the winter months. On the northern edge on the western side of the river the diatomite is known to run under the edge of Ballymacombs More raised bog. Therefore this lacustrine basin may have extended for another two miles north to Culbane where the high ground of Ballynease would have partially separated it from the next lake basin (fig. 1).Newferry has long been known as an area where Mesolithic material could be recovered from the Quaternary deposits. Several other excavations have taken place in this area prior to the present excavations. The Harvard Archaeological Mission carried out an excavation on the Derry side of the river in the early 1930's (Movius 1936) while in the late 1950's another small investigation was carried out on the Antrim side of the River (Smith and Collins 1971). In total there are now four sites known in this area.
The Excavation of a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure on Offham Hill, East Sussex, 1976
Authors: Drewett Peter , Cartwright C. R. , James B. , Thomas K. D. , O'Connor T. P. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryThe small causewayed enclosure on Offham Hill, East Sussex, being one of the only five surviving Neolithic enclosures in Sussex, was excavated in 1976 prior to its final destruction by ploughing. The enclosure consisted of two incomplete circles of discontinuous banks and ditches. Molluscan analysis indicated that the structure was built in a woodland clearing and that the ditches were not contemporary. A few pot sherds and flint tools were found in the shallow ditches, together with a crouched burial and disarticulated human bones. No conclusively Neolithic features were found in the interior. The possibility that this enclosure, together with others of similar type, may have been areas defined for exposure burial is discussed.
Excavations on Pilsdon Pen, Dorset, 1964–71
Authors: Gelling Peter S. 
Published: February 2015

Pilsdon Pen is in west Dorset, very close to the Devon border, some 6 miles north-west of Bridport, and about 5½ miles from the nearest point of the coast (ST 413013). It is a long flat-topped hill, the highest in Dorset, reaching 908 ft above OD, and dominating Marshwood Vale from the north. The hill-fort occupies the south-east end of the Pen, at the north-west end of which there is a small embanked enclosure, much levelled by ploughing, which could be of Iron Age date also. The two nearest hill-forts are Lambert's Castle and Coneys Castle, about 3 and 3½ miles away respectively, which overlook Marshwood Vale from the west (fig. 1).Excavation began in 1964, and continued annually until 1971, all but one of the seasons lasting four weeks. The work was initiated, and largely supported, by the owner of the site, Mr Michael Pinney, of Bettiscombe Manor, to whom archaeology owes a great debt. Mrs Betty Pinney was one of our most skilful excavators, and all those who took part will remember her hospitality. Financial help was also given by the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society and by Birmingham University. Among many helpers, to all of whom I am most grateful, I should like to mention in particular my wife, who shouldered the daunting task of keeping the camp supplied, and Mr Jack Wells, of Tanyard Farm, Marshwood, without whose regular assistance the excavation would have taken much longer, and cost a great deal more.
Stages of ‘Neolithisation’ in Southern France: Supply and Exchange of Raw Materials
Authors: Phillips P. , Aspinall A. , Feather S. 
Published: February 2015

‘Neolithisation’ as defined in this paper is the process whereby populations of Southern France modified their patterns of settlement and economic behaviour from the sixth to the third millennia bc. In moving from dependence mainly on varied seasonal resources to dependence on mainly humanly manipulated and stored resources, they created the possibility of surpluses for exchange. The main emphasis of this paper is on raw materials and changes in their use and exchange over time. Three time periods can conveniently be chosen to illustrate this change:1—c. 5500 to c.4000 bc The assemblages dating to this period and considered here belong to the Cardial culture.2—c. 4000 to c.2500 bc The assemblages dating to this period can broadly be assigned to the Chasseen culture.3—c. 2500 to c.2000 bc The varied assemblages dating to this period have been described as Chalcolithic. However, since little copper is known in relation to stone, it will be described here as Late Neolithic.The assemblages are conveniently illustrated in Courtin 1975.
Pieces in vertical movement—a model for rockshelter archaeology
Authors: Siiriäinen Ari 
Published: February 2015

In 1973, excavations were carried out in a rockshelter called River Rockshelter in Laikipia District, Kenya (the results will be published in AZANIA). The archaeological deposit was c 80 cm thick and contained an abundant lithic material belonging to a Late Stone Age industry. The deposit was excavated in seven layers each 5–15 cm thick. The stratigraphy was as follows (fig. 1):1. 0–10 cm, brown, loose fine-grained earth;2. 10–35 cm, brown, hard, medium-grained soil with stone slabs;3. 35–50 cm, greyish brown, hard gravel with small stone slabs;4. 50 cm + grey, hard gravel.Stratigraphical layers, radiocarbon dates and excavated layers from River Rockshelter. Vertical scale 1/10.
Excavation of The Kilham Long Barrow, East Riding of Yorkshire
Authors: Manby T. G. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryAfter a mesolithic occupation, with pits and hearths, the site had been successively cleared, cultivated and abandoned before the digging of a pair of parallel ditches—Kilham I. After a period of silting a larger structure enclosed by a timber wall set in a bedding trench—Kilham II—had a banked burial chamber with a forecourt at its eastern end. The construction of the long barrow of chalk rubble derived from flanking quarry ditches took place in two phases separated by burning of lengths of the timber enclosure. A ring ditch dug across the line of the avenue east of the long barrow belongs to an Early Bronze Age use of the locality. Any covering round barrow mound had been completely removed by cultivation that affected the area from the middle of last century down to the present day.
The evidence of cemeteries for later prehistoric development in the Upper Rhine valley
Authors: Balkwill C. J. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryPrehistoric cemeteries on the Upper Rhine appear to reflect changes in used land, but variable factors influence the recovery of information. Despite these limitations, it appears that marginal land was taken in after the Neolithic, and the extensively colonised loess soils were deserted. Other parts of the North Alpine zone experience similar abandonment of primary Neolithic areas. River terraces may then have been kept open by reduced settlement or seasonal grazing, inviting renewed attention in the Late Bronze Age and further colonisation of the valley soils in the Iron Age. Major shifts in settled areas may have resulted from soil exhaustion induced by limited agricultural techniques.
A Barrow Cemetery of the Second Millennium B.C. at Tallington, Lincolnshire
Authors: Simpson W. G. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryThe excavation examined two barrows which formed part of a cemetery in use towards the middle of the second millennium BC. The smaller barrow (Site 17) contained a large pit-grave in which successive inhumation burials had been made associated with a long-necked beaker, bronze earrings and a flint knife. The larger barrow (Site 16) began as a small mound covering an inhumation burial with a Food Vessel. Four stake circles were added following a second inhumation burial and the original mound was enlarged on two subsequent occasions. Many features of the barrows find their closest parallels in Yorkshire.
The Excavation of A Round Barrow Near Poor's Heath, Risby, Suffolk
Authors: F. de M.  , Vatcher H. L. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryThis round barrow, a bowl type, was built in two phases, its construction and use extending from about 1600–1400 bc (2000–1675 B.C.). The first mound was constructed with a mixture of chalk and sand from an oval ditch, covering a contracted burial of a child in a grave cut out of the chalk. The child was accompanied by a hybrid beaker. In the second phase the centre of the first mound was removed and partly pulled back into the ditch, and a contracted burial of an adult accompanied by a late beaker interred just off centre of a new mound built of sand covering the first, and capped in chalk obtained from a second ditch. Either simultaneously, or within a very short time a further burial, unaccompanied, in a tree-trunk coffin, was placed nearby, and this was followed by subsequent interments, the earliest of which was accompanied by jet beads and a spacer plate. Finally a further digging out of the mound took place on the east side to establish a cremation area, afterwards mounded over.
Ayios Epiktitos Vrysi, Cyprus: preliminary results of the 1969-1973 excavations of a neolithic coastal settlement
Authors: Peltenburg E. J. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryExcavation of a headland on the north coast of Cyprus has revealed a neolithic settlement with well-preserved stone buildings which belong to one stage of a multiphase site. Evidence was obtained for changes in architecture, definable growth patterns and, in Cypriot terms, deeply stratified deposits with painted pottery that clearly links the early Troulli and the Sotira styles. Eighteen structures, many re-built two or three times, two winding passages and open yards were located in such deep, artificial hollows that the settlement may be considered as partly subterranean. Groups of houses were arranged in sectors, in one case divided by an uninterrupted 4 m. wide ridge. A series of Carbon-14 determinations indicates the fourth millennium for this phase; its predecessor was defended by an impressive 4·5 m deep ditch. Faunal and floral analyses disclose a range of domesticated species suggestive of a lively agricultural, rather than fishing-based, mixed economy. As a result of associated surveys, many unexcavated sites may now be placed in the datedVrysiframework and a start made to the definition of neolithic settlement patterns on the north coast. The connections oVrysiwith excavated sites necessitates a reassessment of the prehistory of fifth-fourth millennia Cyprus which seems to be characterized by cultural continuity, regionalism and, the island's isolation.
On the Dating of Khirokitia in Cyprus
Authors: Price N. P. Stanley 
Published: February 2015

The subject of this note is the chronology of the site of Khirokitia in Cyprus in the light of four recent radiocarbon determinations. Khirokitia has remained one of the most extensively uncovered prehistoric sites in the Levant since its initial excavation over thirty years ago (Dikaios 1953). The fourth millennium BC date then estimated for the site by Dikaios was revised markedly upwards to the mid-sixth millennium following the submission of samples for radiocarbon dating (Dikaios 1962). The fourth millennium estimate had assumed a stratigraphical continuity between the pre-dominantly aceramic occupation of the site and the appearance of well-made pottery in its upper-most levels. Since the radiocarbon samples were taken from aceramic contexts, Dikaios subsequently concluded that the pottery was the product of a re-occupation of the site in the fourth millennium bc, a date based on the ceramic parallels with and the radiocarbon dates from the site at Sotira (Dikaios 1962, 194).This conclusion is borne out by a re-examination of the published evidence and, less conclusively perhaps because of its limited nature, by the evidence of a small sounding at the site undertaken by the author in 1972 (Stanley Price and Christou 1973). The four main aims of this 2 m square sounding included further observation of the aceramic-ceramic stratigraphy and the collection of additional radiocarbon samples in an attempt to determine the duration of the aceramic occupation.
Mediterranean Alluviation: New Evidence from Archaeology
Authors: Bintliff J. L. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryDetailed regional studies of dated alluvial formations in Greece confirm the Vita-Finzi alluviation cycle and favour climatic causation. A review of recent work in this field reveals substantial, if unexpected, support for the cycle, and archaeologists and geographers are urged to recognise its validity and concentrate on its very significant effects.
The Excavation of an Oval Burial Mound of the Third Millennium bc at Alfriston, East Sussex, 1974
Authors: Drewett Peter , Cartwright C. R. , O'Connor T. P. , Green C. , Thomas K. D. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryThe small oval burial mound at Alfriston, East Sussex, being one of only twelve certain burial structures of the 3rd millennium bc in Sussex, was totally excavated in 1974 prior to its final obliteration by ploughing. The barrow was found to consist of a simple dump mound derived from material out of flanking ditches. It covered a single burial pit containing the crouched skeleton of a young female. Information concerning the post-Neolithic land use of Alfriston Down was obtained from the ditch silts and expanded by an intensive field survey.
The Megalithic Tomb of Pedra Branca, Portugal. Preliminary Report
Authors: da Veiga Ferreira O. , Zbyszewski G. , Leitao M. , North C. T. , de Sousa H. Reynolds 
Published: February 2015

The megalithic tomb of Pedra Branca lies at Montum, on the west coast of Portugal about 140 kilometers south of Lisbon by road (fig. 1). The tomb is the first in Portugal to have yielded Beaker graves overlying earlier burials; prior to its discovery, no Beaker remains had ever been noted further south than Palmela, in the estuary of the Sado river, approximately 40 kilometers from Lisbon. The tomb is situated on the top of a small hillock 100 m above sea level, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a fertile undulating plain about 5 km in width. The Lake of Melides lies to the north and, to the east, the hills of Grandola rise steeply to an altitude of 300 m; an expanse of rough terrain stretches to the south, ravined by various small streams which flow into the Lake of Santo André on the coast.When the tomb was discovered by surveyors of the Geological Services of Portugal, it was already very badly damaged; all the orthostats had been broken for use in local construction and part of the circular covering mound had already been ploughed under. The Services therefore, decided that a salvage campaign was called for, and a team made up of the authors, was invited to carry it out with funds granted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Radiocarbon Dates from Bosumpra Cave, Abetifi, Ghana
Authors: Smith Andrew B. 
Published: February 2015

In 1940 Professor Thurstan Shaw excavated a trench in the cave known as Bosumpra at Abetifi (6° 41′N:0° 44′W) on the borderline between the moist forest and the northern marginal forest (fig. 1). Bosumpra is one of the four main ‘abosom’ (lesser) gods of the Guan pantheon (Brokenshaw 1966, 156). The report (Shaw, 1944) showed that the cave was formerly inhabited by a people with a pottery-using microlithic culture and provided the first analytical description of the microlithic industries from the forest regions of West Africa. As the site was the first of its kind to be excavated, and the excavation was carried out before the advent of radiocarbon dating, there was no way of knowing what age this industry was, or how long the cave had been occupied, beyond placing it within the rubric of the so-called “Guinea Neolithic”.To attempt to clarify this problem a group of students from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Ghana and myself conducted the excavation of a small witness section (fig. 2) in the cave over New Year 1973/74 with the specific aim of collecting organic material for dating. We were fortunate in finding adequate amounts of charcoal at all levels. Two of these samples were submitted to Rikagaku Kenkyusho, Japan, for dating.
Mycenaean Greece and Europe: the Evidence of Bronze Tools and Implements
Authors: Harding Anthony 
Published: February 2015

The renewed controversy over the question of Mycenaean trade with ‘barbarian’ Europe (Renfrew 1968; Branigan 1970, 1972; etc.) has emphasised the need for a thorough study of the various classes of evidence involved. Recent work on the faience beads of Early Bronze Age Europe (Harding 1971; Harding and Warren 1973) has tended to show that local production is likely, at any rate in continental Europe, while a study of the amber trade to Mycenaean Greece (Harding and Hughes-Brock 1974) has shown that two main periods of trade with the Baltic are likely, the first, via Wessex, in the sixteenth/fifteenth centuries B.C., the second around 1200, down the Adriatic. Here I should like to tackle another group of material, bronze tools and implements, some of which have been used (or mis-used) in the current debate. I include here agricultural, wood-working, metallurgical and general-purpose tools; razors and tweezers are omitted, and will be discussed elsewhere, as will ornaments and objects of personal use. Knives are included, but daggers await examination together with other weapons.Tools and implements have not often been found as items of trade in the Bronze Age Aegean. They have intrinsic value as metal, it is true, but they are usually heavy and bulky, and most easily susceptible of adaptation to local needs by local smiths. Accidental loss and intentional imitation are correspondingly less likely.
Late Devensian and Early Flandrian Barbed Points from Sproughton, Suffolk
Authors: Wymer J. J. , Jacobi R. M. , Rose J. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryCommercial gravel working in the Devil's Wood Pit, Sproughton, situated in the flood plain of the River Gipping, has produced as chance finds two barbed points of bone and antler. Both came from the sand and gravel deposits which fill the buried channel of the Gipping. The points are discussed in relation to other barbed points found in England, particularly those which have associations which allow their dates to be assessed. Radiocarbon dates from organic material within the sands and gravels suggest that the barbed points were deposited during the latter part of pollen Zone III and the early part of Zone IV. A long blade industry has been recorded from the surface of the sands and gravels, and reference is given to further details of this industry.
The Interpretation and Dating of Humanly Worked Siliceous Materials by Thermoluminescent Analysis
Authors: Rowlett Ralph M. , Mandeville Margaret D. , Zeller Edward J. 
Published: February 2015

AbstractThermoluminescence analysis can reveal when archaeological lithics especially siliceous stones such as flint, chert and the like have been subjected to heat treatment prior to chipping. This determination can serve as the first step in the dating of these stones, as well as stones exposed otherwise to heating, utilizing the same principles as for the thermoluminescent dating of pottery. The oldest known example of heat treatment verified by this method comes from the Solutrian industry of south-western France (ca. 15000 bc).
Disc-Barrows
Authors: Grinsell L. V. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryAn attempt is made to classify and list in detail the known disc-barrows in and around Wessex—about 170 in all, 155 being of normal type, 13 of ‘Dorset’ type, and two of exceptional character. Of these, 93 are in Wiltshire, 57 being within ten km of Stonehenge, and 36 within five km of that monument, which evidently acted as a magnet in attracting major barrow cemeteries to its vicinity.The normal disc-barrow is of the ‘Wessex culture’ of the Early Bronze Age. The rite is nearly always cremation, but a very few possible instances of primary inhumation need further investigation. The grave-goods are usually necklaces of beads (amber, shale, faience, in four instances all together), in three instances with amber space-plates; bronze awls (pointed at one end and flat at the other which probably went into a handle); and small two-edged bronze knives. Occasionally the cremation is in an urn or with an ‘Aldbourne’ or other cup. The frequency of beads, and the absence of warrior equipment such as ‘Wessex’ bronze daggers, has until now led to the conclusion that they were the places of interment of females.Since 1953 seven disc-barrows have been scientifically excavated but final reports are still awaited. The primary cremation from one of the mounds of the oval twin barrow Milton Lilbourne I was probably female. The primary cremation from the central mound of Collingbourne Kingston 18 could not be sexed; but two cremations from a large pit beneath the eccentric mound of the same barrow were identified as probably and possibly adult male. Cremations from the other sites could not be sexed. These meagre results suggest that the central or other primary mounds of disc-barrows were for females but the eccentric mounds may have been for either sex. The sexing of more cremations is urgently needed.
Experimental Iron Age Storage Pits: An Interim Report
Authors: Reynolds Peter J. 
Published: February 2015

The aim of this paper is to explain the principles of the storage of grain in underground pits and to present an interim summary of the results so far obtained from a long-term series of grain storage experiments and their implications. At the outset it must be made clear that the trends indicated by the results are, in fact, trends and that the implications presented are to be considered accordingly. A major problem that besets any experimental research programme, especially in the field of agriculture, is the need for consistent and long-term replication of specific experiments in order to gain sound and reliable data. However, it is equally important that interim results should be published both to present the problems suggested by those results and to avoid the possible duplication of work by ‘ad hoc’ exercises. The basic point so far appreciated is the great need to focus much more attention on the careful acquisition of the raw archaeological data from excavations in such a way that valid comparisons between feature types can be made and that subsequent experimental work can have a statistically proven basis.An excellent survey of the documentary and archaeological evidence for pits in the Iron Age has already been published (Bowen and Wood 1968). This paper also includes a report of an exploratory experiment storing corn in underground pits.
An Excavation at the Coastal Promontory Fort of Embury Beacon, Devon
Authors: Jefferies J. S. , Limbrey S. 
Published: February 2015

SummaryAn excavation at the Iron Age Promontory Fort at Embury Beacon is described. Most of the work was concentrated on the inner rampart, its entrance and the small remaining portion of the interior, where structures revealed by post holes were associated with Glastonbury style pottery. The outer rampart was also sectioned and areas within the wide intervallum space investigated.