As this will be the last occasion on which I address the Society as President there are a number of generalizations which I should like to make. Unlike some Presidencies, that of the Antiquaries is no sinecure and the President is expected to work for his living. In this he is supported by the Vice-Presidents and Officers of the Society. During my time of office I have been splendidly upheld by Nowell Myres, John Cowen, and Arnold Taylor. Only those who have worked with them know with what devotion and energy they carry out their duties. In some respects I feel that I have given my Vice-Presidents too little to do, but that is my own fault and their advice on Council has been invaluable. I am confident that my successor will make use of them much more skilfully than I have done. It would be invidious to stretch out this catalogue of indebtedness but it would be inexcusable for me not to mention my gratitude to Mr. Thompson and Mr. Hopkins.

There has been little investigation into the beaker period in the Derbyshire Peak District since Thomas Bateman's activities between 1843–60. This paper describes the excavation, between 1966–8, of Bee Low, a beaker round cairn imperfectly examined by Bateman in 1843 and 1851. The excavation produced evidence of almost continuous usage of the mound by beaker and later communities over a period of some 300 years. The earliest burials (c. 1700 B.C.) were a collective group of six or more inhumations in a stone cist with an All-Over-Cord beaker, a pottery type hitherto unrepresented in the Peak. In all, twenty-three inhumations and five cremations were recorded from the cairn, with further beakers of types N2 (Developed Northern), S2 (Developed Southern), and S4 (Final Southern), the last a further type not previously recorded with certainty in beaker contexts in the area. Burial customs included collective, crouched, and disarticulated interment. Only one inhumation had a metal association—a bronze awl—but two cremations were provided with bronzes, an awl and a small riveted knife. The excavation of this miniature necropolis has added considerably to present knowledge of the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age cultures of the Peak.

Seven gold pins noticed recently in place in the Ridgeway gold pommel form the only British example of exclusively functional gold pins dated to the Wessex period. The Hameldon Down pommel repair, although functional was also decorative. A Breton parallel from La-Garenne, Morbihan, is the only other instance of purely functional pin use and still has two pins in situ with their heads hidden by the continuous decoration of the piece. The Ridgeway pommel's shape and associations suggest that, like La-Garenne, it is late in the pin typology. Both may be from contemporary graves, which if not transitional Wessex I/ Wessex II, might be early Wessex II.

The development of open-cast ironstone mining has made necessary emergency excavations on an apparently undefended Iron Age and Romano-British settlement of at least 20 acres, situated immediately near the Jurassic Way six miles south of the Humber estuary. In the Iron Age, the site was characterized by complex ditch systems and small irregular gullies, and only two huts, both circular, have been located in an excavated area of 1.7 acres. The main occupation probably began around 100 B.C. with an Iron B pottery assemblage. The sequence continued, apparently without abrupt break, into an Iron C assemblage very closely related to the ‘Aylesford—Swarling Culture’ of the Thames estuary region. More marked modification early in the first century A.D., most clearly defined by the introduction of Gallo-Belgic pottery, resulted in cultural similarities with Camulodunum. The occupation continued throughout the Roman period. The site was then characterized by an irregular system of metalled roads flanked by ditches, and plots of land defined by ditches and fences. Within these plots stood individual rectangular buildings of timber and stone, together with ovens, wells, pottery kilns, and other structures of an industrial or agricultural nature.

The results of the 1968–9 seasons of excavations at Bottom Pond Farm, Owslebury (SU 525 246) are described, especially the layout of the pre-Roman settlement. Problems of the siting of the settlement, the land usage and the function of storage pits are discussed, and two inscribed bronze rings and an embossed bronze plaque are described in detail.

The paper discusses recent finds of Romano-Saxon pottery in Essex and shows how this class of vessel is apparently far more common in late Roman levels than has been hitherto realized. Fragments found in excavation are generally small and our present state of knowledge seldom permits reconstruction. The association of Romano-Saxon and Anglo-Saxon wares on several sites is noteworthy, and in the case of one villa site, Wickford, possible continuity of occupation and derivation of the name from the Roman vicus is discussed.

The paper emphasizes the need for careful study of late Roman, Romano-Saxon, and early Anglo-Saxon pottery as a whole, and its consideration as an evolving tradition.

Five sites were excavated in 1969. At Castle Yard the pre-Roman and Roman defences were examined and a large salient discovered at the south-west corner of the Roman walled town. A Saxon street and its buildings lying within this salient were found buried below the castle earthworks of 1067, and the early development of the castle was investigated. At Lankhills sixty fourth-century graves were excavated, four producing evidence of an alien military element in the late Roman town. Further evidence of this alien element was found at the Cathedral Green, and together with earlier discoveries, suggests the presence of a Germanic garrison. The excavation of the Old Minster was completed by the examination of the east end of the seventh-century church, and by the discovery of a west-work of continental type consecrated in 980. At Lower Brook Street four houses and other structures of the mid twelfth to mid thirteenth century were excavated, one property being devoted entirely to cloth finishing with a rack-ground and dye-house. Three phases of St. Mary's Church were examined and the latest stage of St. Pancras' Church uncovered. At Wolvesey Palace the west hall can be dated to c. 1110. The lead-piped water-supply of the palace was investigated, its first stage belonging to the early twelfth century. Excavation continues.

Recent excavation of the monastic sites of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow has produced a quantity of plain and coloured window-glass sealed within the destruction levels of the buildings. Monkwearmouth was founded in 674, and Jarrow in 685; both sites were abandoned in the mid ninth century.

In the 1969 excavations at Monkwearmouth a complete quarry of amber window-glass decorated with white trails was discovered, and this piece is discussed and compared with other glass from the sites. Two millefiori settings from Monkwearmouth are also discussed and compared with a composite rod from Jarrow and other mosaic glass settings from the British Isles.