It would be foreign to the purpose of my paper to enter upon the much debated and still unsolved question as to who were the Iberians and from whence they came, nor, indeed, has that question any direct bearing upon the subject-matter with which I deal. A few words as to the state of the country during the period under review, the organization of the peoples who inhabited it, their physical and moral conditions, and the influence of their surroundings upon their practice and methods in war and in strife may, however, not be out of place.

Complete agreement has not yet been reached among students as to the part played by Egypt in the history of Early Christian and Early Byzantine art. There are two problems around which discussion has chiefly centred. The first concerns Alexandria. Some authorities believe that this town remained a stronghold of Hellenistic art throughout the Christian period, and that it maintained the highest classical standard at a time when most of the Mediterraneancountries were already submerged in what are commonly called the Dark Ages. This theory has, however, been contested by other writers who think that Alexandrian art sank as early as the fifth century to the level of provincialism, and that from that time onwards Constantinople was the chief centre in which the classical tradition was preserved.

Lord Maynard having directed a further excavation to be made at the Bartlow hills, a gallery was commenced early in April last on the north side of the south barrow. This hill, according to the plan, is about thirty-five feet high, the diameter having been computed at ninety feet, but it exceeds a hundred. The gallery was constructed in the same manner as that opened in 1835 in the largest barrow, and had reached the centre of the hill on the 16th April, upon which day I inspected it in company with Lord Braybrooke and the Honourable Captain Percy. It extended fifty-two feet, and we observed that the tumulus was formed, like the largest barrow, of earth and chalk, in horizontal strata. Our arrival took place shortly after the workmen had broken in upon a hollow, where we gladly anticipated the finding a sepulchral deposit, appearances heing much the same as those observed on first opening the cavity in the centre of the other barrow.

Bronze Age and Iron Age burials are occasionally surrounded by ditches which are, in origin at any rate, functional in that they serve as quarries for the material used in the mound. Such ditches may also have had some ritual significance, particularly those which are covered by the body of the mound. Further proof that they were not always functional is given by barrows whose ditches form a square, which is obviously not the easiest way to make a quarry for a circular barrow. Square-ditched barrows must be carefully distinguished from barrows within secondary square inclosures connected with plantations or land inclosure; however, there is a considerable number whose squared ditches are clearly original, and these can be shown to be a feature of the La Tène culture.

The halberd is of sufficiently frequent occurrence and of a sufficiently distinctive character to be a most useful ‘type fossil’ by which may be traced connexions and the trend of cultural developments in prehistoric Europe. That another paper on the subject is not a superfluity in archaeological literature is evident from the lack of any paper dealing at once with the Irish and Continental material. That this paper should be written in Ireland is fitting because the amount of the Irish material is so large. When Coffey wrote his valuable paper on ‘Irish Copper Halberds’ (frequently referred to in the following pages), he had before him the material in the National Museum of Ireland, which comprised at that time 49 halberds. This number has in the meantime increased to 71, while the total number of Irish halberds of which I have been able to get particulars is 143, 67 having known localities. This body of material, which is considerably greater than that from any other country, makes it clear that the part played by Ireland in the story of the European halberd must have been an important one. When we come to study the typology, evolution, and distribution of the weapon, we shall get further proof of this importance.

‘Edward Vth ended his reign on the 25th [of June 1483], and with his brother, Richard, then disappears from authentic history. How long the boys lived in captivity and how they died is a matter on which legend and conjecture have been rife with no approach to certainty. Most men believed, and still believe, that they died a violent death by their Uncle's order.’ In these words Bishop Stubbs summed up a mystery which has never failed to fascinate those who have attempted to probe it.

The purpose of the present memoir is to place on record an account of what, in many respects, is one of the most valuable discoveries ever made in Britain of weapons, implements, ornaments, and other things belonging to the Bronze Age. Discoveries of objects of that period have usually consisted of a single article or more accidentally lost, of hoards of founders or vendors, secreted for one reason or another, and of the various sepulchral remains which have been found in barrows, cairns, or other places of burial. These all are of greater or less importance as illustrating the condition and habits of life of the people of that time, and the stage of cultivation and civilization to which they had attained. But the discovery with which this account is concerned possesses a very much higher value than that of any hoard of however great a number of articles, or of any series of objects which relate to a section only of daily life and occupation. It gives us, though perhaps in a lesser degree, much the same information that the lake dwellings of Switzerland and other countries have so abundantly supplied. “We possess, in fact, in the discovery about to be described a record in the very things themselves of the entire equipment of a family as it was possessed by them when they perished in their home, as I believe, by a sudden and unforseen catastrophe.

It is hardly too much to say that no period in the history of mediaeval church architecture in England is so important as that which immediately followed the Norman Conquest. It is important in respect of the marvellous extent and quality of its own achievement; of its influence on the subsequent history of English architecture; and also (which perhaps cannot be asserted of any other period) of its influence on the architectural development of western Europe generally. By the time of the Conquest the Norman school was fully formed, and was achieving such masterpieces as Jumièges and Saint-Étienne, Caen. The Conquest provided an opportunity of which the immense energy of the Norman bishops and abbots took full advantage. In their greater churches they built on a scale which they had hitherto rarely attempted in their own country. Such activity bred experience, readiness in solving structural problems. The Norman character naturally led them to develop the logic of construction, and they were innovators in the practice of expedients which only needed fuller development to reach the essentials of what we call Gothic. It is true that this great development was not English; it was essentially Norman, the accident of the Conquest, but its importance is none the less on that account, and needs fuller recognition than perhaps it has yet received.

Excavations undertaken at Quarrington, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, revealed part of an Early and Middle Saxon settlement with associated fields or enclosures. Several timber buildings were identified, both round and rectangular, and there was evidence of ferrous and non-ferrous metalworking at the site. Finds included a large and regionally significant pottery assemblage, showing that Quarrington had an extensive trading network and obtained pottery from Lincolnshire and Leicestershire in the Early Saxon period. Pottery from the Northamptonshire area dominated the assemblage in the Middle Saxon period, with a smaller component from Lincolnshire and a limited quantity from Ipswich. Spatial variations in the Saxon ceramic assemblage suggest that the focus of settlement shifted towards the west or north west in the Middle Saxon period.

Few rural sites of Early and Middle Saxon date have produced sufficient faunal material to permit an analysis of changes during the fifth to eighth centuries until now; the large bone assemblage from Quarrington indicates changes in diet and the husbandry of domestic animals through time, with sheep becoming more important as pig diminished. Alterations to the slaughter profiles of cattle and sheep were also evident and may indicate changes from subsistence to surplus production. An apparently isolated Neolithic cremation and a post-medieval stone building were also revealed.

In the first part of this article are listed the architectural fragments found at or near the site of the temple of Apollo Phanaios in South Chios, including several hitherto unpublished mouldings. The discussion of them is prompted by the excavations conducted by the British School at Athens from 1952 to 1955 at Emporio, some 8 km. from Phanai, and the discovery there of parts of more than one early Ionic building. The similarity of the Emporio mouldings to those from Phanai led to a study of the latter. They have so far been neglected by most writers, but since they afford evidence of some important local fashions it seems of value to record them fully, both for their own sakes and for the light they throw on the Emporio buildings. The full publication of these must await that of the rest of the site. To the Phanai pieces are added a number of other early mouldings from Chios, other than those found at Emporio.

Material for a third report on the site of the Saxon village at Sutton Courtenay, Berks., has been gradually accumulating since the second was presented in 1926, but so slowly that it seemed advisable to wait until, as appeared likely to happen in the near future, the limits of the occupied area should have been reached. In the meantime, however, an important addition to our knowledge of the early Bronze Age has been obtained from Cassington, Oxfordshire, and since this presents several interesting points of comparison and contrast with the more recent discoveries of the same age at Sutton Courtenay, it has seemed preferable to anticipate the Third Report on the latter site by including the Sutton Courtenay material of Bronze Age date in a combined account. The numbering of the pits at Sutton Courtenay follows on those described in the Second Report in Archaeologia, lxxvi.

Between 1840 and 1846 the Scottish physician David Boswell Reid produced a scheme for a central ventilation system serving the Palace of Westminster. This scheme included a proposal for a sophisticated ventilation and climatic control system in the House of Commons. Although the plans for a central system were abandoned after six years, Reid was able to implement his idea within the confines of the House of Commons. Existing literature on Reid’s involvement in the design of the Palace of Westminster has focused largely on his difficult relationship with the architect Charles Barry, but his actual contribution to the design of the ventilation system has remained largely unexplored. Neither his unfinished early proposal nor his final design for the House of Commons has been studied in any depth before. This paper retraces the evolution of Reid’s original plans, and provides a systematic reconstruction of the ventilation system implemented inside the House of Commons between 1847 and 1854. The historic system is now completely lost, but new archival research, involving the study of several hundred letters, sketches and plans, has yielded detailed insights into its design and how it performed historically. In addition to revealing the ventilation system’s physical arrangements, research has uncovered how scientists and engineers had evaluated its design empirically from a human and technological perspective. As such, this paper provides a new perspective on antiquarian studies and illuminates how architectural technology in the mid-nineteenth century was shaped, evaluated and refined based on environmental performance. Although environmental factors, such as climate or air purity, were more transient dimensions of architecture, in the case of the House of Commons this paper shows that they were key drivers of architectural form.

Chun, Ch'un, Chyoon, or Chywoon, as it is variously spelt, is the most remarkable of all the Cornish hill-castles. It is tempting to derive the name from the castle itself (Chy-oon, house on the moor), and, if that is legitimate, in Borlase's day, when the inner walls still stood 15 ft. high and more, the name was very apt. The ‘oon’ portion of the name is still present in the adjacent Woon Gumpus Common. Like Trencrom in Lelant, however, the castle probably took its name from the farm on which it stands.

Mr. Preston discovered the Colbury barrow, the first of those here to be described, in April 1931; shortly afterwards, with the permission of the New Forest Deputy Surveyor, he excavated it, and found it to contain cinerary urns assignable to what is usually called the Deverel-Rimbury class of Late Bronze Age sepulchral pottery. Those which could be selected as still practically complete were presented by the Forestry Commissioners to the British Museum. Mr. Preston had previously, in 1928 and 1929, excavated two other barrows, at Landford and Plaitford not many miles away, which had yielded urns of the same class, and in the present paper all three have been brought together. The material for the description of each barrow and its contents is naturally the excavator's: I have collaborated with him in its interpretation, and in doing so have ventured on one or two more general considerations.

The Pillar of Eliseg, originally an ambitious round-shafted cross, stands on a barrow near the Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis. It was carved with a lengthy inscription, now illegible, but transcribed in 1696 by Edward Lhuyd. Two copies have survived, enabling a reconsideration of the significance of the inscription. This article reassesses the history of the monument, its archaeological context, form and function. The inscription shows that the cross was erected by Concenn, ruler of Powys (d ad 854), to honour his great-grandfather, Eliseg, who had expelled the Anglo-Saxons from this part of Powys. The inscription also links the rulers of Powys with the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus and the sub-Roman ruler Guarthigirn. It is argued that the inscription was intended to be read out loud and that the monument was an important piece of public propaganda erected at a time when the kingdom of Powys was severely under threat.

Damascening, defined in this context as the inlay of one metal into a different metal base, is a rare decorative technique in the Early Bronze Age, known only from seven bronze artefacts found north of the Alps. This paper reports on the first thorough scientific examination of one such find, the axe from Thun-Renzenbühl grave no. 1. This interdisciplinary project involving several institutions in Germany and Switzerland investigated the axe by means of neutron radiographic imaging and X-ray microprobe methods, supported by microscopic examination. The result is an attempt to reconstruct the fabrication and decoration process and to reconsider the enigmatic question of the origins of the damascene technique north of the Alps.

The Great Tower of Chepstow Castle is probably the most important surviving domestic medieval building in Wales. In the Norman period it consisted of a single large room partly surrounded by niches built over a vast undercroft. In the second quarter of the thirteenth century, the first floor was dramatically converted into a more conventional great hall and chamber, through the insertion of new windows and the construction of a pair of sumptuously decorated arches across the building in the most refined Early English style. These alterations also provided a single second-floor chamber, which was extended across the whole building in the 1290s. This article gathers together the documentary, architectural and art historical evidence in an attempt to identify who was the patron of each phase of this remarkable building and what they were hoping it would provide.

This paper offers a provisional assessment of the development of settlement in part of Cranborne Chase between the Mesolithic and the Late Bronze Age. It builds upon the results of Pitt Rivers' work in this region between 1880 and 1900, as well as more recent excavation and field survey. Special emphasis is placed on three factors: the relationship between activity in this area and settlement both in central Wessex and on the coastal plain; the place of the more prominent ‘public’ monuments in contemporary patterns of settlement and exchange; and the relationship between cemeteries and contemporary living sites. We present the first results from the extensive excavation of two Deverel-Rimbury enclosures and associated barrows, and a new analysis of Pitt Rivers' work on the urnfield at Handley Barrow 24.

The type here discussed is a common feature of most collections of surface flints from this country, but little serious study has been devoted to it ; and though it has frequently been found in datable associations, no one seems to have attached it to any particular culture. Collectors in East Anglia have long called specimens of the type ‘slugs ’, a term unfortunately employed in other areas, for instance Sussex, to describe flint fabricators. In view of this confusion the author suggests the use of the term ‘plano-convex-knife ’ which accurately describes the section of the implement. The type is characterized by pressure or scale flaking on the slightly convex upper face, the under surface retaining the flake surface, usually with the bulb and sometimes with the striking platform intact. As a general rule the flake from which the knife is made shows a distinct curve in its longitudinal axis. As a result of the fine pressure technique employed, the convex surface of the implement commonly gives a glossy or soapy feel to the touch. In the finer and more typical specimens the whole of this upper surface shows the characteristic secondary flaking, though in some cases the central area of the flake is allowed to retain its primary character. In plan the commonest form is elongated oval of varying width (nos. 1 and 2), which is in a few examples (e.g. one from Bishop's Burton, barr. CCLV) serrated round the entire edge save for the buttend. The point is normally obtuse, if not rounded, and in a few cases (no. 3) is trimmed to a scraping edge. Finally we have to note rather a distinct variety with a straight chisel-like extremity (no. 4) from which flakes have been removed in the main line of the implement. This particular specimen has lateral notches as though for hafting.