The Anglo-Saxon see of Worcester was probably not established until 679 or 680, over eighty years after the arrival of the Augustinian mission. It has usually been taken for granted that the Hwicce, for whom the new see was set up, had until then been subject to the see of the Mercians, but there is no evidence to show this. The latter see, moreover, had itself not been created until c. 656. Are we, therefore, to assume that the Hwicce remained non-Christian until the later seventh century? If they did, we have signally failed in our efforts to find their burials; and our historical sources are strangely silent about the eventual conversion to Christianity of a people who held out against it for so long.

Hazleton North Cotswold-Severn tomb was totally excavated between 1979 and 1982. It was shown to be a laterally chambered cairn of complex cellular construction with a blank dry-stone forecourt wall. The two chambered areas, located centrally within the cairn, contained well-preserved burial deposits. Below the cairn the buried soil contained evidence for previous Mesolithic and Neolithic occupation.

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.

In presenting my Fifth Report on the work carried out at Stonehenge in the season of last year, it will be well to make a short review of the work from 1919 onwards. The first two years were spent upon rectifying the positions of stones nos. 6 and 7 and of nos. 1, 2, and 30. During this work, the contents of the pits in which they stood were examined as well as the soil around them, and the features presented by the ancient working and fitting of the stones were noted. A little work undertaken in spare time led to the discovery of the Aubrey holes, and of a large hole in which the Slaughter Stone probably stood. In the third season about 40 yards of the main ditch were excavated on the south side, and an examination made of a spot which had been previously considered a barrow. In the fourth season another portion of the ditch on the north-east was opened, which led to the discovery of the causeway and entrance to Stonehenge through the earthwork, also of a great number of post-holes which appeared to be the remains of a palisade in the entrance. Another stone-hole near the Slaughter Stone was found, and dwelling-pits on both sides of the causeway.

Just over a century ago Mr. William Chaffers read to the British Archaeological Association a paper in which he gave the name of Bellarmines to those mottled stoneware vessels, with bearded masks as their principal decoration, which were imported in large quantities from the Rhineland to be the regular tavern-crockery of Tudor and Stuart London. This paper, published by the Association in volume v of its Journal, appears to be the source of the popular belief, which almost everybody quotes and nobody checks, that the mask and jug were intended to satirize the features and rotundity of Cardinal Bellarmine, perhaps the greatest theologian of his time and certainly, to the hard-drinking Protestants of England, north Germany, and the Low Countries, the most redoubtable champion of the Church of Rome. Chaffers himself does not go so far as to claim detailed resemblance of face and figure, but says ‘if we can in any way rely upon the portraits of him thus handed down to posterity, he must indeed have been exceedingly hard featured’. On the other hand, he does specifically claim to be justified in ‘christening anew’ this type of vessel with the cardinal's name, and popular acceptance has done the rest.

The Garamantes inhabited Fezzan, now the Saharan province of the Libyan Arab Republic, their capital, Garama, lying c. 105 miles west of Sebha in the wadi el Agial. After an unruly early history they appear to have become pacified and open to Roman influence. Before Garama was founded the tribe inhabited the promontory fortress of Zinchecra c. 2½ miles to the south-west, where excavation has revealed three main periods of occupation. The earliest consists of rock-scooped hearths, the second of rough dry-stone and frond shelters with stone-lined hearths. The third is more complex with buildings ranging from rough shelters to well-built mud-brick ‘houses’, the latest of which date to the first century B.C. and employed dressed stone in their basal courses. At the start of this period a complex of enclosure banks and walls was thrown around the base of the spur. Finally the site was abandoned to cemeteries.

Two important new metalwork groups were exhibited at a Society of Antiquaries ballot (4 May 1989, Needham 1989a). They contain both bronze and gold metalwork including some types that are rare, or as yet unique. Consideration of these finds, along with other associations of Penard to Wilburton date (1200–900 BC), leads to the conclusion that the Wallington complex is best subsumed within Penard (1200–1000 BC) and has minimal overlap with Wilburton. It is acknowledged that Wilburton material shows contrasting regional distributions, but this is seen as resulting from the nature of production and social organization during the tenth century BC. Some discussion is given to the character of hoards in the important period of change from Penard to Wilburton.

In his Anniversary Address to the Fellowship on St. George's Day 1883 Lord Carnarvon commented on The Act for the Better Protection of Ancient Monuments of the previous year:

Gentlemen, I am sure you will agree with me that one of the first subjects on which I ought to congratulate both this Society and the archaeological world of England is the passing into law of the Bill for the Protection of Ancient Monuments to which successive Presidents of this Society have so often, during the last ten years, wished success from this place. Perhaps I ought rather to have said a Bill than the Bill, for we all know, and so knowing we all regret—no one more than Sir John Lubbock himself—in what a mutilated condition, shorn of many of its original provisions, crippled in its powers and limited in its scope that measure finally become the law of the land. For these untoward results we must thank the supineness of the public, the prejudices of Parliament and perhaps I may add the all absorbing pressure of Irish Measures.

In 1983 a fisherman in the Thames estuary at Pan Sand trawled up a Roman amphora filled with olives which had been preserved in defrutum syrup. The jar is dated c. AD 70 ± 15. An attempt is made to relate the olive varieties at Pan Sand to those described in the ancient documentary sources. The Pan Sand jar exemplifies a new category of amphora, called London 555. They were produced in the province of Baetica in Roman Spain; claims that the form was made in the Rhône valley are regarded as unproven. Stratified finds from Britain show the form was current from c. AD 50/55 until c. AD 125/150. London 555 develops from Haltern 70 and continues the trade represented by that form. The last London 555 amphoras explain part of the Dressel 17 phenomenon. London 555 was not the only category of amphora used to export preserved olives from Baetica after Haltern 70; the trade continued until the late Empire and helps explain finds of olives from late contexts in Roman Britain.

One result of the excavations in Winchester in 1961 was the formation in 1962 of the Winchester Excavations Committee. The city is at present passing through a period of intensive rebuilding and development which offers many opportunities for archaeological research. Moreover, the 1961 excavations had directed attention to the problems of Winchester's Saxon minsters and the Dean and Chapter were willing to allow excavation near the cathedral. With these opportunities in view, the committee was formed to undertake excavations, both in advance of building projects, and on sites not so threatened, aimed at studying the development of Winchester as a town from its earliest origins to the establishment of the modern city. The centre of interest is the city itself, not any one period of its past, nor any one part of its remains. But we can hope that this approach will in particular throw light upon the end of the Roman city and on the establishment and development of the Saxon town, problems as vital to our understanding of urban development in this country, as they are difficult to solve. Further, it is essential to this approach that the study and interpretation of the documentary evidence should go hand in hand with archaeological research, for the existence of documentary materials greatly enhances the possibilities of interpretation inherent in the archaeological results, and vice versa.

The theatre at Verulamium, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, was first discovered in 1847, when a farmer called the attention of a local antiquary, Mr. R. Grove Lowe, to some walls in a field adjoining the Gorhambury Drive. Mr. Grove Lowe succeeded in tracing the main walls of the structure and identifying it as a theatre. For its period, the excavation was excellently carried out, but neither the chronology nor the structural history of the building was ascertained. Neither in 1847, nor during slight trenching subsequently, was anything done beyond uncovering the line of the walls, and it was clear that the original stratigraphical evidence had not been destroyed. It was obviously important that this building, the only known Roman theatre in Britain, should be further examined, and its date, exact position, and plan established. In 1933, therefore, the Earl of Verulam, the owner of the property, was approached. Both he and Lady Verulam at once realized the interest and importance of the site, and not only gave permission for the excavation to be carried out, but on his initiative the Gorhambury estates most generously provided the funds for what was necessarily an expensive undertaking. For this far-sighted and publicspirited action, and for the decision to have the theatre kept uncovered, both archaeologists and the general public owe Lord Verulam a permanent debt.

In point of size and grandeur Avebury stands out pre-eminently among the prehistoric stone monuments of Britain. It is, however, decidedly difficult to realize fully what Avebury and its appendages were when in the height of their glory. The monument has been terribly mutilated, and vandalism must have prevailed for many years, if not centuries, to effect the complete destruction of so large a number of the great monoliths.

The primary purpose of this paper is to give an account of the investigation of a cemetery in the Bast Riding of Yorkshire, which has been carried out during the last few years. That purpose has been extended so as to make it include what has resulted from an examination of other, though similar, places of burial in the same district. Before, however, any description is given of what has been discovered by the various examinations of these burial sites, something by way of introduction seems to be required, and this it is here sought to supply.

Excavations at the Iron Age hillfort of Bigberry, Kent, in 1978–80 had the object of a fresh appraisal since the excavations of 1933–4 of a site customarily regarded as the first obstacle encountered by Caesar after his second landing in Britain in 54 B.C. The main defences and those of the annexe were sectioned, and a hitherto unrecorded cross-dyke also. Various magnetic anomalies located by a geophysical survey were investigated and gave evidence of internal occupation and structures. It is suggested that there was a settlement preceding the hillfort, with the cross-dyke as a possible second phase; the hillfort may have been built in the second century B.C. by newcomers from Gaul, and after Caesar's passage through Kent the occupants moved down into the valley of the Stour to the site of Canterbury, though the precise point in the second half of the first century B.C. remains uncertain.

The opportunity has been taken of a simple but complete republication of the nineteenth-century discoveries of the metalwork from the site now dispersed among museums at Canterbury, Maidstone and Manchester. It is suggested that this material represents the abandoned possessions of the inhabitants and varied aspects of their life, and industrial or ritual explanations are discounted.

The subject of this paper is a forgotten and neglected style of architecture represented to-day by only a handful of monuments scattered among the mountains of northern Ethiopia. This is one of the by-ways of architecture, linked only obscurely with its main high-roads, and leading nowhere, unless it leads at some future time to a revived Ethiopian style. But, like other by-ways, it offers a fascinating field of inquiry, and one so little studied that the new-comer to it is free—for want of any established theories—to interpret it in his own way.

This paper reviews the evidence for the carnyx, the Iron Age animal-headed horn, in its European setting. The starting point is the head from Deskford, north-east Scotland: the results of recent work are described and a revised dating proposed. Excavations at the findspot strongly indicate it was a votive deposit. The nature of the wider European evidence and its biases are reviewed, to provide a firmer basis for commenting on the date and distribution of the instrument. Finally, attempts to reconstruct the carnyx are described.

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.

The history of the invasive movements associated with the diffusion of Deverel-Rimbury pottery during the Late Bronze Age in Britain can be studied from two main points of view. We may seek to discover the continental sources of the various components of the general complex, and in this way arrive at the origins of the movement and its chronology in terms of continental cultures; or we may adopt the less spectacular, if no less interesting, course, and see what can be learnt of the impact of the alien on the indigenous culture of the period in Britain. As Dr. Curwen's work on the Plumpton Plain site in Sussex has demonstrated, in conjunction with Mr. Hawkes's analysis of the pottery, the continental affinities of the Deverel-Rimbury folk are best studied within an area of primary diffusion. The mutual relations of the invasive and the indigenous folk, can, on the contrary, be appreciated most easily by working on sites peripheral to the Deverel-Rimbury distribution, such as the one in Mildenhall Fen, West Suffolk, to which attention is drawn in this paper (fig. 1).

Alan Sorrell is best known today as a ‘reconstruction artist’, employed between the 1930s and the 1970s by the Ministry of Works and other bodies to produce reconstructions of ancient monuments and re-creations of ancient life. The archive containing many of his papers, working drawings, correspondence and other material was temporarily loaned to the Society of Antiquaries of London for study in 2010–11, and is now publicly accessible via the Sorrell family. This paper reports on initial research into the Sorrell archive and other documentary sources, funded through a British Academy Small Grant. We discuss how the archive throws new light not just on Sorrell's career and achievements, but on the intellectual and professional development of archaeology as a whole in the mid-twentieth century.

During the past three years the work of the Trent Navigation Company in dredging the river above Nottingham has brought to light a number of interesting finds. The company's dredger has been removing large quantities of gravel from the river-bed, and in particular it has been dealing with the Clifton reach, where a large accumulation of gravel projecting from a point on the left bank directly opposite the downstream end of the tree-covered bluff called Clifton Grove has been cleared right away. This point is in the parish of Wilford, and here the river is nearly 100 yards broad with an almost straight course for a considerable distance between Clifton Grove and a wide expanse of level meadows on the left bank (fig. 1).