This study considers exploitation of marine molluscs at Riparo Mochi (Italy) in cultural and ecological context. Five shell assemblages from this site represent the early Upper Palaeolithic (c. 36,000 BP) through Late Epigravettian (c. 9000 BP) periods. Taphonomic analysis reveals four kinds of shell debris: ornaments, food refuse, marine sponge inclusions, and land snails. While human foraging agendas at Riparo Mochi shifted over the five Palaeolithic phases, the kinds of marine shells favoured as ornaments remained nearly constant.

Detailed excavation and analysis of a brush hut from Ohalo II, Jordan Valley, Israel, provides an extraordinary view of camp construction 19,000 years ago. This report offers an important contribution to studies of Palaeolithic camp sites.

Flint implements with rounded ends, excavated at several Upper Palaeolithic sites in Denmark and Holland, are interpreted as strike-a-lights used in combination with pyrites. Experimental flints employed in this way show use-wear traces similar to those on the prehistoric specimens. It is suggested that the pyrite technique for fire production pre-dates wood-on-wood techniques, at least in Europe and in Greenland.

The earliest evidence of wheeled vehicles dates to the Funnel Beaker (TRB) culture in Europe and the Late Uruk period in the Near East. Results of excavations and 14C determinations from Poland, Germany, Iraq, Syria and Turkey suggest that the appearance of wheeled vehicles was contemporary in Europe and the Near East.

Analysis of knapped obsidian and flint artefacts from the early ceramic Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük has shown that there were several strategies used for the production of knapped-stone tools, and that there was a profound change in the character of lithic production occurring approximately during the middle of the occupation sequence. This paper outlines the details of this technical change and, with reference to possible changes in subsistence strategies and the organization of production, offers some explanations for its occurrence.

A survey of the Easter Island landscape has resulted in the recognition of numerous lithic mulched household gardens and fields. It is proposed that lithic mulching was a technological innovation introduced to enhance the moisture retention capacity of the excessively drained island soils, and was an innovation incorporated into élite managed field systems which arose in the early 15th century to meet the demands for surplus production.

Palaeoethnobotanical evidence reveals that there was increasing emphasis on greater varieties of species and cropping practices in the changing subsistence of the Indus civilization: agricultural intensification is discussed in relation to social and environmental changes.

The Lakshadweep Islands lie on the sea route between west Asia and Africa on the one hand and south Asia and the Far East on the other. In maritime history, these islands have played a vital role by providing shelter, fresh water and landmarks to navigators through the ages. Recent discoveries made during marine archaeological exploration and excavations in the Lakshadweep have revealed evidences of early settlement and shipwrecks. The findings suggest that the islands had been inhabited much before the early historical period.

Geochemical analyses of obsidian offer unexpected insights on the size and organization of the Hohokam regional system in the North American Southwest. Networks of obsidian circulation enlarged greatly during the Classic period as community centres with monumental architecture acquired non-local obsidian from a vast territory. This pattern confirms that prior models drastically underestimated the geographic scale of the Classic period regional system.

This paper presents new data on agricultural production, the palaeoenvironment and social change during the Bronze Age of southeast Spain. The authors argue against the inference of irrigation as the basis for agriculture and relate the emergence of cereal monoculture to the extraction of surplus and the exploitation of human labour.

The bombing of the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy in 1998 provides the focus for an analysis of the political targeting of heritage in Sri Lanka.

Archaeological evidence and historic records are often at variance on the subject of animal husbandry. This paper discusses the problems of integrating the evidence for medieval and later Britain, and offers new discussion on the interpretation of the zooarchaeological data.

Australia has usually played a supporting role in the story of human evolution — regarded as a place at the edge of the inhabited world where modern humans arrived relatively late and then remained largely isolated from subsequent developments. However, new dates for a human burial at Mungo, New South Wales (Thorne et al. 1999) may not only force revision of views about the peopling of Australia, but also have a wider impact on ideas about modern human origins.

Discussion of the colonization of Scotland in the post-glacial period has long perplexed scholars, because of drowned coasts and archaeological evidence. This paper presents data and new speculation on the subject.

Leather, hide and fur were probably the preferred material for all kinds of equipment (tents, bags, pots and drinking vessels) and clothing in prehistory. It is therefore remarkable that our knowledge of this material is so restricted, and its survival even in suitable circumstances very limited. Palynological data and experimental methods attempt to explain this phenomenon.

Were marine foods still a significant part of the diet in the Early and Middle Neolithic in Britain? This paper presents new evidence, from δ13C measurements of 78 radiocarbon-dated humans from 27 coastal and inland sites in England and Wales, for an apparent abandonment of the use of marine foods in the British Early and Middle Neolithic.

Recent excavations at the Neolithic site of Cerro Virtud (Almería, southeast Spain) have produced new information about the development of metallurgy that may change ongoing research not only in the Iberian Peninsula but also in the rest of western Europe. The discovery of metallurgy in this region in the first half of the 5th millennium BC poses serious challenges to the interpretation of how this industry developed and spread, given that the nearest European region with similar evidence is the Balkans. This study presents the archaeological context of the discovery and the various analytical techniques (XRF, SEM, 14C) that have been applied to it.

Recent study of the prehistoric Lurgan logboat reveals many details of its construction and date. Speculation on how the boat was used and why it was incomplete offer an insight into Irish prehistory.

Bed bugs have been troubling humans for at least 3550 years, as shown by examples from Tell el-Amarna. Here we report on the bug's habits and history, as revealed by archaeology.