What links the action of making a pot, an action in the world as live human beings experience it, to the pot, as the archaeologist observes it in a mass of old, static fragments? And what links the classifications by which the archaeologist arranges those fragments to the pot's ordered place in the world of its maker?

The domestication of the horse was revolutionary in its consequences – as much so as the spread of agriculture, trade, warfare, metalwork and the other more usual subjects addressed by archaeologists studying post-Neolithic human development. For not only did it directly cause important changes in peoples' relationships to the world around them by the mobility it conferred, but also it was deeply implicated in all those other developments. In spite of that, in the past 15 years very little has been done to extend our knowledge of the subject. This study, if anything, shows that we probably know even less about the earliest domestication of the horse than we thought

The megalithic chamber tombs that are the most striking monuments of the Irish Neolithic have long been divided by the shape of their plans. With the shapes there goes a characteristic pattern of distribution and of spacing in the landscape, and from this arise some puzzling questions of sequence as to how ‘cemeteries’ grew up. A fresh view is taken of this old problem

The replacement, for the most part, of native American populations by immigrants in the centuries after 1492 is one of the great demographic shifts of the modern world. It is fundamental for American archaeology, of course, and makes the background for acute moral and ethical issues, which will become more visible as the 500th anniversary of the Columbus landfall nears

We try (most of us) to be logical in our work. We listen to arguments (most of us) and try to be persuaded by that argument which is better – because it is more logical, because it is more reasonable, because it fits the facts better. But how reliably does one tell which is better – except by illogical intuition? Computer-aided study of the structure of arguments may help

The English reviewer for Nature (Renfrew 1990) declared that Bruce Trigger's new history of archaeology will become the standard account of our subject's history, and the French reviewer for ANTIQUITY also has a warm view (this issue, page 960). Having looked to the past, what does Trigger see for the future of archaeology in North America, as the reaction comes to the view of archaeology as, primarily, science that has dominated these last decades?

The Cape York peninsula, in tropical Queensland, shows distinct regional pattern in its recent rock art. And there is regional pattern also in the exchange networks of ethnohistorical times. Do these patterns bear a relationship?

Specialists in Greek literature have long argued about how Homer's epics were formed and just what they represent. The question is a pressing example of the larger general case – the relationships between archaeology, history and oral literature in many periods and places. E.S. Sherratt, in offering an archaeological perspective on Homer, sets out to establish the stratigraphy of its text and its history

The context

Archaeologists of the 1990s are confronted with an apparent paradox: our legal and economic framework is based upon the preservation of the national heritage, while our research objectives and research methods are rather defined by larger regional, European or even international frameworks. In fact this is nothing new – we have always been serving both the present and the past, and will continue to do so. The question that is raised in this context, therefore, is whether the 1990s will see a changed balance between the interests of the present, and what effect that may have upon the working conditions of archaeologists. Will national archaeology be strengthened or can we hope that it will begin to merge into a coming European perception of history?

After an adventurous birth bouncing from Venezuela to Colombia and back, the Second World Archaeological Congress duly and amicably took place in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, between 4 and 8 September 1990. Some 500 people attended, many of them gratifyingly young. Sadly absent were representatives from the USSR, China and the Middle East, but otherwise participants came from the Americas, North (not many), Middle (Mexico), and South (notably Venezuelans, Peruvians and Colombians); the whole of Europe (including former Eastern bloc countries but numerically mainly Britons); Africa and India, intellectually articulate and influential as ever; and Australasia. Jack Golson (Canberra) was elected new President with Larry Zimmerman (South Dakota) taking over as Secretary, and Sue Bulmer (Auckland) as Treasurer.

The investigation of the Lindow I1 bog body (Stead et al. 1986), made it necessary to consider aspects of previously discovered human remains of a similar kind. Two of us (DL and DB) found that further studies could profitably be undertaken on the specimens in the National Museum of Copenhagen. As a result of this, a number of detailed specialist reports relating to the Huldremose bog body are being prepared for press. An overriding concern in these studies was the development of techniques that would entail only minimal damage to the body. In this way, it should be possible to satisfy the requirements of museums and excavation units that such investigations would not detract from the value of ancient bodies as permanent records and potential exhibits.

Over the past 10-20 years archaeologists have become familiar with the problems of potential ‘aberrations’ in the radiocarbon time-scale, arising from factors such as the varying rates of production of I4C in the upper atmosphere, or from the delayed cycling of ‘fossil’ carbon in the overall carbon reservoir. In some cases these aberrations can lead to dramatic ‘wiggles’ in the radiocarbon calibration curves, while in other cases (as, for example, during the Iron Age, around 700 BC) they can lead to substantial ‘plateaux’ during which measured radiocarbon dates show no detectable change over periods of several centuries (Pearson & Stuiver 1986; Stuiver & Pearson 1986).

In 1985, a short article of mine on Chibcha textiles in the British Museum (the Bunch collection) appeared in Antiquity (Broadbent 1985). In July of that year, while in Bogotá for the 45th International Congress of Americanists, I had an opportunity to examine a fine new collection of textiles in the Gold Museum (Museo del Oro) from the museum of Pasca, a small town near the southern edge of Chibcha territory. According to Cardale (1986). they are said to come from caves on the Páramo de Pisba. Although my analysis of them was somewhat sketchy, the time available being very limited, they seem to confirm the distinctive features I observed in the Bunch collection. I was allowed to take small samples of three of them for radiocarbon dating at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) dating facility. It therefore seems appropriate to present this short note as a sequel to the previous paper.

A recent assessment of the evidence, old and new, for the nature and dates of the main sites within the Tintagel complex appeared first in Antiquity (Thomas 1988a). The paper ended by stating that ‘properly planned and rigidly controlled excavation … is not just desirable, but overdue’, and a second article (Thomas 1990) demonstrated that the large quantity of finds from the post-Roman occupation on Tintagel Island can now be related to structured commerce, linking Ireland and Atlantic Britain to several regions in the Mediterranean during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. During 1988/9 Tintagel Castle (that is, the Island and the mainland wards) as a Property in Care administered by English Heritage moved up to 7th place in the table of visitor-numbers, with a total of 140,000 and a combined admissionsplus-retail income of £162,000 (source: E.H. Marketing 1989). However, since it is abundantly clear that the archaeological importance of the whole site-complex must outrank the commercial status of the Castle as a PIC, an independent Tintagel Research Committee has been formed. It held a first one-day meeting at Tintagel and Truro in April 1990, under the chairmanship of Professor Malcolm Todd (University of Exeter). The Committee operates under a combined aegis of the Duchy of Cornwall (the owner, since 1337, of the Castle), Royal Institution of Cornwall, Cornwall County Council and the University of Exeter, and its membership is principally academic.

The first radiocarbon determinations for a large prehistoric cemetery in Karelia, USSR, have been obtained using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) of several organic fractions from prehistoric human bone samples. These determinations suggest an age of c. 7500 b.p. for the burials, definitely within the Mesolithic period. Additional information from skeletal and isotope evidence confirm Olenii ostrov as a very important Mesolithic site in northern Europe.

The well-being of the Sphinx is a concern of all peoples of the world. While deterioration of this venerable monument has occurred over most of its history when it was not covered, 20thcentury environmental factors appear to be hastening these changes. FIGIRE 1 shoivs the Sphinx as it was in 1850. This is the first knoivn photograph and it was taken by Masinie Du Camp. FIGURE2 was taken in November 1989 and shows modern efforts to protect the Sphinx against deterioration by cladding the paws and sides with masonry. Alteration is most apparent along the sides of the body where the sloughingoff of surface chips is a common phenomenon. By one estimate, loss of stone is occurring at the rate of about 30 cm a century.

The early Neolithic of the west Mediterranean

The archaeological complex known as the early Neolithic in the west Mediterranean represents the arrival of Neolithic traits in western Europe. Dating to around 5000 BC (Evin 1987), this complex is marked by the appearance of pottery, ground stone tools, and transvcrse projectile points. It continues for about a millennium until middle Neolithic villages, such as Villeneuve-Toulousane, begin to appear. The early Neolithic is characterized by a transitional agricultural subsistence economy. At Aude Valley cave sites, domesticated sheep first appear in aceramic Mesolithic layers with typical Tardenoisian tool assemblages and fauna (Geddes 1983). Examination of these sheep remains show that this strain originated in the Near East (Geddes 1985). Early Neolithic deposits (as defined by the presence of ceramics) are found at many of the same Mesolithic sites and contain similar lithic assemblages as well as a continuation of mixed hunted and domesticated fauna. The presumably novel open-air coastal sites of this period, such as Leucate-Corrège (Guilaine et al. 1984), also appear to represent a mixed economy. Since there is no sudden apparent shift in settlement pattern or economy associated with the early Neolithic, this period appears to be best characterized as a time of gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

Aikens & Higuchi’s Prehistory of Japan (1982) made Japanese archaeology accessible to a wide readership. Japanese data are increasingly incorporated into mainstream analytical works by western archaeologists not directly involved in the area (e.g. Price 1981; Rowley-Conwy 1984; Rouse 1986). The year 1986 marked a further watershed in publishing Japanese archaeology, with Windows on the Japanese past edited by R. Pearson et al. and Prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Japan edited by Akazawa & Aikens. Instead of syntheses or overviews of the country’s cultural (pre-)history, they provide diverse research articles which assume some familiarity with the Japanese sequence and its problems. Both are, nevertheless, specialist publications, offered through university institutions.

Introduction

The materials from which tools are made reflect the intention of tool makers concerning function, use, size and shape of the tools. Even the materials of stone implements in prehistoric times must have reflected the intention of tool makers. Inada (1969: 4) pointed out that the technology of making tools reflects the interacting elements of materials and retouchments. It is a fundamental premise of this paper that understanding patterns of raw material utilization for stone implements is a key to the solution of questions concerning cultural tradition, cultural behaviour, culture areas and trade in the stone age.