Is the Middle Palaeolithic an appropriate concept in eastern Asia? The issue has been debated for China in two recent papers in Antiquity (Yee 2012; Li 2014), which in turn responded to an earlier argument set out by Gao and Norton (2002). But does the Korean record offer a different perspective? Here, the authors argue that Korean archaeology, as with the Chinese record, provides no support for a distinct Middle Palaeolithic. Rather than seeking to validate an inappropriate chronological framework derived from European Palaeolithic research, emphasis should instead be placed on developing a regionally specific model of prehistory for eastern Asia. They conclude, akin to Gao and Norton (2002), that the East Asian Palaeolithic should be divided into two major cultural periods: Early and Late.

Was the use of hunting dogs an adaptation to the post-glacial deciduous forest environment in the northern temperate zone? Dog burials in Jōmon Japan appear closely associated with a specific environment and with a related subsistence economy involving the hunting of forest ungulates such as sika deer and wild boar. Dogs were valued as important hunting technology, able to track and retrieve wounded animals in difficult, forested environments, or holding them until the hunter made the final kill. Greater numbers of dog burials during the later Jōmon phases may reflect a growing dependence on hunting dogs to extract ungulate prey from forests in an increasingly resource-strained seasonal environment.

Since the seminal research by Caton-Thompson and Gardner over 80 years ago, the archaeology of the Desert Fayum has attracted significant interest as the earliest known centre of agriculture in Egypt. Traditional interpretations of subsistence behaviour and residential mobility have drawn heavily on the studies of lithic assemblages and faunal remains. These interpretations must now be reconsidered in light of lithic material, both from the original excavations and from more recent fieldwork. It emerges that Kom W, the type site for the Neolithic Fayum, was probably a permanent settlement occupied by a community cultivating cereals, in addition to having long-standing practices of hunting and fishing.

The internal layout of early settlements can provide insight into social organisation and the processes of Neolithic expansion into Europe. Analysis of variables describing 71 sites revealed a spectrum extending between two distinct settlement types that can be regionally and chronologically situated. The very early ‘Anatolian village’ in the south-east exhibits multi-level organisation, reflected in concentrated residence and temporal stability; the younger (post 6000 BC) ‘Balkan village’ in the north-west represents a new model with less centralised control of space and a less permanent layout. Between these types is a transitional domain of more heterogeneous, and ever-changing settlement layouts, which is characterised as a ‘third space’ of hybridised traditions.

Many famous archaeological sites have been subjected to destructive fires, whether hostile or accidental, including Near Eastern cities constructed largely of mud-brick. But how long did it take to burn down a city? The mud-bricks themselves provide a valuable record. By heating experimental bricks of different sizes, shapes and compositions to high temperatures, the minimum duration of an ancient conflagration can be calculated. The resulting equations were applied to bricks from the destruction of Tel Megiddo at the end of the Iron Age I, and indicate that the burning lasted a minimum of two to three hours: a much shorter period than expected.

Why was pottery developed and adopted? Food residues on ceramic material from three sites in the Upper Great Lakes region of North America suggest that there is no single answer, and contradict previous indications that pottery was created for the ritual processing of fish oil. Samples from two sites showed evidence of both plant and animal remains, but no fish oils were detected, even for the site believed to be a fishing camp. Nut oils dominated for the third site, being present on both fire-cracked rocks and pottery, and were suggestive of an acorn-rendering process. All of the vessels were ideally suited to slow simmering, but it seems that their applications were diverse.

Inscriptions on new archaeological finds in the Aegean, examined alongside linguistic evidence relating to Greek and Phrygian vowels, are here used to explore the origins and spread of the Greek alphabet. The ‘invention’ of vowels happened just once, with all of the various Greek, Phrygian and Italic alphabets ultimately deriving from this single moment. The idea spread rapidly, from an absence of writing in the ninth century BC to casual usage, including jokes, by 725 BC. The port of Methone in the northern Aegean emerges as a probable candidate for the site of origin. A place where Greeks and Phoenicians did business together, with international networks; was this where Semitic, Greek and Phrygian letters first coalesced?

Plant macrofossils from the sites of Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong on the Thai-Malay Peninsula show evidence of cross-cultural interactions, particularly between India to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. Archaeobotanical analysis of various cereals, beans and other crops from these assemblages sheds light on the spread and adoption of these species for local agriculture. There is also early evidence for the trade of key commodities such as cotton. The plant remains illustrate a variety of influences and networks of contact across South and Southeast Asia during the late first millennium BC.

The rock art of the Lovo Massif region in the Lower Congo offers a fascinating and understudied example of artistic traditions, some of which predate the period of European contact. The first extensive, systematic survey of the region has identified key aspects of these rock art traditions, and has obtained radiocarbon dates that facilitate new interpretations of the relationship between the rock art and the historical kingdom of Kongo. Multiple perspectives are used to integrate anthropological, historical and archaeological data with stories from local mythology to show how the significance of this art has evolved over time. As a result of this study, the unique cultural heritage of the Lovo Massif rock art has been put forward for protection under the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The transition from the Formative to the Late period (c. 1000 BP) on the volcanic plateau of Antofagasta de la Sierra in northern Argentina saw various changes in landscape use and settlement pattern. New power structures and social identities appear in the archaeological record in the wake of an increasing emphasis on cultivation and herding, coincident with a regional shift to greater aridity. The novel analysis reported here reveals that these changes also had an impact on pottery technology, notably vessel thickness, and considers the role of technological innovation as both cause and consequence of the changing world experienced by the inhabitants of Antofagasta de la Sierra.

For years it has been assumed that tower kivas were observation points, using their high vantage to relay communications across the landscape, or acting as defensive outposts among the local population. Few of these enigmatic structures have been excavated, and archaeologists have consequently turned to landscape survey methods to understand their role and function. Here, the authors contrast visibility and intervisibility within the surrounding viewshed of two tower kivas, Kin Ya'a and Haystack, providing an alternative perspective to traditional interpretations by suggesting that rather than acting as lookout points, they were instead central places built to be looked upon by the surrounding community.

Skeletal remains from a burial in New South Wales exhibit evidence of fatal trauma, of a kind normally indicative of sharp metal weapons, yet the burial dates to the mid thirteenth century—600 years before European settlers reached the area. Could sharp-edged wooden weapons from traditional Aboriginal culture inflict injuries similar to those resulting from later, metal blades? Analysis indicates that the wooden weapons known as ‘Lil-lils’ and the fighting boomerangs (‘Wonna’) both have blades that could fit within the dimensions of the major trauma and are capable of having caused the fatal wounds.

This paper focuses on evidence from firewood remains from a Napoleonic camp located at Étaples (in the north of France), inhabited between 1803 and 1805. The combination of archaeological and relevant historical records indicates that wood resources, stockpiled for lighting and heating by the soldiers, may have originated from two distinct areas: the army's official forest and also the area around the camp, indicating possible difficulties in wood supply at the end of its occupation. This study, therefore, uses archaeological charcoal to reinforce military historical sources in understanding firewood economy and the harsh everyday life of the Napoleonic soldier at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Future scientists seeking evidence of the Anthropocene on a planetary scale will find a series of structurally similar deposits dating to within the same few thousand years at multiple locations around the world. It will be evident that they were produced by a global human drive to exploit the Earth's mineral wealth. The impact and the evidence left by this phenomenon in the ‘Gold Rush’ region of Victoria, Australia are particularly clear. Using a multi-scalar approach, the authors examine the extent and significance of changes resulting from water management and mining processes, which, in some cases, resulted in the creation of new landscapes far beyond the mining district.

Accurate, efficient and clear recording is a key aim of archaeological field studies, but one not always achieved. Errors occur and information is not always properly recorded. Left unresolved, these errors create confusion, delay analysis and result in the loss of data, thereby causing misinterpretation of the past. To mitigate these outcomes, quick response (QR) codes were used to record the rock art of Telperion Shelter in Mpumalanga Province, eastern South Africa. The QR codes were used to store important contextual information. This increased the rate of field recording, reduced the amount of field errors, provided a cost effective alternative to conventional field records and enhanced data presentation. Such a tool is useful to archaeologists working in the field, and for those presenting heritage-based information to a specialist, student or amateur audience in a variety of formats, including scientific publications. We demonstrate the tool's potential by presenting an overview and critique of our use of QR codes at Telperion Shelter.