Archaeoseismology, investigating the effects of earthquakes on archaeological remains, has developed in recent decades into a flourishing multidisciplinary effort bringing together archaeologists, historians, geologists, seismologists, architects and engineers. Initially focusing on historical archaeological contexts in theMediterranean (cf. Stiros & Jones 1996), archaeoseismology—also known as earthquake archaeology (see Sintubin forthcoming for terminology)—has nowadays extended its traditional scope to prehistoric and historical cultures worldwide (see contributions in Sintubin et al. 2010 and Silva et al. 2011 for recent examples).

For its Exhibition of Forgeries and Deceptive Copies, on view in the Department of Prints and Drawings since February, the British Museum has produced many fascinating objects which normally it keeps hidden away: with the passage of time, it can afford to indulge its sense of humour. As Sir Thomas Kendrick is reputed to have said when viewing the exhibits: ‘What fun it is when someone takes an immense amount of trouble to be really naughty.’

Contributions from the various Departments and from borrowed sources include Antiquities of all kinds, Ethnographical material, drawings and other examples of the Graphic Arts, Manuscripts and Printed Books, Music, Coins and Medals, and Postage Stamps. The Natural History Museum has also contributed a very popular section.

The only criticism of this entertaining and enlightening venture is that it would have been improved by concentrating on Forgeries and leaving out the Deceptive Copies. Few of us, except the specialist, can avoid boredom when confronted with rows of water-colours after Turner, or drawings after Canaletto. Works of the innocent copyist, or the conscientious restorer, even though exploited later by unscrupulous dealers, are in quite a different category to the productions of any forger worthy of the name. We may marvel at the technical skill of copyists, but it is the original and imaginative fakes that are interesting.

Arthur's knights are myths. They can be traced to Celtic deities, and there is no history to be gathered from attempts to analyse legends about them. But Arthur himself is not a myth: he is a tradition. Nobody has succeeded in identifying him with any god of prehistoric Europe. He arrives unadorned, at first; it was only later that romances dressed him up in the trappings of a Viking Age hero. He is announced simply as the Roman-Briton who won twelve battles against the Saxons. ‘Nennius’, who says this, is as unknown as Arthur himself, but the statement is backed by the very definite mention of the crowning victory at Mount Badon in the bit of autobiography of Gildas, and by the acceptance of this by Bede as a fact.

The fenland peats of eastern England have produced some 36 prehistoric burials, whose distinctive associations place them into the early Bronze Age–just sufficient for pattern to be evident in their placing and character.

Rudolf Karl Ludwig Virchow was born in Pomerania on 13 October 1821 of German parents. He became a pathologist, the leading medical scientist in Germany, and attained world-wide fame through establishing the correctness of the ‘cell theory’ that now underlies all biological and medical thought. He was also a radical politician, in the 1860s one of the few effectual opponents of Bismarck, and for 25 years chairman of the Finance Committee of the Prussian Landtag.

The difticulties surrounding the proper excavation and display of poorly preserved skeletal remains are well known to excavators. Where the bone is moist and friable, care is required to avoid touching it until it has dried and hardened. When it is stained as well, so that there is little contrast between bone and soil, then the excavator's task can indeed be difficult. In such cases photographic presentation often shows less than was seen by the excavator since differences just perceptible to the eye are likely to fall well short of the contrast level which can be recorded satisfactorily by the camera. Those sandy soils in which the stain is well displayed are the fortunate exception. In an endeavour to overcome these difficulties ultra-violet radiation has been tried.

The light of the visible spectrum extends from a wavelength of 7,000 Å at the red end to 4,000 Å at the blue end (n. 1). The shorter wavelengths extending to 140 Å form the ultra-violet region, but most of this is lost for present purposes since ordinary optical glass absorbs all radiation below about 3,500 Å. However, phenomena which can be used are found in this band between 3,500 Å and 4,000 Å. Emissions of these wavelengths are not visible to the human eye but some substances possess the property of absorbing such radiation and in turn emitting new radiation at longer wavelengths, including those which are visible. This is the phenomenon known as fluorescence.

When I suggested, in commenting on this quotation, that an African cattle-thief would laugh at Beech Bottom dyke, Mr Crawford did not agree; and the idea that seems to prevail with regard to the stopping-power of a ditch and bank is responsible for these notes.

Cattle-defences may be considered under two heads: 1, Fences: 2, Dykes: the latter being actually of secondary importance when the object in view is to keep cattle in or out; and stockades without a ditch do occur in Britain.

Work last summer in the Ukok Plateau of western Siberia has made a significant contribution to the establishment of a chronology for this forbidding region. This note reports some of the more important discoveries.