New archaeological evidence, principally from rural settlements, questions previous conceptions of the economic background to the transition from the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages. In particular, finds from the Balkans, a geographical ‘hinge’ between North and South and East and West, is discussed. The major periods of change are both the 5th and the 7th centuries AD.

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.

A new technique of radiocarbon dating is presented, offering at modest expense the means to a determination that is good to the ‘first order’ of magnitude

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.

The Dalmatian province of Yugoslavia, lying between the limestone mountains of the Dinaric range and the Adriatic Sea, is an important zone for early European agriculture, as both its neighbouring regions are precocious in their development. New information on the nature and chronology of first Dalmation farming is presented.

Archaeomagnetic dating has recently come of age. The creation of the British reference curve in 1988 allows the authors plausibly to link a north French site with a well-known historical event

A splendid statue-menhir of the 1st millennium BC, found, lost and now found again

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).

The Coppergate helmet, found in central York in 1982 and of Anglo-Saxon date, bears a Latin inscription. A new reading of the inscription is offered, and a different view consequently taken of its significance.

Prehistoric rock art in southern Africa has been studied — with remarkable success — in the light of ethnographic data obtained from modern ‘San’ or ‘Bushmen’. Yet examples of rock paintings reflect conceptual associations similar if not identical to those identified among Bantu-speakers. It is recommended that the art be studied in the light of linguistic as well as ethnographic data without adopting a ‘San-centric’ stance.

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.

The sorting-out of stratigraphy, a precise date by dendrochronology from the first years of the 8th century AD and recent excavations give a new picture of the founding of one of northern Europe's earlier medieval towns

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.

Tom Greeves referred to conservation and archaeology in the Somerset Levels in his Green paper (Archaeology and the Green movement, ANTIQUITY 63 (December 1989): 659–65). John Coles, who has run the Somerest Levels Project since 1973, takes issue.

Andrew Fleming's 1987 paper identified coaxial field systems in the British landscapes that could be dated over a long time-period, from Neolithic to Roman. What does that time-span imply and amount to?