In this article, the author explores the cooperative aspects of mound construction in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Arguing against the outdated but widely held view that only centralized rule could organize monument construction, he investigates how participation in mound construction affected the people of Sør-Fron in south-eastern Norway. He contends, first, that repeated participation in mound construction helped create a sense of belonging and shared identity, which was maintained through centuries of major environmental and political turmoil. Second, mound construction was part of an active and conscious strategy to limit aggrandizement and prevent centralization and concentration of power. Rejection of Christianity arguably worked in similar ways. The author concludes with considerations of approaches to Iron Age monuments, emphasizing the importance of consensus and community-building and the role of communal opposition to centralized rule.

The presence of domestic animals is a key feature of the Neolithic. Their earliest presence in archaeological contexts across the European continent is often interpreted as reflecting farming practices. However, domestic animals often escape, survive, and become feral. Using the comparative example of colonial North America, this article's aim is to illustrate what happens when livestock are introduced to a new, continental temperate environment. Taking a dual historical and archaeological perspective, the author reiterates and elaborates on the suggestion that feral animals were almost certainly a feature of the European Neolithization process.

Nery Delgado was a key figure in the development of archaeological methods applied to prehistoric sites in Portugal within European archaeology at the end of the nineteenth century. He was the first in Europe to use a grid in his 1879–1880 excavation at the Casa da Moura cave (Óbidos, Portugal). The grid divided the cave into twenty-eight sectors excavated independently and, in each, all archaeological and bioanthropological finds were documented and marked with labels recording depth and excavation units. The 3D information obtained by Nery Delgado features among late nineteenth-century attempts at recording contextual data, a precursor of archaeological methods of data gathering that are used worldwide today. Nery Delgado was, thus, a pioneer of contemporary archaeological excavation methods.

The Underwater Archaeology Centre of Andalusia opened in 1997 due to the need to correctly manage and preserve the underwater archaeological heritage of Andalusia; the main goal set was protection. Aware that the protection of this heritage necessarily involved global knowledge thereof, the Centre decided to focus its efforts on executing a core project – an archaeological map – a tool that would enable the establishment of specific protection and preservation mechanisms and the design of research strategies. The results obtained from this project have enabled the achievement in recent years of some of the goals set, notably guaranteeing the legal protection of these space, and drawing up projects with specific research targets.

Childe withdrew from revolutionary politics after his post-university years in Australia in favour of a career in prehistoric archaeology in Britain. Though remaining a Marxist, his application of Marxist principles to prehistory developed only slowly as his interpretations became more sophisticated. He became increasingly interested in knowledge about prehistory from studying results of the interactions between material remains and their interpretation (in Marxist terms, the relationships between practice and theory). In his paper ‘Retrospect’, Childe (1958b:73) charted the development in his thinking to where he rejected ‘transcendental laws determining history and mechanical causes … automatically shaping its course’ with an understanding that a prehistoric society's knowledge of itself was ‘known or knowable … with its then existing material and conceptual equipment’. Thus the prehistory of Europe could be seen not as a product of Oriental civilization, but as an independent entity. Childe could then write a prehistory of Europe ‘that should be both historical and scientific’ (1958b:74). This book, The Prehistory of European Society (1958a), also demonstrated his use of the epistemology of knowledge to understand prehistory as a sociological phenomenon.

Investigating three Bronze-Age cemeteries in a small area near the rock carvings of Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden, this paper suggests that the social and economic structure of the area was not necessarily homogeneous, although this is the traditional view. Variations in the burial practices are analysed: burial construction, grave goods present, and treatment of cremated bones. An elite is suggested as having existed at settlements using the cemeteries at Klinga and Fiskeby, those using Ringeby were less organised or controlled. A speculative interpretation is offered: that Ringeby served as a subsistence area for the ‘central place’ of rock-carving activity, and lacked the benefits of trade and bronze supplies.

In recent research, the interpretation of the Scandinavian early Medieval period has changed to emphasise increasingly the leading role of South Scandinavia. Comparisons have been made between the South-Scandinavian kingdom and the early Frankish empire, including the probable existence of royal retinues. The territorial organisation of Scandinavia is discussed and used as the basis for a re-assessment of Style II as an indication of the movement of South-Scandinavian royal retainers. The organisation of retinues is discussed with reference to comparative Continental analyses, Beowulf, and later Nordic sources. They all seem to describe the same system: young warriors following a lord in order to achieve honour and wealth. Ring-swords and helmets are suggested by Continental scholars to betoken the Frankish royal retinue, and it is here suggested that ring-swords and Style II on weaponry and horse-equipment indicate the same in Scandinavia. On the basis of a regional and chronological analysis of Style II and its context, the assumed distribution of the probable retainers is studied. This reveals a clear structure in alliances, as well as the targets for military activities organised by the South-Scandinavian kings. It results in a conquest of Öland, Sweden, in the late sixth century AD and at least threats against Vestfold, Norway, in the seventh century AD.

This paper draws attention to the fact that east-central Sweden consisted of an extensive archipelago throughout the Stone Age. An image of the Mesolithic cultural landscape is beginning to take shape, since a large number of sites have been found and excavated in recent years. The remains of the sub-regions on the mainland and at the inner margin of the archipelago are interpreted as reflecting changes in material culture without any corresponding change further out. In considering why people of some sub-regions were more susceptible to new ideas than those of others, the specific physical setting and the strong social order prevailing in fishing and seal-hunting communities are regarded as factors which prevent rapid changes.