The material from the cremation cemetery which was found by Sir T. Zammit in 1915 stratified above the earlier remains in the Tarxien temples raises some of the most fascinating and intricate problems in the whole of Maltese prehistory. Who were these bizarre people, whence did they come to Malta and at what date ? The excavator, basing himself on the ‘Copper Age’ appearance of the culture and the various parallels with early Trojan, Cycladic and Cypriote materials to be observed in it, suggested that their arrival in Malta should be placed somewhere about 2000 B.C. and that they had probably come from the East. Zammit's parallels were, as I hope to show here, basically correct as far as they went, but his chronological inference was invalid because he did not allow sufficient time for the relatively slow cultural movements which brought material of this type from the Eastern to the Central Mediterranean. This was largely due to a failure to trace the intermediate steps in detail, a failure which has not subsequently been made good by any other student. Professor Childe has compared the metal types of the Tarxien Cemetery with Danubian and Sardinian ones, and the two-storied urns with Italian Iron Age types, but admitted that at that time the date of the culture might by reasonably placed anywhere between about 1800 and 800 B.C. The dating question is of great importance, since, if the Tarxien Cemetery can be confidently dated to some period in the second millennium B.C., it provides us with the first known examples of inurned cremation in the Western Mediterranean.

There is no feature of quaternary cave art that has called forth more admiration for the Aurignacians and Magdalenians than the apparent liveliness and naturalness of action in their pictured animals. The general belief seems to be that the artists were impelled by a definite desire to depict characteristic actions. This is implied by the titles that have been given to various examples such as ‘The trotting boar,’ ‘The bellowing bison,’ ‘The charging mammoth,’ ‘The wounded and falling reindeer,’ ‘The galloping reindeer,’ ‘The browsing reindeer,’ ‘The neighing horse.’

Yet there are excellent reasons for asking whether the general acceptance of these beliefs has not been too casual and whether the spirit of enquiry might not have carried us much further in this field than it has so far done.

The faults in the action of many of the pictures have received much consideration and it is perhaps fair to say that the following quotation represents current general opinion regarding the matter. ‘We cannot,’ says Mr Baldwin Brown, ‘credit our palaeolithic artist with either the desire or the capacity for analysing and reproducing the actual movements which instantaneous photography has now revealed to us. Many actions which he rendered in the walk or the canter, accord fairly well with the well-known Muybridge photographs, though where the difference comes in the artist gives a more convincing appearance of movement than the camera. It may therefore be said that as a rule action is rendered in an artistic and not a scientific spirit, and the animals are made at all hazard to look as if they were moving. At the same time there is secured a fairly large measure of scientific accuracy. In two cases … the eye of the hunter artist has been quick enough to catch a position, revealed to us moderns by photography.’

‘Rising from the middle of the Irish Sea, within sight of each of the three Kingdoms, with a history and associations so distinct, yet so intimately linked with those of the rest of Britain, this interesting Island presents in its geological structure features which connect it alike with England, Scotland, and Ireland, while at the same time it retains a marked individuality in regard to some of the rocks that form its framework.’—Sir Archibald Geikie.

The prehistory no less than the geology of the Isle of Man is of absorbing interest from its geographical position in relation to the larger units of the British Isles. The island is placed (fig. 1) at an equal distance (31 miles) between the coasts of Ireland and of Cumberland; its northern tip, the Point of Ayre, reaches to within 16 miles of Wigtonshire, and Anglesey lies 45 miles to the south of Langness Point. An observer on Snaefell (2034 feet) can view England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales in one sweep. Since the first settlement of the island, cultural and ethnic influences have approached from all directions, but its size (227 sq. miles) and the distance of sea which isolates it from the coasts of the mainlands have been sufficient to ensure vigorous local developments. The interaction of British and Irish influences and the occasional insular developments are the chief features of the prehistory of the island.

Apart from a triangle of flat ground to the north, broken only by the Bride Hills (200–300 feet), and so far as its drift deposits are concerned, relatively recent in origin, the island consists almost entirely of slate diversified by local intrusions of igneous rocks (granite and diabase), by the sandstone of the Peel area, and by the carboniferous limestone of the Castletown district in the south. Most of the area of older rocks lies above the 400 foot contour and quite large areas are more than 1000 feet above sea level. The mountainous mass of the island, divided by the valley between Douglas and Peel, remained almost uninhabited throughout prehistoric and historic times.

This paper presents a re-examination of Iron Age and early Roman cauldrons, a little studied but important artefact class that have not been considered as a group since the unpublished study of Loughran of 1989. Cauldrons are categorised into two broad types (projecting-bellied and globular) and four groups. New dating evidence is presented, pushing the dating of these cauldrons back to the 4th century bc. A long held belief that cauldrons are largely absent from Britain and Ireland between 600 and 200 bc is also challenged through this re-dating and the identification of cauldrons dating from 600–400 bc. Detailed examination of the technology of manufacture and physical evidence of use and repair indicates that cauldrons are technically accomplished objects requiring great skill to make. Many have been extensively repaired, showing they were in use for some time. It is argued that owing to their large capacity cauldrons were not used every day but were instead used at large social gatherings, specifically at feasts. The social role of feasting is explored and it is argued that cauldrons derive much of their significance from their use at feasts, making them socially powerful objects, likely to be selected for special deposition.

The following is a preliminary report on excavations undertaken at this site under the aegis of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge. The work was carried out during a number of seasons over the past ten years, partly as a research project and partly as field training for third year and research students under the direction of C.B.M.McB. To P.C. fell the eventual task of collating and summarizing the extensive stratigraphical observations made by us and by previous excavators, and doing the same for the pollen samples and palaeontological data. Responsibility for the report as a whole is shared, but many others too numerous to thank separately at this stage have contributed basically to the collection and analysis of field and laboratory data. It is hoped that the full results after further field work will provide the material for a detailed monograph. The work would of course have been impossible but for the kind permission of the Société Jersiaise and the active assistance of many of its members on numerous occasions.

The site, the largest and most productive cave or rock-shelter site in the British Isles, was originally made famous by the discovery of a rich Mousterian industry, fauna, and eventually fossil traces of Neanderthal man at the turn of the century.

This article presents the findings of a study which sought to explore the nature of Neolithic habitation practices in east Yorkshire, primarily using evidence from pits. The morphology of pits and material deposited into them were examined in order to discern the kinds of activities taking place close by, and the possible motivation behind pits being dug. The temporality, spatial organisation, and landscape distribution of pits was considered in conjunction with information from domestic features, artefact spreads, and monumental and funerary features in order to create a coherent image of the ways in which people lived in and exploited the landscape.

It is argued that, given the scarcity of direct evidence for residential contexts, the information from pits can tell us about occupation practices. Viewed in conjunction with evidence for changing subsistence practices and an increasingly monumentalised landscape from the Early Neolithic onwards, the deposition of domestic material in pits is interpreted as part of cycles of renewal that created more permanent connections between people and their homes.

This paper investigates the distribution of artefacts and monuments in one part of the Peak District, in relation to the land use models put forward by Hawke-Smith in 1979. Although these distributions are generally consistent with his predictions, they suggest that communities in newly settled areas may have been of lower status than those near the henge monument of Arbor Low. This distinction is emphasized in the burial rite and by differential access to imported materials.

Steven Mithen's ‘Ecological Interpretations of Palaeolithic Art’ (PPS 57, 103–14) reminded me of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying, but it doesn't stick with you for very long. While I subscribe to broadly similar paradigmatic biases at the level of the metaphysic, the ‘thoughtful forager’ model itself, proposed to relate various aspects of the art under the aegis of a particular kind of adaptationist perspective, seems to be conceptually muddled and operationally problematic. Also, Mithen's starting-point, the notion of an inherent contradiction between human creativity and an adaptationist point of view, is a red herring—wherever did he get it?! I will confine these brief remarks to three points that bear on different conceptions of adaptation and how they effect construals of pattern and the meaning of pattern in Palaeolithic art. I also respond to referees' comments.

Mithen takes me, Straus and Gamble to task for omitting the individual and individual decision-making in our conceptions of adaptation (pp. 104, 105). A conception of adaptation that is focused on the group is juxtaposed with one invoking selection operating at the level of the individual organism in a direct analogy with group vs. individual selection in biological evolution.

Recent excavations at a small Chalcolithic site in central Cyprus show that it was occupied about 2880–2670 cal BC. Fallow deer form the major component of the substantial faunal sample: both these and other animals were hunted. The chipped stone, too, fits with a model of intensive meat exploitation. The lack of formal architecture supports the general model of a seasonally or intermittently used hunters' village. Plant remains and a limited array of ground stone tools, however, indicate that domesticated plants were processed and consumed, although probably not harvested at the site, while large quantities of pottery also show a wider range of activities. These data and observations can be explained by several models, which emphasise either broad processes and historical developments or more local patterns of varied site-types and activities in different parts of the island or in different ecological zones, providing an important insight into the diversity and complexity of cultural systems in the early 3rd millennium BC.

Ditches, walls, and palisades are extant in continental Europe from as early as the Neolithic, but important aspects changed in the course of the 2nd millennium BC. A review of the spectrum of dated sites from Central Europe shows that the expansion of metalworking techniques preceded the widespread occupation of high ground. Hill-top sites at crossroads and river crossings proved to be a permanent feature, though shifts in location occurred frequently. The motivation for the construction of walls and ramparts was probably not uniform. Certain walls were clearly built to be seen from afar. Hence, they can be explained as signs of presence and/or prominence. In other cases the aspect of enhanced security deserves special attention. The wide variation in size and regional settings of hill-forts as well as the divergent traces of occupation invalidate any unitary explanation.

Koongine is a sizeable limestone cave set in a low ridge some 4 km from the sea in the lower South-east of South Australia. It was used for about 2000 years at the transition from the Pleistocene to Holocene, and then again during the last millennium. The sequence at this site exposes issues of the appropriate scale and form of explanation for changes in site use. The stratified deposits of stone artefacts provide an opportunity to define for the first time the nature of the ‘Gambieran’ Industry. This spatially and temporally restricted industry characterised by large convex scrapers made on large, often asymmetrical, flakes is otherwise known mainly from older surface collections. The formal definition of this local industry adds to the growing evidence of considerable variation in the earlier stone tools of Australia, and provides an additional basis for rejecting the concept of a widespread Core Tool and Scraper Tradition, and replacing it with a model which recognises a mosaic of different tool-making traditions embedded in local social, economic, and technological contexts.

Some seventy years ago, when the tunnel was cut through the Stoke Hills at Ipswich, animal remains were found at a short distance from the London end of it, on a level with the line. These were examined by Professor Prestwich, and though the collection was scattered, a certain number of the bones and teeth of mammals found their way to the Ipswich Museum, where they may still be seen.

In 1908 it struck me that it might be possible to open up some of the sections which were then exposed, and to locate the deposits from which the remains had been taken. This was successfully done, but for fear of the bank above slipping, permission could only be obtained to open a very small portion of the side of the cutting. The researches, however, proved that a varied assortment of animals of the Pleistocene period had either perished on the spot or had been brought down by flood to this position.

At the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. there became established in Britain the tradition of constructing ceremonial circles of earth, stone or timber. However, circular enclosures were being built much earlier in the 3rd millennium, which on account of their interrupted ditches have been called causewayed camps. These enclosures are unlikely to have been fortified village sites or cattle pounds as was originally suggested, but the pottery evidence from Windmill Hill and Robin Hood's Ball, to mention only two sites (Smith, 1965; Thomas, 1964), points to visits by groups of people coming from other regions. It has been suggested, therefore, that these camps may have served as centres or rally points for a fairly wide area where tribal ceremonies could be performed (Smith, 1965, 17–21). At Windmill Hill in particular, the abundance of pottery, grain-rubbers and querns and the remains of slaughtered animals testify to the consumption of food on a large scale and therefore possibly to communal feasts.

If this interpretation be correct then one could suggest that the ceremonial circle tradition of the 2nd millennium derived ultimately from these earthworks. Both are essentially a British phenomenon, although the causewayed camps can be compared with causewayed ditched enclosures in the Michelsberg culture, and appear to represent indigenous traditions with no external influences. However, although the quantity of animal bones and domestic refuse from Durrington Walls and Gorsey Bigbury in the Mendips confirms the practice of feasting in connection with ceremonial circles, these sites are virtually unique in the quantity of human debris they have produced.

This paper is based on work carried out in 1984 to 1986 for an M.Phil, degree at the University of Lancaster. Virtually no work had been done on the subject for over seventy years and, with the exception of one article (Evett 1973), nothing showing the influence of the work of the Implement Petrology Committee of the Council for British Archaeology. Consequently little information was available which could be used as a basis for further research. Three problems were immediately faced: the time available in which to study artefacts in south Italian museums was severely limited; thin-sectioning could not be used; and due to lack of earlier studies data collection would have to be made blind, without reference to any formal model designed to answer previously formulated questions. These problems were all solved, and this paper outlines the development of, and theoretical and practical justifications for, my methodology, the methodology itself, its application to a sample of polished stone artefacts, the data thus obtained and their interpretation, and wider concerns such as the application of this methodology to other areas.

The background to discoveries of early mining sites in southwest Ireland is examined. Particular attention is devoted to the workings at Mount Gabriel, currently believed to date from the Bronze Age. Working principally from historical sources it is concluded that the site was exploited in shallow workings and trial pits between c. 1852 and 1862. Theories concerning the output of these and other Irish mines are discussed. Palaeoenvironmental and archaeological survey as well as documentary research are recommended to help solve the many outstanding problems.

The purpose of this article is to bring together further information from Epirus which is relevant to the consideration of man's environment in Palaeolithic times in Greece. Some aspects of this study have already been published elsewhere (Dakaris et al., 1964; Higgs and Vita-Finzi, 1966; Higgs et al., 1968) and it is sufficient here to give only a brief summary of earlier conclusions.

It has been thought that there are good grounds for believing that during the Last Glaciation mobile human groups occupied annual territories which ranged from the western coast of Greece to the central Pindhos mountain range (Higgs et al., 1968). Within these annual territories there were two groups of sites. One group, represented by Kastritsa, was at the base of the Pindhos and was occupied in summer, and another group of sites such as Asprochaliko was occupied in winter in warmer regions nearer to the coast. Together these groups exploited seasonally complementary resources which were so distributed that such a pattern was necessary.

The question arises, however, was Asprochaliko in fact a more suitable site for occupation during the winter than Kastritsa? An attempt was therefore made to assess the living environment of the two caves themselves. While such an attempt was immediately relevant to the problem with which we are concerned, it has wider implications with regard to the choice of cave sites for human habitation (Legge, 1972).

The suitability of diatom analysis for provenancing British late neolithic and early Bronze Age ceramics is examined. The Milfield Basin, Northumberland, was chosen for a test programme, as an area with well documented clay sources, defined geology and available pottery samples. The bulk of the pottery sampled was of local origin, or at least need not have been made elsewhere; one sherd, the only possible Beaker sherd sampled, seems to be an import. It is concluded that it is possible to use diatoms in this way, and some of the problems of the technique are discussed, together with possible solutions. Sampling and counting strategies are also discussed.

The late W. G. Clarke recorded the occurrence of palæolithic implements in thirty Norfolk parishes, a fact which suggests that the county is exceptionally rich in implementiferous gravels. On detailed examination of the records it is seen that the great mass of the finds lies in two widely separated districts. In the extreme south-west the valleys of the Thet and Little Ouse have long been famous among collectors, and large numbers of specimens were obtained at a time when the making of the Fenland roads caused a demand for the gravel of the district; the fine collections in the Norwich and Thetford Museums testify to the number and beauty of the specimens obtained there. In more recent years the centre of interest has shifted to the north-east, where the hopes, first raised by the discovery by Mr. A. C. Savin of a fine hand axe (Geology of the Country Around Cromer, p. 130) in 1878, have at last been fulfilled by Mr. Reid Moir's recognition of a Chellian workshop on the foreshore at Cromer (“The Great Flint Implements of Cromer,” Harrison, Ipswich, and Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LI., 1921, p. 385–418). Apart from these finds, isolated discoveries of importance have been made from time to time, notably the beautiful implement found by Mr. W. R. R. Spelman on the beach at Eccles (P.S.E.A. II., I., p. 156), the Palling platessiform implement discovered by Mr. Randall Johnson, the Chellian side chopper from the Till at Sidestrand by the writer, and Acheulean hand axes from Runton cliff gravels by Mr. G. Maynard. These have all been carefully described and figured by Mr. J. Reid Moir (“Man,” April 1926; J.R.A.I. LI., p. 399; Antiquaries' Journal, April 1923, and P.S.E.A., IV., 1., p. 126; “Nature,” Aug. 16, 1924). A few miles inland at Gresham, the patient and persistent work of Mr. J. Cox has produced a number of finds of the first importance, especially those described and figured in the Proceedings (P.S.E.A. I., III., p. 380, Plate XCVIII; III., II., p. 317, Fig. 78; I., I., p. 118, and I., II., p. 236). Apart from these two border districts, the records refer mainly to isolated specimens, mostly surface finds. Dr. C. B. Plowright reports implements from a pit at Tottenhill, near King's Lynn (P.S.E. A. I., I., p. 118), whilst a fine hand axe of La Micoque type was found by a schoolboy at Salhouse.