I am very grateful to Geoff Clark for his comment on my ecological interpretation of Palaeolithic art (PPS 58, 107–109, see Mithen 1990, 1991). I had no idea that it was a ‘post hoc accommodative argument’ with an ‘underaxiomatised’ theoretical framework and ‘unwieldy systematics’. I suppose this means he doesn't like it. Clark says that my interpretation reminds him of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying but not ‘sticking with you’ for very long. In 1992 Clark wrote that ‘Mithen's … work goes a long way to explaining the art of this period’ (Lindly & Clark 1990, 61) — he seems to have taken two years to digest the Chinese meal of my interpretation.

Clark's main objection is that I tried to develop a theoretical framework around individual decision making and then attempted to use this to interpret the variability and patterning in Palaeolithic art and other elements of the archaeological record. He objects to this on paradigmatic grounds, seeing no rationale for models of individual agency, but primarily on operational grounds, arguing that individuals cannot be monitored in the archaeological record.

The occurrence of mesolithic artefacts around Malham Tarn and Great Close Mire has been noted from the 1920s onwards. Pollen analysis at Tarn Moss to the west of Malham Tarn in the 1950s indicated that forest clearance had begun during Zone VI (c. 7000–5500 bc). Between 1972 and 1982, five prolific flint sites and a sixth, minor site were located in this area. The sites are of ‘Narrow Blade’ affinities and may have formed a summer base camp for hunter/gatherer groups operating in the Craven Pennines. Some artefacts of neolithic date have been found on the sites and this may indicate continuity. There is evidence for forest clearance and settlement in the later neolithic and this was well established by the Early Bronze Age.

Denton's pit, Southcote, is situated about one mile to the west of Reading, immediately to the south of the Great West Road. The map references are as follows:—

6 inch. Berkshire 37 N.W. Lat. 51° 26′ 40″ N. Long. 1° 0′ 0″ w.

1 inch. 5th Edition, Sheet 113. Square 1,070–1,075 E. 1,295–1,300 N.

Geological. Sheet 268. (1 inch).

Mr Piggott's survey of British neolithic pottery in 1932 revealed the dense concentration of Windmill Hill pottery in and near the Yorkshire Wolds, while in a later note Mr Sheppard drew attention to further neolithic fragments in the Mortimer collection, and published one of the Hanging Grimston bowls, newly reconstructed from fragments. But much of the Yorkshire pottery could not be traced; its existence was merely inferred from Greenwell's and Mortimer's descriptions. Recently, however, through the kindness of the authorities of the British Museum and the Mortimer Museum at Hull the writer has been able to go through the entire reserves of both the Greenwell and the Mortimer Collections, with the result that almost all the missing pottery has been traced, bowls only known from fragments have been completed, stratigraphical details have been recovered, and a large number of entirely new sites has come to light. In view of this mass of new material the time seemed ripe to attempt a complete account of the neolithic pottery of Yorkshire, including both the old and the new material, and to see what light its distribution, associations and affinities throw both on the complex interrelationships of the neolithic folk throughout the country, and on the prehistory of its own area.

Of the two main divisions of neolithic pottery, by far the greatest quantity is of the ‘A’ type; the pure ‘B’ is nowhere represented, but some half dozen sites, whose significance is discussed later, have produced sherds which show indirect ‘B’ influence.

It is hardly necessary to point out the archaeological importance of the Christchurch region. As Mr Crawford showed in 1912, here was the great port of prehistoric Wessex, with the Avon and the Stour joining to flow into the sea by Hengistbury Head and providing natural waterways to Salisbury Plain and Cranborne Chase respectively. The results of Mr Bushe-Fox's excavations at Hengistbury in 1912, the contents of the well-known Druitt Collection, and above all the admirable work of preservation and publication carried out by Mr J. B. Calkin show that throughout the prehistoric periods the valley gravels above the Stour and the plateau gravels and sands now occupied by the town of Bournemouth constituted an area of optimum settlement. Most remarkable however is the presence of a long barrow, the subject of this report, on the gravel terrace above the Stour in Holdenhurst parish, and only 35 feet O.D.

W. F. Grimes excavated a rectangular earthwork in advance of airport construction in 1944, at Heathrow, Middlesex, and found a timber building of unique ‘concentric-rectangle’ plan, together with penannular house gullies; all these features were thought to be part of the same settlement except for two Neolithic pits. Now it can be seen that a Late Bronze Age occupation attested by scattered pottery and small finds but next to no identifiable structures, was followed by 11 Middle Iron Age round houses, and one or two features that may be Late Iron Age. The rampart of the earthwork overlay at least some of the houses. The rectangular building may be Middle or Late Iron Age: though other Iron Age rectangular buildings are now known, its concentric plan remains unique in Britain and resembles that of some Romano–Celtic temples. The precise chronological relationship of the strong earthwork, the round houses and the rectangular building remains uncertain.

The object of this paper is to call attention to certain facts in connection with flint implements, both Palæolithic and Neolithic, which have been hitherto overlooked, and to attempt to find an explanation for them. This explanation must inevitably run counter to the generally received opinions of geologists as to the sequence of events in the Pleistocene period, and also to a large extent to the views hitherto held by prehistoric archælogists regarding the Neolithic, and in a less degree the Palæolithic ages of man. I therefore approach the task, not indeed with misgiving, but with a deep sense of the gravity of the issues involved, and I would ask both geologists and prehistoric archæologists to do me the honour of giving their very careful attention to the matters I am bringing forward; to put for the moment on one side any preconceived views on the subject, and to suspend judgment until they have had the opportunity of examining for themselves the data upon which my conclusions are founded. These conclusions are the result of many years of work and observation. Starting from the orthodox standpoint and without any bias whatever against the generally received opinions as to the ice age of the Northern hemisphere, I have been, drawn on wholly by the observation of facts to my present position.

The area which Mr. Reginald Smith asked me to watch since 1922 is that of the upper reaches of the River Wey from Alton to Farnham, a ten mile stretch of the valley of the Wey which in the 18th century was described by Arthur Young as “the finest ten miles in England.”

To-day the Wey follows a zig-zag course some 50 ft. below the Railway Terrace on the South, and the opposite terrace on the North, on which the village of Bentley (Hants.) is built. Above this lowest terrace of the Wey, deeply covered with a pale stratified gravel of the river drift, is another terrace about 100 ft. above this river, also much gravelled with stratified river drift heavily iron stained. Then still ascending we come to the top of the Alice Holt spur known as the Alice Holt—Bourne plateau on which there are three levels, all much gravelled, but with contorted drift as opposed to the river drift of the terraces on the Northern slope.

This Alice Holt spur is the northern of three spurs that run from Alice Holt to the Waverley Valley: here the river makes a right angle with the Alton–Farnham Valley as it turns south immediately east of Farnham town. The area watched measures in all some 20 square miles.

Excavation of the basilica of the Roman town of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) has produced evidence for two phases of pre-Roman occupation. The earlier, probably dating to the mid-first century BC, consisted of roundhouses and pits. Around 20 BC a rectilinear steet pattern, with building plots at right angles to the streets and rectangular buildings, was laid out; later a palisaded enclosure was built. Imports included amphorae and fine pottery; Central Gaulish wares suggest an early trade connection to the south. There is some evidence of disuse before the Roman streets were laid out on a different alignment in mid first century AD.

The present writer has had recently the opportunity to carry out a revision of the deer of the Cromer Forest Bed series of East Anglia. The entire work is to be published in the Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). The stratigraphical conclusions will be summarized here.

The occurrence of relatively archaic species together with more modern species in the Forest Bed fauna has puzzled many palaeontologists. Whereas the older authors concluded that it was wholly Pliocene (Reid, 1890, with bibliography) or partially or totally derived (Dubois, 1905), more recently a tendency has become prevalent to attribute the whole fauna to the early Pleistocene, and to explain the more archaic species as relics (Osborn, 1922; Zeuner, 1945). It may be shown that all these interpretations are untenable.

A Pliocene age is ruled out by the presence of species which immigrated into Europe after the close of the Villafranchian. On the other hand, the older representatives, once attributed to the Pliocene but actually of Upper Villafranchian age, do not constitute isolated relics: an entire faunal assemblage characteristic of that epoch is present. Moreover, primitive species occur in the Forest Bed fauna together with their more advanced descendants, and the fauna is richer in species than in any other locality.

In the summer of 1978 pottery and flintwork were noticed in the sections to the south of Cliffe Village during the laying of a pipeline by British Gas (TQ 734744) (fig. 1). This led to the excavation of a series of small trial trenches by Mr David Thomson with the help of local volunteers in the same year. The retrieval of a Beaker and Collared Urn suggested an early Bronze Age site, and excavations by Dr Ian Kinnes for the British Museum were done in September 1979. Although the excavated features contained mainly Iron Age pottery and metalwork, both seasons' work also produced a large quantity of flint artefacts ranging from Mesolithic to Bronze Age in date. The following report is an analysis of the Mesolithic tranchet axe manufacturing debitage which could be distinguished as a discrete group from the other flintwork. It is not intended to present a comprehensive flint report for Cliffe, but to provide a framework for analysis at other sites where tranchet axe production has been shown to take place (Wymer 1962; Parfitt and Halliwell 1982).

The Azé Cave (Sâone-et-Loire, France) has yielded, among other archaeological and palaeontological remains, a Lower Palaeolithic industry within a layer dated through faunal remains to 400–350 kya. This industry is made up of local rocks, mostly poor quality flint, and also chert and crystalline rocks.

Only flint was definitely knapped; chert was only broken into pieces before being used. The process of knapping is opportunistic and the cores, seldom exhausted, usually bear two opposite reduction faces. The flakes often reveal patches of residual cortex. They are moderately thick and the striking platform angle varies within a wide range of values. Some of them seem to be the result of a tearing-off motion. All the flint pieces have been heavily retouched; half of them have been simply utilised, others are proper tools, mostly scrapers, usually with steep retouch. Fragments of chert, sometimes obtained by tearing-off (from the cave walls?) have been often retouched but with less intensity than the flint. A good number of more or less trimmed cobbles are also part of this collection. However, handaxes are completely missing.

The lithic industry of Azé 1–1 lacks standardisation for the core reduction process as well as for trimming or retouching. It fits well in the Lower Palaeolithic industry but the absence of handaxes is noteworthy. This industry offers one more contribution to the diversity of this cultural period.

An attempt is made to classify and list in detail the known disc-barrows in and around Wessex—about 170 in all, 155 being of normal type, 13 of ‘Dorset’ type, and two of exceptional character. Of these, 93 are in Wiltshire, 57 being within ten km of Stonehenge, and 36 within five km of that monument, which evidently acted as a magnet in attracting major barrow cemeteries to its vicinity.

The normal disc-barrow is of the ‘Wessex culture’ of the Early Bronze Age. The rite is nearly always cremation, but a very few possible instances of primary inhumation need further investigation. The grave-goods are usually necklaces of beads (amber, shale, faience, in four instances all together), in three instances with amber space-plates; bronze awls (pointed at one end and flat at the other which probably went into a handle); and small two-edged bronze knives. Occasionally the cremation is in an urn or with an ‘Aldbourne’ or other cup. The frequency of beads, and the absence of warrior equipment such as ‘Wessex’ bronze daggers, has until now led to the conclusion that they were the places of interment of females.

Since 1953 seven disc-barrows have been scientifically excavated but final reports are still awaited. The primary cremation from one of the mounds of the oval twin barrow Milton Lilbourne I was probably female. The primary cremation from the central mound of Collingbourne Kingston 18 could not be sexed; but two cremations from a large pit beneath the eccentric mound of the same barrow were identified as probably and possibly adult male. Cremations from the other sites could not be sexed. These meagre results suggest that the central or other primary mounds of disc-barrows were for females but the eccentric mounds may have been for either sex. The sexing of more cremations is urgently needed.

The Early Iron Age of Wessex has been the study of many distinguished archaeologists, and any fresh investigation is bound to be in large part either a synthesis or a development of the results of earlier workers. Among the latter must be included not only such notable scholars as General Pitt-Rivers, the Cunningtons, Professor Hawkes, Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Mr Radford, but a multitude of professional archaeologists and amateurs, whose accumulated labours help to give solidity to the picture. The present writer owes a profound debt to all of these; he would also like to acknowledge personal help especially from Mr Raymond Farrar, Mr J. Stevens Cox, Mr A. L. F. Rivet, Mr J. B. Calkin, and from the Curators of the Museums at Dorchester, Farnham (Dorset), Salisbury, Devizes and Taunton.

The present paper is a study of the ‘C’ cultures, i.e. cultures of the latest phase of the Early Iron Age which are not simply survivals of ‘B’ cultures, in Wessex. For the present purpose I take Wessex to be the area covered by Sheet 11 of the Ordnance Survey ¼ inch map, excluding the area of undoubted Belgic occupation in the East (which I shall attempt to define later), and in addition a westward extension to the River Exe. In other words, it is a study, primarily (Part I) of the ‘Durotrigian’ culture of Dorset and its borders, and also (Part II) of whatever Belgic penetration can be demonstrated in the surrounding area.

Excavation of a headland on the north coast of Cyprus has revealed a neolithic settlement with well-preserved stone buildings which belong to one stage of a multiphase site. Evidence was obtained for changes in architecture, definable growth patterns and, in Cypriot terms, deeply stratified deposits with painted pottery that clearly links the early Troulli and the Sotira styles. Eighteen structures, many re-built two or three times, two winding passages and open yards were located in such deep, artificial hollows that the settlement may be considered as partly subterranean. Groups of houses were arranged in sectors, in one case divided by an uninterrupted 4 m. wide ridge. A series of Carbon-14 determinations indicates the fourth millennium for this phase; its predecessor was defended by an impressive 4·5 m deep ditch. Faunal and floral analyses disclose a range of domesticated species suggestive of a lively agricultural, rather than fishing-based, mixed economy. As a result of associated surveys, many unexcavated sites may now be placed in the dated Vrysi framework and a start made to the definition of neolithic settlement patterns on the north coast. The connections o Vrysi with excavated sites necessitates a reassessment of the prehistory of fifth-fourth millennia Cyprus which seems to be characterized by cultural continuity, regionalism and, the island's isolation.

In 1909 I found, near the crest of the North Downs above Eynsford, several unshapely pieces of flint showing signs of having been flaked.

The flint is spicular and of a pale honey colour, some pieces quite unpatinated, but others very slightly patinated and with occasional flecks of siliceous high glaze. Judging from the appearance of the cortex, the flint has come from the clay-with-flints which caps the chalk in this neighbourhood.

Practically every piece of honey coloured flint to be found here bears a bulb or a bulb hollow, and none but the honey-coloured flint has been worked.

The site is in a narrow strip of woodland about 20 ft. deep, and just below the crest of the North Downs. It is in the bank of “hill-wash” formed by these trees that rabbits have burrowed and thrown up the flints under description. These flints have been shown to several collectors but the shapes are so crude and, apparently, purposeless that I could get no suggestions as to their use, or information about comparable finds.

It has been to me a fascinating occupation to follow in the foot-steps of my mentor, the veteran prehistorian, Worthington G. Smith, in the study of flint implements in parts of the Lea valley in mid-Herts. At times, I have had the honour of supplementing, in a small way, his well known labours.

One day, in 1903, I had a little while to wait for the train at Hertingfordbury, near Hertford, just above the junction of the rivers Mimram and Lea. Mr. Smith had found implements at Hertford; but none had, as yet, been discovered at Hertingfordbury. A large gravel pit, on the west side of the road, looked tempting. A very hasty search in the failing light revealed a flint (Fig. 62B) of promising appearance in the tough, upper, ochreous gravel, at 10ft. depth from the surface. By strenuous exertions: with hands, to extract it; and with feet, to keep my balance on a tiny ledge, I managed to secure the stone: and catch the train ! This was in the early days of my flint-hunting. But I have never found another quite like it. It has the appearance of an adze, of kite-shaped outline, with an obtusely pointed basal end, for mounting. Very few implements from the river drift, show, to my thinking, any signs of having been made for mounting.