The invention and acceptance in Europe of an ingenious metal clothes-fastener in the late second and early first millennia BC has long been known. Interest in it and its several thousand variant forms has been concentrated mainly on their importance as type fossils for chronological systems and, more recently, on how they were used, but there has been little study of how or why the ideas spread (Alexander 1973b). Here an attempt will be made to show where the inventions took place and which communities first accepted them.

This paper reinterprets the archaeological evidence from the Neolithic monument complex in the Milfield Basin, Northumberland; a palimpsest landscape of earlier Neolithic enclosures, later Neolithic henges and Early Bronze Age burial monuments. Recent interpretative accounts of the Early Neolithic use of this complex have stressed economic factors as the driving-forces behind enclosure construction, whilst the six major later Neolithic henges have been integrated into a scheme of ritual processions. These interpretations are critically evaluated and the sites are placed in their regional and national context in an attempt to provide a new framework for the use and development of the complex. It is concluded that, far from having simplistic economic functions, the earlier Neolithic enclosures could be unique to the area. Representing the formalisation of a community's attempts to ensure social reproduction in times of change, through the articulation of the difference between circular and linear monumental forms. The re-examination of the later Neolithic evidence raises interesting questions as to how far we can ‘read’ monument complexes, and critically evaluates the extent to which we can argue a unity of purpose for these enigmatic accumulations of the past. Importantly, the reinterpretation of the Neolithic activity in this area exposes how readily archaeologists export social models from other regions, such as Wessex, and attempt to fit very diverse evidence into their framework. This paper concludes that we must continue the definition of the British Neolithic on a more regional basis and accept that core-periphery models, even if not explicitly articulated, have no place in archaeological explanation.

In his great study of practical ways and means of daily life in prehistoric Europe, our former Hon. Editor, and President, wrote of the archaeology of horse driving and riding as being ‘slight and difficult to interpret’ (Clark, 1952, 301), and these words have remained very true twenty years on. The study of horse drawn vehicles, and of items of bridling and harness, has, nevertheless, received a good deal of attention, and the leading references have been usefully brought together by Piggott (1968, 313–18), and by Littauer (1969, 300). Much more difficult is the matter of the ridden horse in temperate Europe not only for the scarcity of direct skeletal material, and the usually deplorable circumstances of its excavation, but on account of confusion in the application of terminology, zoological and veterinary, no less than in the existence of many traditional assumptions about the identity and characteristics of the earliest horse domesticators, not to speak of the animal itself. From an archaeological point of view, it has been too easy to forget the animal for the trappings, and to appear to assume that any horse could be decked out regardless of shape or size to perform specialized tasks.

In this short contribution, most gladly dedicated to Grahame Clark, an attempt is made to bring together material for an interim statement, and to consider what guide lines in interpretation can be followed in the light of information on horsemanship in adjacent regions of the Ancient World that are considerably better documented.

The story of humanity during the period that elapsed between Palæolithic and Neolithic times has proved an intriguing problem to prehistorians for a long time. The Azilian culture (discovered by Piette in the cave of Mas d'Azil) resting as it does on the older Palæolithic industries and covered in turn by layers of Neolithic and Eneolithic age, seemed to bridge the gulf. But the Azilian culture has only a limited distribution and is truly Palæolithic, as is shown by the absence of the remains of domestic animals and pottery. Again, the Tardenoisean culture, with its pigmy industries and typically pigmy burin seemed to supply a bridge, and here we find a culture of wide extent. As before, however, we are still dealing with a Palæolithic culture, and its age in Western Europe (as has been shown at the diggings of Valle) is contemporaneous with the latter part of the Azilian. After the Azilio-Tardenoisian culture came the early Neolithic of which little can be told except in certain localised areas. Now another chapter of the story of these times, mainly referring to Asturias on the North coast of Spain (but including the area further East as far as Biarritz and also embracing sites in North Catalonia) has been added through the perspicacity of the Count de la Vega del Sella, who has unearthed a new and most interesting post-Azilio-Tardenoisean but pre-real Neolithic culture.

Since the publication in 1951 of an article upon native copper considerable progress has been made concerning the occurrence and use of the metal in prehistoric Europe. In 1955 an important paper appeared by Professor Nestor dealing with the prehistory of the metal in Roumania and in 1957 Professor Pittioni published an outstanding survey and technical discussion upon the subject.

As archaeological research continues we may expect to learn more about the extent to which native copper was used by early man. It is generally agreed that some utilization of the native metal goes back even to Neolithic times, and that the first phase was that of cold hammered native copper, very shortly to be followed by its more extensive working in an annealed condition. The question of what quantity of native copper would have been available to prehistoric man, and was in fact used by him in different countries has hardly been touched upon as yet. No doubt in certain regions the quantity of native metal was very appreciable. For instance, Professor Nestor considers that in Roumania, and certain neighbouring countries, important deposits of copper minerals and notable quantities of native copper existed, and still exist. From Professor Nestor's discussion it appears that there was quite an intensive utilization of the local deposits of native copper in Roumania, not only as a ‘forged’ native copper phase, but leading on to the melting and casting of the metal culminating with the remarkable shaft-hole axe hammers and axe adzes so well known to archaeologists.

The lack of radiocarbon measurements of funerary contexts is a major shortcoming of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of the Eastern Carpathian Basin, especially in the Banat region. The present batch of samples tries to address these drawbacks, by detailing sampling strategies, employed pre-treatment and by providing a robust and coherent dataset of radiocarbon measurements. Implications of the new radiocarbon dates is discussed from a supra-regional perspective, while keeping aspects of typo-chronology, circulation of goods, and social nuances of employment of Bronze Age bronzes in the forefront. Ten burials were selected from four Banatian burial grounds according to the occurrence of metal finds in the funerary inventories. Beyond establishing a broad frame of absolute chronology for these sites of interment, the radiocarbon data provide reliable arguments for the precise attribution of metal discoveries. In addition, the data allow us to challenge some previously stated chronological assignments.

The island of Sardinia is well known for its Late Neolithic and Copper Age underground rock-cut tombs that were used over generations for collective burials. Many tombs were decorated to resemble house interiors and cemeteries are often referred to as villages of the dead. Research so far has focused on excavating stratigraphic contexts within some of these monuments, or on typological classifications of tomb plans and wall decorations, but the landscape context of the cemeteries and their relationship to settlements have been overlooked. The article presents the results of two seasons of survey in Ossi (north-west Sardinia), focusing on two major cemeteries (Mesu ‘e Montes and S’Adde ‘e Asile). Combining fieldwalking, mapping and 3D recording techniques, the survey provides a comprehensive documentation of the cemeteries (from the underground architecture of individual tombs to their landscape setting) and yields evidence of prehistoric settlements in their vicinity. The article discusses the topographic and visual relationships between the tombs and the residential areas and how they may reflect social interactions between the living and the dead in late prehistoric Sardinia.

The object of this paper is to make known the existence of a wide-spread implementiferous deposit hitherto unknown in Devonshire, although comparable discoveries have been made in East Anglia by Mr. Reid Moir and in the Thames Valley by Mr. J. P. T. Burchell.

A brief preliminary statement appeared in Vol. VII, part 2, in “Notes on Excavations,” which reported our finding a number of flint implements which lay to a depth of 12 ft. below the surface of a dry valley in Bovey Lane, Beer.

These specimens were revealed in an artificial cutting made in search of water, when only the faces of the sections could be examined, but by aid of a grant from the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund, we were later enabled to carry out two seasons of excavation.

It has long been recognised that the post-glacial (25-ft.) raised-beach of north-east Ireland contains, in addition to flint implements of Early Neolithic age and aspect, artefacts of Lower Palaeolithic forms. The presence of these early types within this beach may be accounted for as:—

1. A recrudescence of earlier forms during Early Neolithic times;

2. Lower Palaeolithic artefacts which have been derived from the glacial and inter-glacial drifts of the locality:

3. A mixture embraced by categories 1 and 2.

The evidence for the determination of this question must be sought outside the beach itself owing to the masking of the surface variations of the specimens through the deposition of a creamy-white patination and through marine attrition, though, regarding the latter, it should be mentioned that glacial striae have been observed upon certain of the implements recovered from the post-glacial (25-ft.) raised-beach at Kilroot.

One of Piggott's Young Turks, C.W. Phillips (1987, 48), wrote in his autobiography, ‘By 1935, I was to be part-author of a revolution in the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia and become Hon. Secretary of the national Prehistoric Society conjured from its ashes.’

To this day, the transition of the regional Prehistoric Society of East Anglia to the national Prehistoric Society is remembered as a well planned coup. The story of an abrupt and resisted occupation of this key institution stands vividly in collective archaeological memory. In a recent interview, Thurstan Shaw, who took a First in the Cambridge Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos in 1936, clearly remembered his very young teacher, Grahame Clark, ‘referring to the take-over with considerable satisfaction’ (Shaw, in conversation with the author, 1996). Another of Clark's students, Jack Golson, who graduated in '51, maintains that Phillips, Clark, Hawkes, and Piggott took the Society out of an ‘East Anglia frame to a national level … They stacked it!’ (Golson, in conversation with the author, 1996).

Contributions to the general study of Prehistory have accumulated of late years, but the methods of cooking in early times have received but little attention. This, then, must be my excuse for bringing this subject to your notice to-day.

Prehistoric man has unwittingly divulged the course of his wanderings over continents, not only by the implements which strew his path, and with which we are familiar, but by the burnt stones which mark his simple hearth.

These eloquent but unattractive little relics have a significance equal, if not exceeding that of the artifacts themselves. For their advent coincides with one of the leaps and bounds of man's evolution, when goaded by his sufferings, to crave artificial warmth, he caught at the vagrant spark inadvertently struck from a flint, or produced by the friction of wood, and prisoned it for his use and comfort. How early he became a fire-maker we have yet to determine, but the insignificant heating-stone (so largely used in primitive cookery), as we trace it back to the horizon of its first appearance, may presently teach us.

Summary. Excavations at Bury Hill dated a small, continuously-ditched enclosure to the early Neolithic. The interior of the enclosure, c. 1 ha in extent, was sampled by two trial cuttings, 9 m wide, running across the enclosure at right angles to one another. No Neolithic features were found. Sampling the ditch produced early Neolithic pottery, flintwork and animal bone. Though continuous, the ditch had a ‘beaded’ appearance, with a single entrance. No corresponding bank survived, though aerial photographs indicated its existence on the inside of the ditch.

The Presidency of the Prehistoric Society to which you have done me the great honour of calling me, differs from that of some other societies in that, though the period of office is four years the President is only required to deliver one Address. No doubt we owe this mercy to the fact that our customs have taken shape during an age, which it would be tempting providence to call more humane, but which is at any rate less tolerant of some forms of avoidable boredom than some previous ones. Yet even in these less rigorous times I suppose we should feel uneasy if we allowed our Presidents, or ourselves, to escape scot free: one year in four we must undergo the rite and trust that in some obscure way it will help us to avoid the evil eye and ensure at the cost of an hour's suffering a further spell of prosperity and well-being for the Society.

We report on the recording and analysis of 17 petroglyph or pictograph sites, containing a total of 168 glyphic units, carried out as part of a large scale survey of the ancient district (moku) of Kahikinui, on south-eastern Maui Island, Hawaiian Islands. In contrast with previous studies which have tended to view Hawaiian petroglyphs as divorced from their larger archaeological context, we analyse and interpret this corpus in terms of a landscape-level settlement analysis. The Kahikinui petroglyphs exhibit a regular and limited range of motifs, with certain styles of anthropomorphs and zoomorphs (especially dogs) dominating; petroglyphs dating to the early post-European contact period are characterised by Roman lettering reflecting early missionary efforts at literacy. Petroglyphs are strongly associated either with an early historic-period trail, or with rockshelters and cliff faces where there is evidence for freshwater springs or seeps. In the arid environment of Kahikinui, freshwater was a precious resource, and the petroglyphs may have served as territorial markers, or signs of individual ownership or rights of access. Excavations at three rockshelter sites with petroglyphs provide indirect evidence for dating these petroglyphs to the late prehistoric era (16th to 18th centuries AD). Comparisons with petroglyph sites on other islands in the Hawaiian archipelago indicate the existence of distinct regional variations.

Fossil human remains which can be attributed to the Lower Palaeolithic period are so rare that it is important to investigate thoroughly all finds for which such claims have been made. Almost all the human skulls discovered in Pleistocene deposits in Britain have proved to belong to Homo sapiens. Where the deposits are older than Upper Palaeolithic it is more than likely that such remains are not contemporaneous but represent later intrusive burials. However, the confirmation of the Lower Palaeolithic (Acheulian) age of the Swanscombe skull which, in so far as it is preserved, is not distinguishable from Homo sapiens, has revived interest in other human remains of modern type which have been reported from early deposits but laid aside as being of doubtful antiquity. Unfortunately some of these finds are now lost (e.g. Foxhall jaw). Outstanding among those which have survived are the Galley Hill skeleton and the Bury St. Edmunds skull. By application of the fluorine-dating method the former has been shown to be a comparatively recent intrusive burial (Oakley and Montagu, 1949).

The human skull fragment found near Bury St. Edmunds in 1882 has been preserved in the Moyse's Hall Museum at Bury, and is especially worthy of re-investigation as it Was claimed to be in a fossilized condition, and to have been found in a deposit which contained remains of mammoth and Acheulian implements. A Committee under Section H of the British Association was appointed in 1949 to re-investigate this discovery, and to try to find out (1) the geological age of the deposit from which the skull had been reported and (2) whether the skull was contemporaneous with this deposit. The work and conclusions of this Committee are described in the present report.

The Iron Age Site at Crayford, Kent, was discovered in 1936 during the development of the Glebe Building Estate. This Estate lies to the west of St. Paulinus' Church, between Watling Street Old Road and Manor Road, and Nos. 103, 105, 107 and 109 Watling Street Old Road now mark the site. The circumstances of the discovery did not permit of scientific excavation, but the finds were reported to Mr S. Priest, F.G.S., curator of the Dartford Public Museum, and thanks to him and to the facilities most generously afforded by Mr Roys ton Phillips, the owner of the Glebe Estate, a large quantity of pottery and other objects was preserved and is now in the possession of the Dartford Public Museum. To Mr Priest the writer is particularly indebted for the opportunity to examine and report upon the discoveries, and for help in the preparation of that report. It was Mr G. C. Dunning, F.s.A., who first drew attention to the largely unpublished comparative material, and a number of his drawings are here used. The writer is also indebted to Dr R. E. M. Wheeler, V.P.S.A., for much help and criticism.

An occasion such as this is an opportunity for looking both backwards and forwards. I propose first to speak about the activities of our Society during the past year, and then, looking forwards, to throw out a few suggestions. In the second part of my Address I shall not confine myself to the work of our society, but shall review the present position and future prospects of archaeological air-photography. To do so implies an optimistic outlook that I am very far from possessing. Let us leave it at that.

It is usual and proper for a President either to eulogize his predecessor or else to say that he is too distinguished to need any such eulogy. There is no harm in combining both methods. It is now generally recognized that Professor Mahr, working in happy and enviable co-operation with the Government of Eire, and also with his scientific colleagues in Northern Ireland, has built up a thoroughly sound administration and that he has even found time for personal research as well. His Presidential Address, delivered last year, which you will now have had time to read in the pages of our Proceedings, gives proof of that.