A first formal description is given of the largest collection of lithic artefacts from Britain to be clearly dated to the first part of the Late Glacial Interstadial. Much of this material is interpreted as having been left in the cave following hunting of wild horses and red deer in summer and winter. The large total of artefacts is suggested to be a result of small increments over a lengthy period rather than evidence of use of the cave as a base camp or aggregation site. It is possible that the cave took on an additional or alternative function as a funerary site.

A series of undoubtedly Palaeolithic engraved figures have been recorded for the first time in the United Kingdom in Church Hole Cave, Creswell Crags. The first recorded images were thought initially to be two birds and a large ibex. This paper presents the preliminary results of the first systematic survey of the caves for engravings which identified a total of 16 figures. On closer examination with correct lighting the ibex was seen to be a stag, accompanied by a bison and another herbivore. The presence of the birds was confirmed and at least one other bovid and several other images, including possible vulvas, were identified.

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.

Choosing as its subject the Clyde series of megalithic mortuary monuments on the Isle of Arran, in south-west Scotland, this paper explores the way in which natural and built form interact through the medium of the human body, a dynamic interplay that engendered particular understandings of the world in the 4th millennium BC. Examining one monument in detail at the outset is a device by which a series of physical and intellectual themes may be introduced, which run through the wider grouping of chambered cairns on the island. These are general principles which are worked through and around the characteristics of specific places, rather than regulatory structures which impose a strictly repetitive order upon the relationship between architecture and landscape. The ways in which these themes are expressed across the range of Clyde cairns on Arran are then teased out further in a wider synthetic discussion.

The over-arching theme of the study is consideration of the situated nature of archaeological endeavour as a form of engagement with the contemporary world, in which a broad spectrum of textual representation – from the typological to the experiential – may be drawn upon in the production of a unified archaeological narrative.

The typology and chronology of the Neolithic monuments of the Carnac region of Brittany have been much debated. However, the landscape of which they are a part has been under-researched, in part due to the difficulty of conducting landscape research in the field. Through complimenting fieldwork with digital approaches, this paper demonstrates that the Neolithic monuments were deliberately situated in distinct landscape settings. By investigating the characteristics of the locations of the various types of monuments, new insight can be shed on the ways in which the monuments were experienced and perceived.

The rock carving site of Bro Utmark in Bohuslän is one of the largest in Sweden. Its hundreds of carved images reflect a variety of Bronze Age concerns, and the boats, warriors and animals depicted demonstrate the work of master carvers in the period 1600-300 BC, but concentrated in the later Bronze Age (1100–600 BC). The site is central to a concentration of about 200 carved sites, burial mounds, and other monuments. During the Bronze Age, Bro Utmark lay near the shoreline of a sea which was 15 m higher in relation to the land. The evolving cultural landscape of the Bronze Age suggests incremental settlement in the emergent land, with shorelines and wetlands providing focal points for activity.

Professor Dorothy A.E. Garrod's 1928 excavation of the Mousterian Layer D at Shukbah Cave in the Wadi en-Natuf (Palestine) has been neglected by prehistorians in favour of the Epipalaeolithic Layer B with its Natufian culture, for which Shukbah is the typesite. The excavation of Layer D is now re-examined with the aid of Garrod's own unpublished documentation and photographs, and the lithic industry analysed in the light of her conclusion that it was the work of a late Middle Palaeolithic hominid population, probably of Neanderthal type. Application of current analytical methods to approximately one half of the recovered assemblage confirms Garrod's correlation of the Shukbah Mousterian with Tabun Layer B in the later model for the Mount Carmel Levantine Palaeolithic succession. Comparison is made, and consistency demonstrated, with the late Mousterian industry of Kebara Cave (Mount Carmel, excavation 1982–90) and the Shukbah D assemblage is further considered in the wider regional context of approximately contemporary sites ranging from southern Jordan to northern Syria. Suggestions are made regarding future excavation at Shukbah.

FxJj43 is one of a series of Early Stone Age archaeological sites preserved in the Okote Member of the Koobi Fora Formation, in northern Kenya. It is the focus of a new research project that aims to explore the impact of time-averaging on the composition and characteristics of Early Stone Age archaeological assemblages. FxJj43 lends itself particularly well to this exercise because, unlike other sites in the Okote Member, it preserves a laterally extensive set of interlocking landforms. These include part of a sandy river channel, its southern bank, levee, and adjacent floodplain.

Chipped stone artefacts and broken-up animal bones occur in clusters of varying size and density all the way along the 200 m long strip of outcrops containing the remnants of these landforms. Small-scale excavations aimed at investigating the characteristics of archaeological assemblages preserved in different palaeotopographic settings, and in clusters of varying size and density, suggest the existence of archaeological occurrences representing different amounts of overprinting. This underscores the long-term research potential of this locality for exploring the relationship between the material remains of individual behavioural events and agglomerations of debris resulting from many, often unrelated sets of activities.

Multi-disciplinary field investigations were undertaken in 1972–7 and 1998–9 at Kuk Swamp in the upper Wahgi Valley in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Multi-period finds dating from the early Holocene to the recent past and interpreted to represent human manipulation of a wetland margin for plant exploitation were documented. The archaeological remains dating from the early to mid-Holocene have partially grounded contested claims for the emergence of early and independent agricultural practices on the island of New Guinea. In this paper, the early to mid- Holocene archaeological remains at the site (ie, those allocated to Phases 1, 2, and 3) are reported in detail. The authors of this paper all agree that plant exploitation began at Kuk at c. 10,000 cal BP, however they hold different interpretations of the archaeological evidence from the swamp, which have in turn led to diverse claims for the antiquity of agriculture in New Guinea by at least c. 10,000 cal BP (Golson and Hughes), or by at least 6950–6440 cal BP (Denham). Divergent readings of the archaeological remains are presented at length in order to clarify the evidential bases for the varying claims and to promote future discussion.

In most societies, the presentation of human hair makes statements about projections of self, belonging, and difference. Drawing upon analogies from living traditions where hair makes an important contribution to symbolic grammars of personhood, this paper seeks to explore the evidence for symbolism associated with head and body hair in later European prehistory. This evidence is wide ranging, and includes the (exceptional) survival of hair in the archaeological record, iconography, and the equipment used for the management of hair. Questions are raised as to the manner in which hair may have been employed in visual languages, not only those associated with self-identity, but also in the presentation of ‘others’, whether social outcasts, sacrificial victims, shamed prisoners or special people, such as priests, shamans, or heroes. Issues of relationships between hair and gender are addressed, particularly with reference to iconography. The final part of the paper is concerned with the socio-political connotations associated with personal grooming and, in particular, the significance of adopting new, Roman, ways of managing hair in late Iron Age Britain.