The development of the three-age system in Scandinavia has been of great interest to historians of archaeology, but the system's spread to the British Isles has received little attention, leaving a false impression that its importance has always derived from the revolutionary methodology of C.J. Thomsen. It was not Thomsen's method of putting artefacts in a chronological series, however, that first appealed to British researchers in the mid 19th century. Instead, early British researchers, working mainly in the science of ethnology, used the system to establish a sequence of races for Britain's past based on cranial types. This initial use of the three-age system as a means of creating a racial sequence left a mark on British archaeology that outlasted even the craniological ethnology that formed its first scholarly context.

It is 50 years since Stuart Piggott excavated the prehistoric complex at Cairnpapple. At that time there were few excavated parallels in Scotland, and interpretation inevitably relied heavily on sites excavated in southern Britain. Much more locally relevant data are now available and the sequence at Cairnpapple can now be reassessed its regional context.

Piggott identified five Periods, commencing with a stone setting, ‘cove’ and cremation cemetery of ‘Late Neolithic date’ around ‘c. 2500 B.C.’. Period II was a henge monument, consisting of a ‘circle’ of standing stones with ceremonial burials in association, and an encircling ditch with external bank – ‘Of Beaker date, probably c. 1700 B.C.’ Period III comprised the primary cairn, containing two cist-burials ‘Of Middle Bronze Age date, probably c. 1500 B.C.’ Period IV involved the doubling of the size of the cairn, with two cremated burials in inverted cinerary urns. ‘Of final Middle Bronze Age or native Late Bronze Age date, probably c. 1000 B.C.’ Period V comprised four graves ‘possibly Early Iron Age within the first couple of centuries A.D.’

The present paper, using comparable material from elsewhere in Scotland, argues for a revised phasing: Phase 1, comprises the deposition of earlier Neolithic plain bowl sherds and axehead fragments with a series of hearths. This is comparable to ‘structured deposition’ noted on other sites of this period. Phase 2 involved the construction of the henge – a setting of 24 uprights – probably of timber rather than stone, probably followed by the encircling henge ditch and bank. The ‘cove’ is discussed in the context of comparable features in Scotland. Phase 3 saw the construction of a series of graves, including the monumental ‘North Grave’, which was probably encased in a cairn. Piggott's ‘Period III’ cairn was then built, followed by the ‘Period IV’ cairn. The urn burials seem likely to have been inserted into the surface of this mound, which may have covered a burial (since disturbed) on the top of the Period III mound, or may have been a deliberate monumentalising of it. The four graves identified as Iron Age by Piggott seem more likely to be from the early Christian period.

The reassessment of Piggott's report emphasises the value of the writing of a clear, and sufficiently detailed account. While no report can be wholly objective it can be seen that Piggott's striving for objectivity led him to write a paper that is of lasting value.

Campaigns of large-scale fieldwalking and in-depth evaluation on later Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age lithic scatters are reported. In a regional context they are remarkable in their scale, density, and resolution, and raise questions concerning the character of early settlement and its corollary in landscape mobility – variously an archaeology of ‘meeting/return’, ‘task’, and ‘trace’.

The unique discovery in Scotland of a cache of five flint axeheads and other flint artefacts is described and the contents analysed in detail. It is concluded that the cache represents artefacts imported from the north of Ireland during the Neolithic period. Two earlier finds of caches of flint artefacts from south-west Scotland are also described.

The Late Neolithic pottery of the Isle of Man falls into two types: Ronaldsway and Grooved Ware. This paper focuses on the former style which is markedly different from other contemporaneous pottery styles in use in Britain and Ireland. The discussion draws upon the biographical history of Ronaldsway vessels from the choice of raw materials to the deposition of the finished pots. At each stage in this biographical history the approach adopted by Manx potters and pottery users is compared with that employed in surrounding parts of the British Isles.

This paper explores how the lifecycles of Middle Bronze Age settlements were intimately related at both a practical and metaphorical level to the lifecycles of their inhabitants. Many settlements of this date appear to have been single-generational sites. Building sequences and other changes in the use of settlement space can be understood within a framework that explores how the demographic, social, and economic circumstances of a site's occupants changed over time. However, the lifecycle of the settlement was not only related to that of its occupants in practical terms; each was also a symbolic representation of the other. For example, such acts as the deposition of whole quernstones or animal burials in pits and ditches may have been carried out at critical points in the lifecycle of a settlement, its structures, and its inhabitants. The notion that settlements had lifecycles introduces the possibility of anthropomorphic symbolism in house architecture, a suggestion that may help to explain the presence of a standardised house form during the Middle Bronze Age. Yet, despite the formality of the architecture, there was considerable diversity in how space was actually used within the round-house. Likewise, variability in other aspects of these settlement sites suggests that, although cultural ideals may have existed, in practice the developmental cycle of each household group depended on a particular set of social and material circumstances as well as on household members' commitment to communal tradition.

The so-called Dansaren rock carving at Järrestad, southern Sweden, is one of the largest rock carving sites in that country. This paper presents a detailed description and re-analysis of the carvings, examining not only the images themselves but also their topographical location, groupings and position in relation to the available rock surface and possible viewpoints of the observer. The history of research at the site is described together with the methods used for recording. The motifs are described and discussed and it is noted that the various types of images, including footsoles, feet, horsemen, cupmarks, and boats occur in particular combinations and are distributed on the rock surface in such a manner that discrete panels are apparent, delineated by natural cracks in the rock which form an integral part of the design. The location and distribution of other monuments and rock carvings in the region are discussed and a social and symbolic context within the later Bronze Age presented for the Dancer and its associated carvings.

The results are presented of a comprehensive petrographic study of 82 Bronze Age cinerary vessels from the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Petrographic analysis is particularly appropriate when applied to this island location with its diverse and well defined geology. The pottery is characterised by a distinctive range of clasts, of which the most characteristic are varieties of igneous rocks and sandstone. The clasts can be matched to outcrops on the island with one exception which could have been derived from a known mainland source. The particular rock types seen in the pottery are not common in the island's alluvial and glacial sediments and it is therefore concluded that the potters showed a strong preference for specific dark coloured igneous rock types as added filler, in common with other Bronze Age potters in Britain. Although typology implies some extraneous influences, petrography indicates that the pottery was made on the island. However, despite the varied geology, the widespread distribution of many of the crucial rock types (dolerites, lithic sandstones) across the island means that individual production centres cannot be distinguished, a difficulty exacerbated by the lack of known habitation sites and associated domestic pottery. The question as to whether specifically designed pottery or redundant domestic pottery was used for burials is discussed, but remains unresolved.

Lithic assemblages from a variety of English later Bronze and Iron Age contexts are examined here in an effort to stimulate debate about the later prehistoric exploitation of flint. It is suggested that a variety of technological and morphological features, supporting the idea of discrete later industries, can be identified. A special plea is made to excavators of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement sites to pay greater attention to the contexts of deposition (and to the other artefactual associations), of recovered lithic material. Flint finds should not automatically be written off as residual from earlier activity on settlements.

The excavation of a 1st century BC cremation cemetery having ring-ditch surrounded interments is reported. One of its two richly accompanied burials included an unparalleled drapery-cast stud/knob – an extraordinary object found within a cemetery with uniquely delineated graves. Given its location on the northern fringe of the distribution of Aylesford-Swarling cremation burials, the site prompts questions of core/periphery interrelationships, regionally and group definition.

The Cuddie Springs site in south-eastern Australia provides the first evidence of an unequivocal association of megafauna with humans for this continent. Cuddie Springs has been known as a fossil megafauna locality for over a century, but its archaeological record has only recently been identified. Cuddie Springs is an open site, with the fossil deposits preserved in a claypan on the floor of an ancient ephemeral lake. Investigations revealed a stratified deposit of human occupation and fossil megafauna, suggesting a temporal overlap and an active association of megafauna with people in the lead up to the Last Glacial Maximum, when conditions were more arid than the present day. Two distinct occupation phases have been identified and are correlated to the hydrology of the Cuddie Springs lake. When people first arrived at Cuddie Springs, sometime before 30,000 BP, the claypan on the lake floor was similar to a waterhole, with five species of megafauna identified. Flaked stone artefacts were found scattered through this level. After the lake dried, there was human occupation of the claypan. The resource base broadened to include a range of plant foods. Megafauna appear to be just one of a range of food resources exploited during this period. A return to ephemeral conditions resulted in only periodic occupation of the site with megafauna disappearing from the record around 28,000 BP. The timing of overlap and association of megafauna with human occupation is coincident with the earliest occupation sites in this region. The archaeological evidence from Cuddie Springs suggests an opportunistic exploitation of resources and no specialised strategies for hunting megafauna. Disappearance of megafauna is likely to be a consequence of climatic change during the lead up to the Last Glacial Maximum and human activities may have compounded an extinction process well under way.

This paper attempts at reconstructing the life cycle of flint bifacial tools in two major technological trajectories, each aimed at a different end. It is focused on discarded polished flint bifacial tools (axe, adze, chisel) and bifacial polished debitage items found in Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites (9th–6th millennium BP) from the Southern Levant.

Recent studies of Holocene flint assemblages revealed special types of debitage items such as blades, flakes, cores and core trimming elements, all bearing traces of polish. The discovery of these polished debitage items in Levantine sites enabled a study of bifacial tool resharpening and recycling techniques, emphasising the exceptional attention paid to this tool category. Since polished bifacial tools appear in many old world Holocene archaeological contexts, the data and interpretation presented in this study have implications far beyond the Southern Levant and could relate to universal technological properties of flint axes and other bifacial tools.

Final Neolithic to Early Bronze Age chronology in Greece remains obscure due to a lack of stratified deposits and radiocarbon dates. In this paper the Greek evidence is considered in the light of typological parallels, stratigraphic sequences, and the larger series of radiocarbon dates available from the south-east European cultures, and a tentative chronology for Greece and south-east Europe is presented. The evidence does not support the earlier notion of an overlap between the Thessalian Rachmani period and the Early Helladic period of southern Greece, but rather suggests that Rachmani is essentially contemporary with the southern Greek Final Neolithic. The Final Neolithic–Early Bronze Age transition in southern Greece shows affinities to Petromagoula in Thessaly and the Boleráz culture of Europe. Several radiocarbon dates place the Boleráz period in the early 5th millennium BP, suggesting that dates from FN–EBA transitional contexts in Greece may, in the future, help to fill the existing early 5th millennium gap in the Greek radiocarbon date series.

Excavations and environmental analysis of a mound and two barrows indicate that activity commenced within the range 3930–3520 cal BC with the construction of a large mound enclosed by a substantial ditch on a drumlin which had been largely cleared to grassland. A pollen sequence recovered from the fosse indicates that the drumlin remained under grassland for some time. It was still under grassland in the Iron Age when a pair of sequential barrows was constructed about the period 380 cal BC–cal AD 80. The earlier bowl barrow covered a pyre site with remains of an inhumation burial, and the later saucer barrow contained three token cremation deposits in the low mound and ditch, the last associated with the iron fittings from a wooden artefact. Pollen analysis of the ditch sequences from the barrows indicates that the drumlin remained open and heather-covered.

Sand quarrying in 1989 at Sand Fiold, Sandwick, in Orkney resulted in the accidental discovery of a rock-cut chamber containing a cist. Subsequent excavation revealed that this cist had a number of unusual features. The cist slabs had been fitted together exceptionally well and the completed cist was designed to be re-opened by the removal of a side slab. Within the chamber, access was provided to the opening side of the cist and a relieving structure was built over its capstone.

The cist contained cremation and inhumation burials that had been inserted on more than one occasion; as its builders intended. A collection of poorly preserved unburnt bone was found to comprise the remains of two individuals: a young adult and a foetus. Two collections of cremated bone, each derived from a single adult, were also present; one in a Food Vessel Urn, the second forming a pile on the floor and containing two burnt antler tines and two unburnt human teeth. The un-urned cremation deposit and the unburnt bones had been covered in mats of plant fibres derived from grass and sedge. The urn had been lined with basketry, also made from grass. Outside the cist, an exceptionally large collection of fuel ash slag (FAS), derived from a cremation pyre, had been deposited between the cist and the wall of the rock-cut chamber.

Radiocarbon dates indicate that the site and its contents had a long history. The FAS and the foetus skeleton date to 2900–2500 cal BC. Between 2200 and 1900 cal BC the urned cremation and young adult human bones were inserted and charcoal was deposited in the foundation slots for the back wall of the cist. The deposition of the un-urned cremation was dated to 1000–800 cal BC, some 900 years later, when the urn had already fallen over and broken. At this time, it is assumed that the urn was restored to an upright position and propped with stones, while the stone lid for the urn was reused in the foundation slot of the left-hand side of the cist. Reuse and refurbishment over two millennia seem evidenced in the results from this cist.

Megalithic art is associated with passage tombs in Atlantic Europe. But it is not found in all areas, rather it has a restricted distribution. In those areas where it occurs it is very often associated with large and, therefore, prestigious tombs. These tombs have a confined distribution within defined areas. It can be argued that such areas indicate tribal regions within which elite societies existed and where cohesion was provided by a leader, possibly in the form of a chief.

This paper considers the future for cultural heritage in the new Millennium. It briefly discusses recent developments towards the protection, management, and conservation of archaeological remains and monuments at an international level and of public attitudes towards cultural heritage. The power of certain heritage sites to attract visitors and their indispensible role in the tourist industry is considered, with the current plans for Stonehenge presented as a case study. Research Frameworks for archaeology were defined in the early 1980s and the role of the Prehistoric Society in formulating these, and the extent to which they have been implemented, is described. The paper concludes with the author's suggestion of four main themes for the next Millennium which should be the concern of the discipline in general and of the Society in particular.

Eastern Thrace acts as a land bridge between Southeast Europe and Anatolia. Along this land bridge, it might be expected that there has been movement of objects and materials, transference of ideas, trade, and migrations of peoples between two continents.

In 1995 a prehistoric survey was carried out in the province of Edirne, Eastern Thrace, by the University of Thrace, Department of Archaeology. The Late Chalcolithic pottery from Yumurta Tepe und Kavaklı presented here was collected during this survey. This group supplies a missing link in the pottery sequence of Eastern Thrace.

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).