Excavations at Eaglestone Flat, on the gritstone eastern uplands of the Peak District, have revealed a Bronze Age cremation cemetery associated with a number of contemporaneous stone structures built for ritual and agricultural purposes. Some of the burials were within urns, mostly cordoned. Others were simply placed in pits whilst still hot. A minority were deposited in direct association with small cairns, either placed under or within them. The majority were on open ground near the stone features and adjacent to the upslope edge of a prehistoric field. Most of the stone structures are clearance features associated with the preparation and cultivation of the land close by over an extended period. They are found in a complex palimpsest, which includes structures of unusual design, such as retained rectangular platforms, and discontinuous walls that were only ever 1–2 courses high and probably surmounted by low banks. A series of radiocarbon results adds to knowledge of the date at which Peak District cairnftelds and field systems were built. Environmental data allows vegetational sequences to be reconstructed.

This paper questions whether the current model of hillforts as central places for the control and redistribution of goods in Iron Age Britain is appropriate by reviewing the evidence for the production and distribution of both pottery vessels and salt in ceramic containers. Suitable data found in published reports of excavations from all parts of Britain are considered, if available, and the information is synthesized by defined region and broad phase.

Excavation of a small ring-ditch in advance of gravel extraction at Bromfield, Shropshire, produced rare evidence for an Iron Age inhumation burial associated with a barrow. The burial, identified from a soil stain, was associated with fragments of a La Tene I iron brooch and a penannular iron bracelet with adhering textiles, and a bronze pendant, suggesting a date in the 5th–4th century BC.

One of the most interesting archaeological features of western Iberian Protohistory is the stone animal sculptures, usually called ‘verracos’. The function and meaning of this kind of monument is discussed, taking into account the regional settlement pattern and changes during the early Roman period. The sculptures were used as an index of economic value (cattle) and by studying their spatial distribution in the Amblés Valley (Avila) it is proposed that they were used as landmarks delimiting critical resources (pasture) the explotation of which could have been organized by the elites of the 2nd Iron Age communities living in the Valley. The presence of first Roman settlers did not necessarily lead to a clear breakdown of pre-existing social symbols and cultural traditions. This is reflected through a continuity of sculpture production probably without changes to the spatial pattern. Thus, it is possible to conclude that sculpture production may reflect social, economic, and ideological ties between the old hierarchy and the new elites, expresed in terms of native identity.

The existence of a ‘radiocarbon plateau’ at 9600 BP causes problems for early Mesolithic archaeology and palaeoecology, since events separated by up to 400 calendar years are not distinguished by radiocarbon dating. A new sequence of closely spaced radiocarbon accelerator dates from waterlogged deposits at the early Mesolithic site at Star Carr, Yorkshire, has enabled recognition of this plateau. It has been possible to ‘wiggle-match’ these Star Carr dates to the recently produced dendrochronological calibration curve for the early post-glacial period, providing an ‘absolute’ chronology for formation of the deposits. Associated high resolution palaeoecological analyses indicate two local phases of human activity, the lengths of which can be estimated from the calibrated time-scale. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that it has been possible to provide ‘absolute’ dates for human activity at an early Mesolithic site in Europe.

Lundy is a small offshore island set in the approaches to the Bristol Channel. Prior to the late 1980s several excavations and artefact collections demonstrated the presence of prehistoric and historic communities on the island. Yet, despite this, little was understood of the intensity of occupation and the archaeological context within which the excavated sites occurred. Two surveys, one by the National Trust and one directed by the author, have been running concurently since 1988 with the aim of placing the well-documented sites or places in their spatial and behavioural context. This paper describes one element of the author's landscape survey project: the prehistoric occupation.

The passage tomb at Newgrange served as a focus of ceremonial activity in the Late Neolithic and Beaker periods. A complex of monuments was constructed around the mound, consisting of a timber circle or woodhenge to the south-east and a smaller, possibly roofed, timber circle to the west; an enclosing bank constructed along the southern and western sides, and a free-standing circle of great stones encircling the monument. In this paper the view that the faunal and material remains from the Newgrange excavations are domestic refuse is questioned. The deposition and spatial patterning of the faunal material is interpreted as having a ritual significance and the use of this material as representative of the Late Neolithic/Beaker period economy is rejected

This note reports the results of three radiocarbon determinations on material from two pits in Amesbury parish, one of which, Chalk Plaque Pit, has been published in this journal (Harding 1988). The other pit, at Ratfyn, Amesbury, was excavated in the 1930s and published by Stone (1935). As part of the same research project the shell inclusions in Grooved Ware from these features, and from a similar feature at Woodlands (Stone & Young 1948; Stone 1949), were identified and the presence of glauconite in Grooved Ware from the area established.