It was from the Portuguese that Europe first learned something about India. Their 16th century literature abounds in information on the subject. Duarte Barboza, Tomé Pires, Castanheda, João de Barros, Gaspar Correa even, though he says that he will only write about the exploits of his countrymen, have each one given to the world many interesting facts regarding the ethnology, the customs and beliefs, and some account of the history of that baffling sub-continent which Portugal, of European nations, was the first to observe at close quarters.

Many years ago I was put in charge of the excavation of an ancient mound-site at Abu Geili on the Blue Nile near Sennar. Careful records were kept, but for reasons wholly outside my control it is only recently that I have been enabled to write a full account for publication. In the course of doing so I have constantly been brought up against first principles; in the present article I propose to consider how these principles apply, as I see it, to Sudanese archaeology at the present time.

British fish-spears fall readily into one or the other of two main groups. The first coqsists of ‘transfixing spears’, i.e. spears having one or more tines with barbed points which pierce and secure the fish. This group included salmon ‘leisters’, flounder-spears, pike-spears and, in fact, spears for most edible shallow-water fish. The type has a long history, being represented in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and prehistoric Europe (e.g. La Tène) (I). I hope in due course to trace its development in Britain.

In Antiquity for 1942 (1) Iorwerth Peate made a stimulating contribution to our understanding of the iron fire-dogs which are such a striking feature of British Iron Age craftsmanship, and in these notes that follow I hope to show that Mr Peate’s thesis can be further substantiated by additional evidence from archaeology and modern folk-life. It is his central idea that I have followed: my paper is a postscript to his.

A Minute study of metal work can make extraordinarily illuminating contributions to the history of science and to economic history, and can substantially enhance our appreciation of early art and culture in general. But it requires not only technical and historical knowledge but also quite costly apparatus and an unusual complaisancy in museum directors. Oldeberg possesses an expert’s familiarity with metallurgical processes and a truly remarkable mastery of the relevant geological and archaeological literature. The State Historical Museum in Stockholm is equipped with a good spectroscope wisely used for the increase of scientific knowledge. To the same end various Swedish museums have permitted the analysis of 640 specimens and a microscopic examination of 34 dating from the ‘Copper Age’ to Viking times. (The number of analyses actually at the author’s disposal and published is brought up to 747 by the inclusion of earlier reports on Danish, Norwegian and Finnish objects). The publication of such results alone, especially when as here illustrated by 800 splendid photographs, would constitute an outstanding event in prehistory.

Deraheib is the name of an ancient site in the Wadi Allagi in lat. 21°57’, long 35°81′, i.e. just within the Sudan political frontier. The name is undoubtedly Beja in form but may be derived from the Beidawi ‘d‧ir’ ‘to build’ or the Arabi ‘Deir’ which is used in Egypt for monasteries or other ancient buildings. Possibly, these two words are connected with each other. It should be noted that there is a place called ‘Dereheib Baanet’, 40 miles north of Deraheib, with ruins of a tomb, and the famous Assarema Deraheib ‘The Seven Buildings’, in Khor Gamarota 20 miles inland from Akik.