In the West Mediterranean islands before the mid-nineteenth century, discoveries of fossil bones, prehistoric deposits in caves and megalithic monuments stimulated ideas about the remote past, as in other parts of Europe where similar phenomena were observed. Many of these ideas were characteristic of a pre-scientific age and their sources are sometimes obscure. Their inspiration can often be traced to the Bible, classical texts, folklore, as well as to advances in palaeontology and direct observation of antiquities. The study of fossils and prehistoric remains progressed gradually, following a similar pattern elsewhere. Two lines of enquiry emerged, one closely linked with progress in the natural sciences and the other concerned with ancient monuments and the background to the classical world.

Since 1985 a team under the direction of the author has been carrying out excavations at the site of St. Veit-Klinglberg, Land Salzburg, Austria (see map, fig. 1). This interim report gives an account of the background to the work and the results so far obtained, and outlines current hypotheses concerning the site's function and significance. One more season of work is planned, but more importantly the analysis of the material from the excavation is still only at a very preliminary stage.

The Anglo-Saxon see of Worcester was probably not established until 679 or 680, over eighty years after the arrival of the Augustinian mission. It has usually been taken for granted that the Hwicce, for whom the new see was set up, had until then been subject to the see of the Mercians, but there is no evidence to show this. The latter see, moreover, had itself not been created until c. 656. Are we, therefore, to assume that the Hwicce remained non-Christian until the later seventh century? If they did, we have signally failed in our efforts to find their burials; and our historical sources are strangely silent about the eventual conversion to Christianity of a people who held out against it for so long.

The Fitzwarin Psalter (Paris, B.N. MS lat. 765) is one of the most striking English manuscripts of the fourteenth century. Its miniatures are characterized by bold compositional experiment and a mannered figure style of extreme emotional intensity. The conventional name of the manuscript derives from the presence of two shields in the lower border of the Beatus page (fol. 23), which were identified by Francis Wormald as those of the families of Fitzwarin and Clevedon. But he was unable to find any evidence connecting the two families by marriage. He dated the Psalter to the third quarter of the century, and in this has been followed by Lucy Sandler. However, in an important study of the Fitzwarin Psalter and related manuscripts, Lynda Dennison demonstrated that, for stylistic reasons, the Psalter (with the exception of a bifolium, fols. 21-22) must be dated to the mid-1340s. This redating prompts a re-examination of the question of the identity of the original owner.

At some time during the years 1497/9, Leonardo da Vinci wrote a little memorandum in one of the notebooks now preserved at the Institut de France in Paris. Evidently he had been puzzling over certain problems concerning the trajectory of javelins, for he sketched what appears to be a technique for hurling spears by means of a sort of sling, and he noted: ‘Parla con Pietro Monti di questi tali modi di trarre i dardi’. And so we meet the man who taught Leonardo darts.

Excavations in the New Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster, between 1972–4, have illuminated the development of this historic site on the northern periphery of the medieval palace. The Yard was first laid out in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century over previously marshy land at the edge of Thorney Island. In the central area of the Yard, part of the foundation of a magnificent fountain, known historically as the Great Conduit was found. Built in the mid-fifteenth century, the conduit formed a major landmark until its demolition some two hundred years later. Preserved within its foundation were the fragmentary redeposited remains of a high quality fountain of polished Purbeck marble, dated to the late twelfth century. Due to the enormous scale of the building works significant environmental evidence was recovered allowing elucidation of the topographical development of this important site, from the prehistoric period to the creation of the Yard in the late thirteenth century.

This paper is published with the aid of a grant from the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.