Every prehistorian has heard of the famous volcanic rock of the Eifel from which querns were made in prehistoric and later times. The source from which the querns came has several names, and we read of Andernach, Niedermendig and Mayen lava. Actually, Andernach is merely the Rhineland town nearest to the quarries; there is no lava there. Niedermendig has lava quarries, but they did not begin to be worked until the Middle Ages, and then the output was only about one third of that of Mayen. Since however the output of Mayen passed through Niedermendig on its way to the Rhine, the latter name got attached, and we in Britain usually write of ‘Niedermendig lava’. But all prehistoric and Roman querns came, not from there but from the Mayen quarries, which are still being worked. During a visit to Germany in July 1953, I was conducted round them by Dr J. Röder of Koblenz. The following account, though made possible by that visit, is not an original composition but is derived from an authoritative article by Dr Röder and others, which has kindly been abstracted for me in English by Mr J. D. van der Waals of Amsterdam. I wish also to thank Dr Röder for the loan of illustrations, especially the blocks for FIGS, 1 and 3.

The wildness and desolation of moorland, even when seen on a fine summer’s day, can give an overpowering impression of land untamed by man, land in which man is the interloper and not the master. The word primaeval usually comes to mind and, indeed, even modern geography books sometimes describe these areas as the last strongholds of wild nature. It is recognized, of course, that man burns the moor at intervals to facilitate turf-cutting or to provide better conditions for his animals whether sheep or grouse, but as this practice has been going on from time immemorial and the moorland still looks the same, it is tacitly assumed that it has always been the same.

How far from the truth this assumption can be has recently been shown by an investigation into some archaeological sites on the watershed of the Cleveland Hills. Such sites contain organic remains, particularly pollen and charcoal, which reflect the contemporary ecological conditions. The conclusions reached here do not necessarily apply to all moorland areas, of course; the Cleveland Hills receive less rain than moorlands further west, so their early history may have been different. Today this relative dryness is reflected in the predominance of heather (Calluna) rather than the plants of blanket bog. Nevertheless, these North Yorkshire Moors today have as strong an atmosphere of wilderness as anywhere in the North of England. To anyone who knows them the old name of Blackamore graphically expresses their present character.

Camels were not native to Europe during the Holocene and were evidently imported by conquering peoples. The discovery of camel bones at two sites in Slovenia is an important contribution to understanding the distribution and function of these animals during the Roman Imperial Period.

Introduction

In recent years, considerable attention has been dedicated to the involvement of archaeology (and most notably prehistory) with nationalism. The probable causes of this recent fashion1 need not concern 11s here, but the movement itself is ccrtninly welcome, testifying to the reflection of archaeologists on their own practices and those of their predecessors. For historians, this trend is quite welcome insofar as it contributes to a general renaissance of interest in the past of the discipline. However, a more careful examination of this historiography leads us to some caution about its significance.

The cultural transition from the Mesolithic to Neolithic in the Rhône valley has been radically illuminated by excavation in the Grotte du Gardon (Ain). Examination of the well-stratified assemblages shows that flint and pottery associated with early Neolithic cultures in the Mediterranean occurred with lithics of local Mesolithic traditions. The author proposes that during the transitional period in this region in the sixth millennium BC, peoples of the two cultures lived side by side.

In 2013, Hardy et al. offered a broad behavioural context for the hypothesis that the ingestion of non-nutritional plants (yarrow and camomile) by Neanderthals was for the purpose of self-medication. Chemical traces of these plants had been detected in samples of dental calculus from Neanderthals at the site of El Sidrón, Spain, along with traces of bitumen and wood smoke, as well as starch granules that showed evidence of roasting (Hardy et al.2012). Subsequently, the presence of traces of resin and a piece of non-edible conifer wood were also identified from these samples (Radini et al.2016). Although not rejecting our interpretation for the presence of these two non-edible plants as evidence of medicinal plant use, two recent articles offer alternative scenarios for why and how those plants may have reached the mouth and, eventually, the dental calculus of the individual concerned. Buck and Stringer (2014) suggest that the plants were not deliberately ingested, and that the traces of yarrow and camomile were in fact embedded in the chyme, or stomach contents, of herbivore prey. Krief et al. (2015) propose two hypotheses: first, they suggest that the plants could have been used to flavour meat; second, while not ruling out the possibility that they could be medicinal, they argue on a technical point that the plants were not self-administered but were provided by a caregiver. Here, we examine these suggestions and consider their probability and feasibility as alternatives to our original proposal of self-medication.

A different vision from southern Africa challenges Mazel's view of the region's archaeology, and of the place for rock art in knowing its history.

Since his discovery in 1991 the iceman has been widely seen as meeting a dramatic end – mortally wounded by an arrow shot while attempting to flee through an Alpine pass. A careful study of all the located grave goods, here planned comprehensively for the first time, points strongly towards the scene as one of a ceremonial burial, subsequently dispersed by thawing and gravity. The whole assemblage thus takes on another aspect – not a casual tragedy but a mortuary statement of its day.

As the temperature rises each year, the assemblages of prehistoric hunters emerge from the ice. Archaeologists in Norway are now conducting regular surveys in the mountains to record the new finds. A recent example presented here consists of a whole tunic, made of warm wool and woven in diamond twill. The owner, who lived in the late Iron Age (third–fourth centuries AD), was wearing well-worn outdoor clothing, originally of high quality.

Intensive research on the Mesolithic of western Central Asia began in the mid twentieth century, when the discovery of key sites allowed for the formulation of the main regional cultural-chronological schemes (Figure 1).

Is ecology or agency the principal imperative of the formation of complex societies? Using new survey data, the author shows how both interest in the development of the riverside settlement area of the American Bottom and how the different modern histories of the northern (industrial) and the southern (agricultural) American Bottom, have affected the survival of evidence and how this in turn has favoured a different emphasis in interpretation for each.

The locations of the medieval castles of the Japanese island of Okinawa have been analysed through a variety of environmental and statistical methods, showing the development of different polities in the Gusuku period.