The discovery and initial excavation of an unenclosed, timber platform settlement site of Late Bronze Age date is described. The site is located in open Fen just off the Fen-edge at Fengate in an area of well-known prehistoric activity. The site includes the remains of a remarkably well-preserved three-aisled rectangular building, with at least two floor levels still intact. Finds include items of pottery, flint and wood. Current environmental research is outlined and the report concludes with a discussion of the site's role and status.

The megalithic tombs of the Tramore group in County Waterford, south-eastern Ireland, are described and reconsidered. Three are confirmed as passage-tombs, but two are now identified as wedge-tombs. The passage-tombs have their best parallels not in Ireland, but in the Scilly Isles and Cornwall.

An extensively plough-damaged oval barrow of the third millennium bc was excavated. The entire mound had been removed by ploughing. No burials were found under the site of the mound but disarticulated human skeletal material was found in the ditches. The main flanking ditches appear to have silted in naturally with evidence of Beaker activity and Romano-British agriculture in the higher levels. Some evidence of deliberate back-filling, including the burial of carved chalk objects, was found in the ditches at the east end. A single Saxon hut was excavated in the north-east corner of the barrow and a rubbish deposit containing Middle Saxon pottery was found in the upper levels of the ditch in the south-west corner of the barrow.

Eight ring-ditches and several stretches of pit alignment have been excavated between 1981 and 1985, as part of the investigation of an extensive cropmark complex on a gravel terrace in the Upper Severn valley at Four Crosses, northern Powys. Excavation of the ring-ditches, which form part of a more scattered barrow cemetery, has revealed a long and complex pattern of development of barrow types and burial forms in the period between the Middle Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. This is compared with the recently published sequence from the neighbouring upland barrow cemetery at Trelystan, and subdivided into four hypothetical phases. There is evidence of activity in the vicinity of some of the sites in the Iron Age, Romano-British, and possibly the early post-Roman period.

The suitability of diatom analysis for provenancing British late neolithic and early Bronze Age ceramics is examined. The Milfield Basin, Northumberland, was chosen for a test programme, as an area with well documented clay sources, defined geology and available pottery samples. The bulk of the pottery sampled was of local origin, or at least need not have been made elsewhere; one sherd, the only possible Beaker sherd sampled, seems to be an import. It is concluded that it is possible to use diatoms in this way, and some of the problems of the technique are discussed, together with possible solutions. Sampling and counting strategies are also discussed.

The pottery of the later prehistoric period in the Western Isles of Scotland displays a variety of decorative styles and forms not found elsewhere on the Scottish mainland. Traditional approaches have attempted to define stylistic sequences or to identify wares to which chronological and cultural labels may be attached. In this study neutron activation analysis was utilized to examine if the distinctions which had been drawn were mirrored by chemical composition. Analysis of clay beds had indicated that the analytical and statistical techniques which were employed were sensitive enough to identify patterns which existed within the data. The results for the later prehistoric ceramics indicated that pottery was probably locally produced and locally distributed and that the clays involved in the manufacture of metalworking moulds and crucibles were different in terms of source or method of preparation from those employed in the manufacture of the more mundane range of domestic vessels.

The influence of alternative sources on patterns of abundance of exchanged goods within a region is investigated. A gravity model is developed, which predicts relative abundance of goods from each source at each site in the region. Results of the application of this model to an ethnographic example indicate that observed patterns of abundance of exchanged goods which seem anomalous in terms of previously proposed models of exchange distributions can be explained through the effects of alternative sources. Results of the application of this model to an archaeological example suggest that some aspects of the observed spatial patterning in abundance of exchanged goods can be related to the presence of alternative sources in the region. It is concluded that the multiple sources gravity model has wide utility in the investigation of the operation of prehistoric exchange systems.

The discovery of a Group XVIII stone axe-hammer with the remains of its wooden haft in the peat deposit associated with the submerged forest at Cleethorpes, South Humberside provided an opportunity to obtain an accurate dating for one of these implements. Radiocarbon dating showed that implement had been in use around 1400 bc but had apparently become incorporated in an earlier peat deposit. Previous work on the dating of axe-hammers is reviewed and their possible function is discussed.

Our knowledge of the Belgian Bronze Age is still very partial. Most of the bronze objects of this period — and I am not the only one to say they are important — remain unpublished. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that a great many bronzes have been, or still are, part of private collections. Objects fundamental to our understanding of Bronze Age economics have remained inaccessible for years; moreover, some of these, probably in consequence of this regrettable situation, have been stigmatised by this or that scholar's doubts about their authenticity. It is true that they have been traded by not always very scrupulous dealers.

Many scholars have been discouraged by the doubtful quality of part of the material, but too many scholars have therefore lost interest in its totality. A few important hoards, though in public collections, have thus been neglected, and remained unpublished for more than a century (Warmenbol forthcoming a and b). The largest collections, those of Edouard Bernays (Antwerp), George Hasse (Antwerp), J. Moens (Ghent) and J. Maertens de Noordhout (Ghent), were all greatly expanded through the acquisition of objects found during the extensive dredging carried out in the 1910s and 1920s, mainly in the Schelde, but also in other rivers. Great quantities of bronzes were found at places such as Melle, Wetteren, Wichelen and Schoonaarde. All these objects got on the market, and assuredly some dealers improved their stocks by enriching them with objects certainly found elsewhere.

Excavation of a late Iron Age enclosure at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire, produced substantial quantities of organic material preserved in the ditch filling. Insect, pollen and plant macrofossil remains allowed reconstruction of the environment and human activity in the area. Evidence for cultivation, grassland and human activities in the enclosure is discussed.

The Didwana region has preserved lower palaeolithic artefacts in primary and semi-primary contexts. On the basis of geological stratigraphy of aeolian and playa sediments, artefacts occurring in a stratified context have been dated to the Middle Pleistocene. In order to work out technological evolutionary trends of the acheulian culture in this region, 301 handaxes from 10 localities have been studied following Roe's methodology, with some additional attributes. Some differences in size, shape and refinement are apparent between the collections. Statistics, diagrams, factor and cluster analyses suggest a technological evolution within the assemblages and therefore indicate the chronology of the sites. Compared with those of other known Indian sites, these handaxes may correspond to cultural stages ranging between early acheulian and very late acheulian or even early middle palaeolithic.

The acheulian site at Boxgrove contains one of the most extensive areas of in situ fauna and flintwork yet discovered in Britain. This material is found in a complex sequence of sediments which represent depositional conditions from a 42 m sea level rise to the onset of a full periglacial climate. Excavation of the archaeological horizon has been accompanied by a programme of multidisciplinary research examining site formation processes, palaeolandscape and palaeoecological development, using sedimentological and environmental reconstruction techniques. Dating of the site is tentative as no absolute dates are available at present. However, comparative analysis with other British sites would suggest a position for the Boxgrove sequence within the Middle Pleistocene. The archaeological horizon is interpreted as being deposited towards the latter part of an interglacial or an interstadial period.

The central and most intricate occurrence among the acheulean sites of the Yiron Plateau and environs, Israel, is studied. All lines of evidence favour an interpretation of Mitzpeh Yiron (Y25) as an aggregation node where small groups assembled to concentrate on the exploitation of a relatively short-term seasonal subsistence resource. Concurrently the congregation event enhanced co-operative activities, sociocultural relationships, and particularly kinship ties. With the present effort a better understanding is hopefully achieved of the general configuration of the settlement system of the area along with the technological and other variabilities of the constituent units.

The definition and classification of ‘henges’ and ‘hengiform’ sites are reconsidered. A new classification is proposed based on the nature of the perimeter, the number of entrances, and a range of features within or concentric to the perimeter. It is suggested that there is no valid distinction between sites termed ‘henge’ or ‘hengiform’. The site, distribution and chronology of these sites are also considered. Some of the associated features have close parallels in earlier neolithic sites.