The Apennine Culture of the Middle and Late Bronze Age of Italy extended in space from the Po Valley to the Gulf of Taranto, and from the Gargano to Lipari, and in time from at least 1500 to 1000 B.C. It is represented in the museums by its pottery, and little else. Yet this is sufficient for an examination of it to reveal important regional and chronological variations, which form the subject of the present paper.

The pottery of the Apennine Culture consists of two distinct classes, both invariably hand-made. The first is a coarse, unburnished ware indistinguishable from the corresponding classes of pottery in preceding and succeeding periods. Decoration is common, consisting of cordons, plain or impressed, indentations of the rim and, rarely, applied knobs or bosses which merge imperceptibly into the form of the very common simple lug handles. Shapes include heavy jars of various sizes, from great pithoi for water, oil or grain storage, with lugs only, to smaller mug- or cup-like ones, often with single vertical strap handles. Smallest of all are miniature vessels, as little as an inch high, which may be votive (the Grotta Pertosa produced several hundred examples) or simply children's toys. The second, commoner, and much more important ware is a fine, medium, darkfaced, burnished one, and in this all the more characteristic forms were made. A bold decoration of bands, dotted, hatched, excised or void, is frequent though by no means universal.

An unusual ⊏-shaped earthwork has been known for several generations (Nat. Grid. Ref. TA 099658) just over one mile to the south of the Wold village of Rudston, in the Western angle of two roads. It has often been interpreted as three contiguous long-barrows. Canon Greenwell described the site in 1877 as ‘two long mounds, almost parallel, their northern end gradually losing themselves in the surface-level, but connected together at the southern end by another long mound’. In 1958 when Messrs C. and E. Grantham of Driffield excavated a section across the western ditch, they appreciated that the western and eastern banks continued for a much greater distance than Greenwell had implied, travelling at least ½-mile downhill towards the village.

Aerial reconnaissance in 1961 by Dr J. K. St. Joseph established the existence of two long parallel ditches, extending intermittently for 1½ miles beyond the earthwork. The feature as a whole was recognizable therefore as a cursus, the earthwork being the squared southern end.

The origin and the development of the Series II tools is one of those problems of Indian prehistoric archaeology which has evaded solution so far. This culture is comprised of scrapers of all sorts—side, hollow, endpoints, borers and burins (very rare) generally made on jasper, agate, chert and sometimes chalcedony also. The position of this culture in relation to other prehistoric cultures remains confused since its stratigraphical position has still to be worked out. And it awaits dating like other lithic industries because one has yet to find out the tools in association with fossils in situ in the horizons which are likely to yield them.

In the following pages, is presented the data, collected from the Narmada and its tributary valleys, which tends to throw light on this culture and an attempt is made to ‘fix’ this culture in the stratigraphy and to date it with the help of fossils, which were found along with it in plenty in this area. These observations were made by the writer when he was conducting the fieldwork in the Hoshangabad-Narsinghpur region of the Narmada river in Central India, in search of Fossil Man, under the auspices of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India. This Narmada data, apart from ‘fixing’ it in its proper context, illustrates also its relationship with the Handaxe-cleaver complex on one hand and the Microlithic industry on the other.

This paper considers the future for cultural heritage in the new Millennium. It briefly discusses recent developments towards the protection, management, and conservation of archaeological remains and monuments at an international level and of public attitudes towards cultural heritage. The power of certain heritage sites to attract visitors and their indispensible role in the tourist industry is considered, with the current plans for Stonehenge presented as a case study. Research Frameworks for archaeology were defined in the early 1980s and the role of the Prehistoric Society in formulating these, and the extent to which they have been implemented, is described. The paper concludes with the author's suggestion of four main themes for the next Millennium which should be the concern of the discipline in general and of the Society in particular.

The first early palaeolithic tools, i.e. tools older than the Riss glacial period, were found already in the 1950s as isolated finds on the outskirts of Brno, either in the clay pits of brickworks (at the Brno–‘Červený kopec’, Brno-Židenice, ‘Malá Klajdovka’ and ‘Růženin dvůr’ localities) or in gravel terraces (Brno–Židenice, Brno–Líšeň). All these finds were worked pebbles or flakes.

The research of the Lower Pleistocene palaeontological site ‘Stránská skála’, on the eastern fringes of the City of Brno, started in the early 1960s by the Anthropos Institute of the Moravian Museum and led by R. Musil, brought to the light the first collection of artefacts accompanied by fauna. Stránská skála is a rock of Jurassic limestones, its north-western slope covered with debris, loess and fossil soils. There is a very rich fauna of vertebrata and molluscs, especially in the complex of fossil soils, but also in the loess and in the numerous crevices, fissures and caves of the rock massif. They are classed as Upper Biharian and dated to the Cromerian period (Musil and Valoch 1968). In the loess below the soil complex was also located the Matuyama/Brunhes palaeomagnetic inversion (Bucha et al. 1975).

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.

The collections of Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen include three jadeite axeheads (Fig. 1) which probably come from prehistoric Scottish contexts. This short note aims to bring them to the attention of others interested in these spectacular objects, in the hope that further work will help their place in Scottish prehistory to be better understood.

One of the axeheads (ABDUA:39404) has already been published (Murray, 1994, 104; Batey & King 1994, 25) and has been allocated number 107 by Murray (op. cit.) in the scheme set out by Jones et al. (1977). Under the Treasure Trove procedure it was allocated to Marischal Museum in 1994. The other two axeheads were only recognised after the acquisition of this specimen. One of these (ABDUA: 37080) was given to the museum by Sir Alexander Ogston in 1928. Previously it was in the collection of Dr Garden of Alford, having been found in the parish of Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. Since its discovery, this axehead has been hafted, probably by Ogston who presented nine other prehistoric implements with modern hafts to the museum.

In the course of making a digital record of a bow engraved on the lower face of a capstone in the Déhus passage grave, on Guernsey, several new motifs were observed, necessitating a reinterpretation of the composition as a whole.

While the presence of a bow and two arrows is confirmed by photogrammetry and images obtained under directional lighting, the anthropomorphic figure can now be better defined, and compared to figures recently recognised in the Paris Basin. The presence of ‘hands’, however, cannot be confirmed, and these engravings may instead represent two horned animals in contact with two further motifs, one of which is certainly a throwing stick.

Having in mind that the knowledge of context is essential to the reading and interpretation of ancient images, this paper deals with unconventional iconographies displaying key elements of the funerary ideology among the peoples of Indo-European Hispania. Two main itineraries – over water and by air – which are not mutually exclusive, are considered in those transits to the Other World in a visual history that, by calling on ancestral memory, help to construct new Romano-Celtic identities.

The results are presented of a comprehensive petrographic study of 82 Bronze Age cinerary vessels from the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Petrographic analysis is particularly appropriate when applied to this island location with its diverse and well defined geology. The pottery is characterised by a distinctive range of clasts, of which the most characteristic are varieties of igneous rocks and sandstone. The clasts can be matched to outcrops on the island with one exception which could have been derived from a known mainland source. The particular rock types seen in the pottery are not common in the island's alluvial and glacial sediments and it is therefore concluded that the potters showed a strong preference for specific dark coloured igneous rock types as added filler, in common with other Bronze Age potters in Britain. Although typology implies some extraneous influences, petrography indicates that the pottery was made on the island. However, despite the varied geology, the widespread distribution of many of the crucial rock types (dolerites, lithic sandstones) across the island means that individual production centres cannot be distinguished, a difficulty exacerbated by the lack of known habitation sites and associated domestic pottery. The question as to whether specifically designed pottery or redundant domestic pottery was used for burials is discussed, but remains unresolved.

This paper discusses rock art in southern Scandinavia as a multisensory format, where both sight and touch would have contributed to the comprehension of the images. From a structural semiotic point of view, we suggest that rock art can be construed as an organised set of features, such as visual and tactile elements, organised into heterogeneous unities with dynamic relations between elements that can change over time with respect to how they are experienced. We argue that in order to understand the rock art medium, it is crucial to take into consideration the multisensory interaction between the perceiver and the qualities of the rock art surface. The reason for including tactile elements in our interpretation of the conception of rock art is the way it was created: by hands interacting with tools and rock surfaces, as well as the spontaneous human tendency to explore the physical world through touch. One can identify key features in the images that would arguably facilitate tactile recognition, as well as be better explained from a multisensorial perspective. This includes the position of the images on horizontal outcrops, the moderate size of the images, the application of an orthographic perspective, the use of ‘tactile markers’ (ie crucial features having a strategic function for understanding images by touch), and the occurrence of incomplete images. A multisensorial perspective on rock art furthermore has semiotic implications. Incomplete images, for example, can be understood as indexical stand-ins for the whole imagined picture, ie as iconic indices. A multisensorial approach to Scandinavian rock art thus allows for new explanations for certain design choices, as well as a new understanding of how the images could relay meaning to a perceiver.

Discovery of the cave of Altamira in 1879 introduced a new aspect to ideas on human evolution, requiring a fresh approach to previous notions of life and customs among prehistoric groups. In the final years of the 19th century the prevailing view of prehistoric life was still coloured by the prejudice and concepts which had marked early discussion on the origin of man. From what was known of their tools and art forms, early men were presented as living in simple communities which were considered equivalent to the ‘primitive peoples’ being described, often with a Euro-centric superiority, by contemporary ethnographers. The already classical volumes of the period, such as the Reliquiae Aquitanicae recording Lartet and Christy's discoveries, were full of interesting parallels to Eskimos and Bushmen. Up to this time, known Palaeolithic art was confined to engraved bone, some of it of high technical competence as at Chaffaud and La Madeleine. Consequently when the discovery of Altamira was presented at the Lisbon Congress it was received with some degree of caution.

Few regions have yielded so many bronzes as the East Anglian fens, yet accurate records of the circumstances of their discovery exist for a small fraction only of the finds. This is very regretable since this evidence is usually of far more importance been than the objects found. In the case of the Methwold spear-head it has to some extent recovered by the diligence of Major Gordon Fowler, F.S.A., who interviewed the discoverer, Mr. John Harrod of Methwold, and obtained the object for the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge. The only completely satisfactory method is an immediate visit to the site of a discovery, and in this the Fenland Research Committee, which is vitally interested in such finds, is always keen to co-operate.

The site of the discovery may be found immediately below the “un” of Queen's Ground, Methwold Fen (Norfolk 6 in. sheet LXXXI, S.E., 1906 edtn.; Long. 0° 28′ 57″, Lat. 52° 30′ 29″). The spear-head itself (fig. 1) has loops at the junction of the socket and wings. Mr. Estyn Evans, F.S.A., to whom a photograph has been submitted, is of the opinion that this type marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in Britain, in which case it would date from approximately 1000 B.C.

It would, perhaps, be more conventional to ascribe the spear-head to the end of the Middle Bronze Age.

During recent years certain transitional cultural stages have been recognised which link up the Palæolithic and Neolithic civilisations, and for which the term Mesolithic is generally accepted. Of these the Maglemose stage is perhaps the most important, because in it are seen pronounced Palæolithic influences, and survivals, side by side with the first recognisable expressions of Neolithic culture.

The typical station was discovered in 1900 by Dr. Sarauw, the Danish archæologist, in the peat moss of Maglemose, literally “the great moor,” formerly a fresh water lake but now thirteen feet above sea level, and situated near Mullerup, on the west coast of Zeeland.

The experiments on which these notes were made were undertaken to clear up a little of the mystery which has been thrown around the subject by well-meaning but not always chemically-minded people. Much has been said lately on the necessity for prehistorians being also geologists, but it is perhaps too much to ask that they shall, in addition, be chemists. But a very little knowledge of chemistry would have averted some of the blunders and misstatements met with on the patination problem. These notes contain no really original idea, but were made on experiments proving what to most chemists are well-known facts. The experiments were carried out in the brief intervals of routine work in a very busy laboratory, unfitted with any special re-agents or apparatus for the work.

Silica is, chemically speaking, the dioxide of the element silicon, a body which does not appear to exist in a free state in nature, and which can only be brought into a free or elementary state by some what tedious laboratory processes.

In June, 1927, Mr. H. H. Halls noticed that the footpath beside the main Cambridge line of the L.N.E.R. had been made up with gravel. With the then recent discovery of implementiferous gravels at Whitlingham fresh in his mind he scrutinised the gravel carefully and soon found definite flakes. With some difficulty the gravel was traced to its source, and proved to come from Messrs. J. &. J Colman's Carrow works, where to extensive alterations were in progress. By the courtesy of the Directors, Mr. Halls was enabled to visit the site and examine the sections exposed. No flakes were seen in situ, but the workmen were instructed what to look for, and he arranged that any find of apparent interest should be preserved for his inspection. Throughout the rest of the year Mr. Halls regularly visited the site and a number of flakes were recovered, and fragments of bone, too decayed for identification, were seen.

Early in 1928 the Rev. T. C. Rae found the end of a broken hand-axe—a promise of future discoveries—and in February a good hand-axe was recovered from a sand layer 12 feet below the top of the section. The same deposit also yielded a worked flake of Chellean type, evidently derived from an older deposit, as well as some fresh-looking flakes with prominent bulbs. Finds of coarse scrapers and worked flakes continued steadily, and early in July a mammoth tooth, too disintegrated for preservation, prepared us for the discovery of a large portion of tusk, over three feet long.

Since my original paper on the flint implements found in the Brown Boulder Clay of north-west Norfolk, I have continued my researches in that region, and now wish to give some account of these, and of the further specimens which have been discovered in this most recent boulder clay of East Anglia. I would take this opportunity of thanking the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Fund for their kindness in supporting this research with a money grant, and so enabling me to continue my examination of an era of much interest and importance to prehistoric archæology. I am also very grateful to my friends, Mr. J. B. Calkin, Mr. Guy Maynard, and Mr. J. S. Fisher, for the valuable help they have given me in carrying out the investigation of the Brown Boulder Clay.

As is now widely known, this deposit, so far as Norfolk is concerned, is confined to the north-western portion of that county, and many years ago was examined and reported upon by the Geological Survey in two of their memoırs. The Brown Boulder Clay occurs approximately at sea-level at Hunstanton, while at Brancaster, as reported by Mr. Clement Reid, the deposit is exposed at low water upon the foreshore, underlying the ‘submerged forest’ which he saw there. At other places, such as Holkham brickfield, and the remarkable formation (probably a terminal moraine) in Hunstanton Park, the boulder clay rests at about 50 ft, above O.D.

I desire first of all to express my appreciation of the honour you have done me in electing me President of the Society. Faced with the necessity of choosing a subject suitable for a Presidential Address, it occurred to me that a brief survey of the distribution of Man in East Anglia during the Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages might be appropriate. Selection of the region wherein the Society was born, and which inspired the fruitful work of its founders and their successors, is intended as a tribute of gratitude from one who has profited by the study of the many important Papers published in its Proceedings.

The general principles, recognized as governing Man's distribution under uncivilized or semi-civilized conditions in Britain, may first be summarized.

In the Lowland area to which East Anglia belongs soil is the chief determinant. There are two main types of soil: pervious, such as that overlying chalk, sand, gravel; impervious, as that overlying clay. The pervious soils induce an open type of country, or carry forest with relatively thin undergrowth; the rapidity with which such soils dry up after rain, the ease with which a scratch agriculture can be practised on them, their suitability for pastoral life, the ease of movement on them—all these factors render them attractive to early Man. As a group they form the Area of Primary Settlement. The impervious clay soils, on the other hand, carry forest with dense undergrowth, are difficult to clear, and when cleared difficult to cultivate with primitive tools. To the physical unsuitability of such soils for settlement there is added a second deterrent; water-laden soils under the conditions of savage life produce disease in man and beast. But when cultivation of such soils is possible they are found to yield the heaviest crops to tillage, being especially good for corn-growing. They are, then, utilized when civilization reaches a certain level, and have accordingly been grouped as the Area of Secondary Settlement.