During the autumn of 1927, Mr. S. Williams, of Murston, observed palæolithic implements in a gravelly deposit underlying the brickearth in the pit which lies west of Haywood Farm, Bapchild. He kept a watch on the site, and, shortly after his first finds had been made, a small quarry was sunk in the bottom of the brickpit. This exposed the sub-brickearth deposits in section, and here Mr. Williams, assisted by Mr. T. Revel and other keen workers, carried out excavations, by permission of the owners of the property, Messrs. Smeed, Dean & Co., Ltd. Their labours were rewarded by a haul of more than four hundred artifacts, of Le Moustier type.

The brickearth dug at Bapchild is placed in a wash-mill and converted to slurry, in which state it is pumped to the brickworks. The wash-mill is periodically cleaned out, and from the accumulation of stones that, at such times, is removed from the mill, a number of flakes of post-Le Moustier form have been found. These obviously came from the brickearth, but none had hitherto been found in situ. Towards the end of 1928 Mr. Williams was joined in his work of implement hunting by Mr. E. A. Mount, of Sittingbourne, whom he advised to give special attention to the brickearth in an endeavour to discover the source of the flakes that had been found in the wash-mill.

It is not necessary to dispute the existence of a Rostro-Carinate type of undoubtedly human manufacture. It occurs occasionally in the Late Stone Age. I have several in my own Collection which are probably fabricators and triangular implements of Neolithic Age.

My criticism applies solely to certain so-called “Humanly-made Implements” from the Basement Beds of East Anglia, which I consider bear only a superficial resemblance to the undoubted specimens. While the latter stand every investigation as to the characteristics of the chipping itself, the former, though they may bear some resemblance, will not, to my mind and that of many other students, stand critical examination.

Sir E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., in his monograph on “The Test Specimen of the Rostro-Carinate Industry found beneath the Norwich Crag” (see Plate XV, E), claimed the “Rostro-Carinate” as a new type of “Implement” made by Man of a much greater antiquity than the Palæolithic Period.

Following an outline of some aspects of continental Early Celtic art in which the importance of Mediterranean plant-derived motifs and compass construction work is emphasised, the authors consider some significant aspects of the development of the various sword sub-styles. An analysis of selected insular pieces points out the differences from, rather than the seeming similarities to continental Celtic art. It is argued that the earliest of such pieces cannot antedate the developed third century sword style(s) though absolute chronology is impossible to achieve as yet. A final section indicates that the later insular styles see a unique re-emergence of the reliance on compass based designs.

The hoard of bronzes from Blackrock near Brighton, was first published in 1916, and later received treatment by Curwen in his Archaeology of Sussex. The obviously foreign elements in the hoard have not been clearly recognised in the past, and in view of their significance it is desirable that a more detailed description of the finds should be put on record, and that some attempt should be made to fit them into the existing pattern of the Late Bronze Age of the British Isles.

The following objects (all of bronze) were found in the hoard:

• I. Three ‘Sussex Loops.’

• II. Two plain armlets.

• III. Eight unlooped palstaves.

• IV. Rapier blade with three rivet holes.

• V. Dirk handle.

• VI. Decorated spiral finger-ring.

Unfortunately the exact locality and conditions of finding cannot be determined with certainty, but there is good reason to believe that the discovery was made at Blackrock, about two miles to the east of Brighton. There is little doubt that all these objects were found together, and that they comprised the whole hoard.

Of these objects, the Sussex loops can be fairly closely dated in the British Bronze Age, and the bronze dirk handle and decorated spiral finger-ring are imports from Schleswig-Holstein or North Germany. The origin of the other objects is less certain, but it is immediately clear that a study of this hoard may be of value in cross-dating between our own Bronze Age and that of the Northern Countries.

First we will discuss the ‘Sussex Loops’ and their chronological position in the British Isles.

In Taranto Archaeological Museum is a group of bronze objects, which are believed to have been found at Surbo, a village some 5 kilometres north of Lecce in Apulia. When Professor Drago was Director of the Museum, he heard of the existence of a group of bronzes, already partly dispersed: he bought the remaining bronzes but could gain no further information concerning the provenance or the dispersed objects. The Atto d'Immissione of Taranto Museum, No. 679, dated 20 March 1952, mentions seven objects under the Inventory Nos. 17140–17144 and lists the sword hilt, shaft-hole axes, hammer-heads and chisel. Under No. 17142, it describes ‘Una accetta a margini rialzati o coltello ascia. Cms. 2,3 × 0,7’. The measurement must be an error and the description might apply to the medial winged axe or to the spatulate axe. In view of this ambiguity, the eight bronze objects from Surbo, now grouped together in the Museum, are described here, noting that, if the spatulate axe could with confidence be omitted from the group, the remaining bronzes cohere well and an Apulian source is credible. It will be wise to keep these points in mind throughout the following discussion, where the bronzes will first be considered individually and then as a group.

Archaeologists have for some time been employing geoelectric resistivity methods to locate buried remains in order to avoid wasteful trial-and-error excavations. The results have been successful in some cases, but unexpectedly disappointing in others. The purpose of this paper is to indicate some of the peculiar difficulties which arise when applying the usual techniques suitable for deep surveys to the location of resistance anomalies buried at relatively shallow depths below the surface. The difficulties which have been experienced depend mainly on the fact that, for small electrical resistance discontinuities at shallow depths, factors arise which are negligible with deep surveys. In other words, when the dimensions and depth of an anomaly (such as a cist in a Bronze-age tumulus or the buried foundations of a Roman Wall) are comparable with the distance between the electrodes, then the usual theoretical assumptions underlying deep surveys need to be re-examined.

The state of current knowledge on the Bronze Age in Hungary, was summed up twenty years ago by Dr Francis Tompa, who had by then written several shorter studies on the subject, and had excavated a number of cemeteries and settlements. His summary defined the modern approach to the Bronze Age in Hungary though his conclusions have since been modified in detail by later explorers. How fruitful his work proved to be was shown by the interest of critics abroad and by the fact that research at home took a sudden upward swing.

A few years later Dr Paul Patay published a study in which he came to somewhat different conclusions on the chronology of the Early Bronze Age; he also gave a detailed account of the various cultures that must have shaped the course of the Bronze Age in Hungary and in this he was substantially in agreement with Dr Francis Tompa.

Dr Amelia Mozsolics dealt with chronological problems of the Bronze Age in Hungary, but had not yet reached satisfactory newer conclusions. Her paper was published only in Hungarian. She presented a useful summary of the history of her subject, and at the same time sharply criticized the views held by foreign and Hungarian experts on the Bronze Age.

A rare find was made in 2012 when a metal-detectorist on land near Bridge, a few miles south of Canterbury, Kent, recovered a copper alloy brooch, other metal items, and a quantity of burnt bone contained in a near complete, probably imported Gallic, helmet of Iron Age type. Excavation was undertaken to ascertain the immediate context of the helmet, confirm that it represented a cremation burial, and determine if it formed part of a larger funerary deposit. The helmet and brooch suggest a burial date in the mid-1st century bc and the apparently isolated cremation burial, of a possibly female adult, can be broadly placed within the Aylesford–Swarling tradition; the helmet taking the place of a more usual pottery cinerary urn. Cropmark evidence suggests that the burial was made within a wider landscape of Iron Age occupation.

Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork were carried out in 1998–2000 by Cornwall Archaeological Un within the Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, Bodmin Moor. The first two seasons involved the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season on the Northern Downs involved the evaluation a number of cairns, field systems, and palaeoenvironmental sites.

The cairn group consisted of three earlier Bronze Age ring-cairns and two ‘tailed’ cairns. One ring-cairn continued to be used as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and was reused during the Iron Age as a dwelling. An artefact assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Two prehistoric beads one of faience, the other of amber, were also found.

Ten Bronze Age radiocarbon determinations spanning 2490–1120 cal BC and two Iron Age determinations (370–40 cal BC) were obtained from three of the cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated. Significantly, a series of eight determinations was obtained from a single column, which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval period. The radiocarbon dating showed that impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with larger-scale clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was established by the Middle Bronze Age.

It is suggested here that use of space within the cairn group was structured and that the cairns formed a monument complex which was part of a wider landscape cosmology, involving groupings of particular monument types and the referencing of rocky outcrops and tors.

The investigations on Stannon Down were important as an opportunity to study an Early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape and reconsider how later Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples on Bodmin Moor might have engaged with and interpreted the materiality of earlier prehistoric monuments.

The studies of Leon Coutil and Marcel Baudouin on the gallery grave of Vaux-Louvets at Vaudancourt and Kendrick's general survey in his Axe Age, first drew the attention of modern archaeologists to the problems associated with the nature and origin of portholes in megalithic tombs in Europe. Recently interest has again been stimulated in this subject. In Britain, Hemp has excavated Bryn yr Hen Bobl in Anglesey with its curious pair of holes in the southern transverse orthostat of the chamber, Fleure has begun to excavate the Bridestones in Cheshire, and the newly discovered chamber in the north flank of the Lanhill long barrow in Wiltshire was described as having a porthole entrance; and abroad Dr Leisner has given us an excellent study of the Iberian portholes. It has therefore been thought worth while to survey afresh the problem of the European portholes, and more especially to bring together the information known about the British portholes and to relate this to the general problem of the origin and spread of portholes in Europe.

From the published accounts it was clear that the most perfect examples of portholes in the British Isles were those in the Rodmarton and Avening long barrows in Gloucestershire (fig. 1), but none of these portholes had actually been seen in their entirety by present day archaeologists. Rodmarton was excavated in 1863 by the Rev. S. Lysons, but the excavations were partially filled in and by the present day nothing of the two portholes was visible and we had only the inadequate drawings in the published accounts to rely on.

The purpose of this paper is to put on record the discovery of various sites, containing traces of prehistoric man, in the neighbourhood of Bombay.

The area of greatest importance is that of Worli. It is a cotton milling suburb of Bombay, distant some 4 miles from the Fort, and is situated on low lying marshy ground and bounded to the West by a low steep hill having a maximum height of 100 ft. O.D., and consisting of igneous basalt overlying amygdaloidal trap with a dyke of F.W. strata between. This dyke contains fossils of marsh tortoises, frogs and plants resembling bulrushes. The basalt is capped with red earth which is decomposing trap, and contains nodules of agate and blocks of chert. West of the hill is the Arabian Sea. The northern extremity of this hill ends in a spur which juts out into the sea, and here is the fishing village of Koliwada, consisting of mud huts.

In my Presidential Address delivered at the first meeting of the Society in 1908 I referred to the possibility that we might be able to trace in this part of the world the various periods which have hitherto been chiefly associated with deposits in rockshelters and caves in France and elsewhere. The object of the present paper is to bring before the members of the Society the present position of this question so far as my own researches are concerned with a view to stimulating further enquiries into the subject.

Before passing to details it will be necessary to give a brief account of the scope of the enquiry and to sum up our knowledge of the rock shelter and Cave periods of the Palæolithic Age so far as it is possible to do so. To give an adequate up-to-date description of the subject is not a very easy matter, for so far as I am aware no detailed account of the various Cave periods has been written in recent time, and advances in knowledge have to be sought for in the periodical publications of many different societies of various countries, a task which to most of us who are not within reach of a first-class library is practically impossible. Even when these can be consulted it rarely happens in my experience that sufficient attention is paid by illustration and description to the many varieties of types of implement associated with the different periods.

The implements which Mr. G. W. Smith has been good enough to exhibit at my suggestion are a selection from no less than one hundred and seventy in his collection from a small and shallow pit on high ground overlooking the Thames, near Tilehurst Station, 3 miles north-west of the centre of Reading. It is perhaps unfamiliar ground to members of this Society, but has been well studied in the past, and the following list, together with other papers quoted in the text, will put the reader in possession of the principal facts at present ascertained as to the geology and flint-finds of the neighbourhood:—

Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., LIV., 600 (sketch-map of the high gravels near Reading, Tilehurst and Goring Heath being marked alike).

Q.J.G.S., XLIX., 311, from which the accompanying section of the Thames Valley is derived (Fig. 8).

Q.J.G.S., XLVIII., 40, where the Tilehurst plateau-gravel is described as glacial.

Proc. Geol. Assoc., XV., 157 and 308.

Proc. Geol. Assoc., VIII., 348 (heights given, above the river and Ordnance datum, of flint-finds).

Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Archæological Journal, II., 16 (Treacher).

Trans. Berks Archæol. and Archit. Soc., 1881–2 (Stevens).

Though little flint-work was found in our excavations, the High Lodge industries are well established, and rest upon a large quantity of implements, chiefly in the Sturge collection now at the British Museum. The specimens shewn at the meeting by Mr. S. G. Fenton (who claims to be the first discoverer of the site) and Mr. G. F. Lawrence were thoroughly representative and very welcome; but the following are all from the national collection, which includes the fine series formerly in the possession of Canon Green well. Of the mass of material now available very little has been published, and the only illustrations appear to be the three in Sir John Evans' book (Figs. 425, 426, 426A). Dr. Sturge recognised the two main divisions (Proceedings, i., 69–72), and the following illustrated specimens are from the brick-earth series only–lower in position but later in date than the hand-axes that abound on the site. In any choice of this kind the tendency must be to give greater prominence to exceptional pieces, either the rarest or the best worked; and an effort has been made to counteract these by including specimens typical of the main groups.

Jovanovič has recently drawn attention to the early copper mine at Rudna Glava in the copper mining area of Maidanpek-Bor in Eastern Serbia (Jovanovič 1979, 103). This copper deposit has iron associated with it. In some respects this occurrence of iron and copper together compares with the deposit at Phalabora in South Africa where copper and other minerals are mined today. Rudna Glava has been a copper mine in the Chalcolithic period and an iron mine in the Turkish period. Today it is worked out, but the working of the iron ore has left exposed some of the shafts and galleries used by Chalcolithic and Bronze Age copper miners. It has been possible to obtain a sample of the copper ores used in the early periods and integrate them into a smelting programme (Tylecote et al. 1977, 305), the main purpose of which has been to determine the partitioning of the three elements between the ore, the slag and the metal. The object of this exercise was to try and relate the artefacts, the slag, and metal to the ore source. So far, ores from the British Isles, Spain, and Africa have been examined and reported (Tylecote 1977). The sample from Yugoslavia came rather too late for the first report but the work is continuing.

The smelting work described in this report was carried out by Ali Ghaznavi and the analyses were kindly made by R. Hetherington formerly of Newcastle University and Dr P. T. Craddock of the British Museum Research Laboratory. I have to thank Dr B. Jovanovič of the Archaeological Institute, Belgrade, for supplying the material and inspiring the work.

It is not generally known that a famous philosopher, Robin Collingwood, and an influential field archaeologist, Gerhard Bersu, excavated the same prehistoric monument in successive seasons. Their preoccupations differed, and their observations were completely inconsistent with one another. This paper relates the progress of that project and reflects on its implications for archaeological theory and practice.