AMS and other dating methods have been applied to the problem of Upper Palaeolithic occupation in Central Europe. The results from the excavations at the Rhineland site of Wiesbaden-Igstadt provide an opportunity for comparison and discussion of whether central Europe was really subject to abandonment at various times during Glacial/Pleniglacial episodes.

The tuffaceous sandstones and siltstones of the Ola Bula Formation in central Flores. east Indonesia, contain many fossil sites. Here, excavations at Boa Lesa and Dozu Dhalu and the results of regional site surveys are described. Stone artefacts indicate that hominids had arrived on the island by 840,000 years ago, post-dating a major change in the Lower Pleistocene fauna. Since water crossings were required to reach Flores from mainland Southeast Asia, this evidence has implications for the intellectual, technological and linguistic capabilities of early hominids.

The Amazon rain-forest we know today is quite a recent phenomenon. New research on climate and vegetation changes from a series of cores in Ecuador provide a chronology for early agriculture and forest clearance from early Holocene times.

The threatened city of Venice, plauged by rising sea levels and subsiding ground, has been the subject of recent archaeological investigation. Studies of buried archaeological sites yield new evidence on trends in sea-level change for the Lagoon of Venice and provide important insight into how early habitation responded to such change.

Small islands offer archaeologists interesting and manageable subjects for survey and excavation. The recent work on Adriatic islands reported here examines occupation during the 3rd millennium BC, showing how sailors exploited islands for trade, control and raw materials.

Prehistoric monuments in Britain are often dominant features in the landscape, and archaeological theory has tended to consider the visual and spatial influences of their architecture upon peoples' movement and perception. The articulation of sound within these structures has not been widely discussed, despite evidence which suggests that many monuments provided settings for gatherings of people. This possibility was explored at two contrasting sites in Scotland, a recumbent stone circle and a passage-grave, revealing that the elemental acoustic properties inherent in each may have literally orchestrated encounters with the stones.

Intensive survey in southwestern Spain has encouraged reassessment of Copper and Bronze Age settlement in the region. This paper explores the issues of social ranking and stratification, and incorporates both the different types of landscape and their relative economic productivity in new discussions on social complexity.

How can archaeologists evaluate the ‘cost of production’ in prehistory? Stephen Shennan explores ethnographic examples, Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage and archaeological evidence from the eastern Alps in a stimulating discussion of Bronze Age production and exchange.

The recovery of animal and plant remains from the site of Cahal Pech provides data on early diet and subsistence practices in the Belize Valley region of the Maya lowlands. Analysis of the material remains suggests that the Middle Preclassic Maya were practising a mixed subsistence economy relying on agricultural foodstuffs, local terrestrial game species, freshwater fish and shellfish and marine reef fishes. Isotopic analysis of human bone is used to aid in the reconstruction of actual food consumption.

The beautifully illustrated catalogues of Lieutenant General Pitt-Rivers collections at Farnham have recently been presented to the University of Cambridge — where they will be in the public domain for the first time. The background to the collections and their catalogues is an intriguing story, showing the precision and detail demanded by Pitt-Rivers for his Farnham Museum. We are pleased to present some examples here, printed in colour and showing the range of the Victorian collector par excellence.

The hunting methods of the Neanderthals are rarely evident in detail in the archaeological record. Here, the rare and important discovery of a fragment of broken Levallois point, embedded in the neck-bones of a wild ass, provokes plenty of discussion of the methods of hafting and killing game in the Middle Palaeolithic of Syria.

New incised bone and limestone Natufian objects discovered during the 1997 season of excavations at Hayonim cave (Western Galilee, Israel), as well as a bone object found earlier in Kebara cave (Mount Carmel), indicate direct connections between the two sites. The incised pattern on the slab is interpreted as supportive evidence for emerging territoriality among Natufian communities in the Levant.

Reconnaissance on the southern edge of the Massif Central is studying field evidence which deepens appreciation of the present-day upland French landscape as not only ‘sauvage’ but also the product of long-term use.

The first colonization of New Zealand is a much debated issue. The lack of appropriate absolute dating has meant chronology has been poorly understood. New 14C dating of materials from archaic Polynesian graves and occupation levels provides important precision and understanding of early exploitation on New Zealand.

Excavations in the summer of 1998 have provided a solution to the problem of dating Northern Ireland's premier archaeological site and opened up new areas for speculation.

The dating of the complex historical events of Palestine, Syria and Egypt during the Iron Age have long occupied scholarly research. Here, a new scheme of dating is offered, which may help to remove gaps and anomalies in the sequence.

Spanish colonists imported ancient Arabic irrigation methods into Mexico. Even though historians have made little of the qanat systems, archaeological research in Jalisco has revealed their significance in the colonial economy of Mexico.

The antiquities trade is a rather shady business — and few facts are available. Here Neil Brodie of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre at Cambridge reviews the facts and figures of the British trade in such goods.