New calibration studies of burials from the Catacomb culture of western Eurasia enable better understanding of the spread and development of different Bronze Age traditions.

Many scholars emphasize the Soviet Union's invasion of Lithuania in 1940 as the first traumatic event in Marija Gimbutas'life, but she was exposed to conflict from the time of her birth. She was born in Vilnius, a city that was at the root of conflict between Lithuanians and Poles during the 1920s and 1930s. It is unclear why she created an image of a peaceful ‘Goddess-oriented Old Europe’, as her life was inseparable from various ethnic and ideological conflicts of 20th-century Europe.

Walls with recesses to hold and protect skeps of bees were studied in Britain, Ireland and France. From an analysis of 1214 site records, the distribution, dates and characteristics of these walls are reported; some conclusions are drawn about the beekeeping practised (1100–1900) and certain regional differences.

Previous research has documented textile and basketry production at Moravian Upper Palaeolithic sites, c.27,000 BP. Recent research extends these technologies to Russia and Germany, and amplifies information on perishable fibre artefacts from France. Collectively, these data illustrate the ubiquity of perishable technologies across the late Pleistocene world.

The technical and aesthetic qualities of the many varieties of Polish flint utilized from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age are analysed and assessed, and show how different flints were selected for different purposes.

Petroglyphs weather at varying rates, compared tothe unengraved host rock into which they are carved. Most petroglyphs are significantly harder or significantly softer than surrounding rock, depending on the nature of weathering. Variability and intensity of weathering probably introduces error into radiocarbon, rock varnis and micreoerosion dating methods.

Unexpectedly early evidence for the precocious spread of farming has recently emerged in Cyprus. It is argued that the transmission occurred as a result of migration related to ecosystem stress in the Levant. So strong are the connections of the colonists with the mainland that we suggest the term Cypro-Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to describe what has hitherto been a major lacuna in Cypriot prehistory. Consistent dates from key sites and the evolution of material culture indicate that this Cypro-PPNB sequence represents the hitherto elusive ancestry for the Khirokitian.

Prehistoric (Bronze Age) settlement has been little explored in the Yemen. Here, we report on new research at the small, semi-urban site of Hammat al-Qa in the Dhamar region of Yemen.

High-resolution pollen and phytolith analyses can provide direct evidence for farming in archaeological landscapes. This is demonstrated here in the analysis of two mounds at Pouerua, northern New Zealand, where evidence indicates both functional and temporal differences between the structures, and the presence of gourd Lagenaria siceraria provides direct, unequivocal evidence that this crop was cultivated and that the site was used as a garden.

A deposit of dismembered and cooked human remains from Ana Manuku in the Cook Islands, Polynesia, provides evidence for ritual practices c. AD 1390–1470.

Resin preserved on New Kingdom vessels from Amarna in Middle Egypt provides evidence for incense burning and trade. Here Margaret Serpico & Raymond White describe a new interdisciplinary research project.

The undisturbed shaft deposit G7000x in front of the Great Pyramid at Giza has been regarded as the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, even though it did not contain a mummy. The absence of the mummy has posed problems for the finds categorization as a tomb and has given rise to elaborate hypotheses. As shown here, these difficulties can be largely eliminated if the find is understood as a funerary deposit and not a tomb. The new categorization is also significant for the understanding of Old Kingdom funerary practices.

Professional archaeology in Britain has changed out of all recognition over the last 40 years, from an amateur world with a few paid professionals, to a fully professional activity. The changes have come about through different intiatives — popular and bureaucratic — and have led to new organizational structures, new funds, new people and different approaches. Few individuals have bridged this dynamic period as close to the driving seat as Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, or been able to see from where the many pressures for change came. Rarely were the initiatives widely published or documented, and the present state of things often seem to bear little relation to what went before. We have commissioned Professor Wainwright to review the changes and developments in the archaeology of England — from his perspective — and explain how and why many of the changes that underlie archaeology in 2000 have come about.

In June this year, we published Geoffrey Wainwright's paper on ‘The Stonehenge we deserve'. This paper aimed to provide a review of progress towards sorting out the many problems of management, presentation and conservation of this World Heritage site and its landscape. As readers of ANTIQUITY are well aware, the fortunes of Stonehenge are intimately linked with politics, money and public opinion, and the long saga of possible solutions to make the site a better place for the future rest on these changing variables. Dr Wainwright outlined past strategies and the hope of future solutions as they were early this year. Already things have changed and the invited responses which we publish here discuss the recent changes of plan for Stonehenge. Baxter & Chippindale review the difficulties of the ‘current’ scheme and its incompatibility with visitor numbers. Fielden exposes the incompatibility of the A303 proposals for Stonehenge with legislation and planning; and Kennet & Young raise the problems of the various Plans and politics.

We sent these responses to Dr Wainwright for his current view of the situation.