Dactylopius coccus has been used in Mexico and Peru as a source of natural dyes since pre-Columbian times. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Dactylopius, and the disjoint distribution of D. coccus, suggest that the origin of D. coccus is South America and was introduced into North America by sea routes.

Between midnight on 6 June (D-Day) and 30 June 1944, over 850,000 men landed on the invasion beachheads of Normandy, together with nearly 150,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons ofsupplies. Assembled in camps and transit areas over the preceding months, this force was dispatched from a string of sites along Britain's coastline between East Anglia and South Wales (Dobinson 1996: 2). The article reviews those sites in England involved in this embarkation. English Heritage's Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) aims to identify surviving sites and recommend appropriate protection for them.

The discovery of carbonized date stones in the United Arab Emirates has made a contribution to the dating of early date consumption in the Near East.

Rose granite was a favoured, but difficult, stone to work in ancient Egypt. Recent sawing, drilling and cutting tests of the granite in Aswan suggest how exacting were those tasks for craftworkers.

In situ preservation is a complex and dynamic process, which requires an understanding of the nature and scale of the material to be preserved, an understanding of the context of the site in terms of managerial needs and a programme of scientific monitoring of changes within the burial environment. The example of a rural archaeological landscape in northeast England, which is undergoing a programme of hydrological management, is considered.

New research fields and areas of scientific specialization often bring division and disciplinary divides. Here Brown & Pluciennik discuss the impact of genetic research on archaeology.

A study of the Middle Palaeolithic stone tool technology from assemblages in South India reveals diverse reduction strategies, including preferences exercised in the choice of row material and blanks for tool manufacture. Various behaviour patterns are identified which have significant implications for the relatively little known Indian Middle Palaeolithic

Pottery was found in situ in the Mesolithic layers of the site Lepenski Vir in the Iron Gates gorges of the Danube. This discovery raises issues about Meso-Neolithic contact in the second half of the 7th millennium cal BC. Here discussion of the evidence from Lepenski Vir and Padina explores the Neolithic groups which made contact, opening the debate on the process of neolithization in the Balkans and southeast Europe in general.

Recent archaeological and pedological research on South Scandinavian Bronze Age barrows reveals that the remarkable conditions of preservation in a number of mounds are the result of particular construction techniques or special activities during construction. Augerings indicate that the phenomenon is concentrated within specific groups of barrows with central positions in a hypothetical Bronze Age communication system.

Wheel-thrown pottery was widely produced in ancient Palestine during the Middle Bronze Age. However, evidence from two sites in Jordan has led to recent suggestions that this technique went out of use throughout the region during the Late Bronze Age. Investigation by xeroradiography of the pottery-forming techniques used in a Late Bronze Age potter's workshop at Lachish, Israel, suggests that the situation may be more complex and that further research is needed before generalized conclusions can be drawn.

Diet and ethnicity are strongly related. Recent work on fish-bone ratios and stable carbon isotopes suggest that the Vikings increased the fish contribution to the diet of Orkney and Shetland by a greater investment in deep-sea fishing.

The catastrophic 1855 AD Wellington earthquake is used to predict likely environmental impacts of earlier seismic events (earthquake and tsunami) that have been reported for the Cook Strait region in the period following first human settlement 700 years ago. Environmental changes around Palliser Bay in prehistoric Maori times, inferred from archaeological research, parallel those that occurred in 1855 AD. We consider that devastation caused by earthquake activity and subsequent tsunami, rather than climatic deterioration invoked previously, precipitated the rapid abandonment of the Palliser Bay coast by human communities in the 15th century AD.

Recent archaeological reports from excavations carried out round the Royal castles and palaces suggest that a completely new chronology of roof covering for high-status buildings in Scotland should now be formulated.

Evidence that the earliest settlers on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) may have come from Mangareva and its outlying islands in Central East Polynesia is supported by the journey of the experimental voyaging canoe Hōkūle'a from Mangareva to Rapa Nui.

Ethnohistoric and representational as well as egg-shell evidence shows that the ostrich was widely distributed in Arabia. However, the absence of ostrich bones in the archaeological record suggests that they were not hunted for meat.

A two-day conference, Fields of Conflict: progress and prospect in battlefield archaeology, held at the University of Glasgow, 15–16 April 2000, began by considering techniques of research and the interpretation of events and moved to consideration of site management and preservation