An early Neolithic settlement with western Anatolian-type material was recently found on the island of Gökçeada (Imbroz). None of the colonization models indicate that Gökçeada is the most promising island for early colonization. In this article I suggest that the importance of islands may also lie in their symbolic significance. The early Neolithic communities built up place-myths about the islands. Place-myths are closely related to place-images, which are generally derived from visual experiences. Myths enabled a Neolithic community to establish a sense of belonging to the islands. This might have led to permanent settlement of some of the islands.

Ornaments, jewellery, personal equipment and weapons in graves can be defined as relicts of ancient costumes and weapon assemblages which are connected to the social identities of the buried persons. At several late Bronze Age and early Iron Age sites in the north Caucasus (Koban culture) large numbers of richly furnished graves allow the reconstruction of specific costume and armour groups. These can be related to factors which structured these communities into a ranked society. This article is based on the investigation of two cemeteries in Chechenia (north-eastern Caucasus) which demonstrate the change in social differentiation during the developed Iron Age. The article also includes a general discussion about the concepts of costumes and their potential for reconstructing social identities.

The coin series from sites in the Dutch River area show a break during the last three decades of the third century and the first decade of the fourth century AD. Coins minted for Aurelian and his successors to the throne up to Constantine I are very scarce for all sites. The break has been interpreted to indicate the end of occupation of castella and settlements around AD 275. When the site finds from the Dutch River area are presented in the form of an adapted histogram however, the coin series show a striking similarity to site finds from Roman Britain, where, on the whole, continuity was safeguarded during the third century. The article argues that this gap in the coin series – detectable all over the western part of the Roman Empire – is caused by the special character of coin circulation during this period in the west and does not indicate the end of activities on the site that provided the coins. Coin finds even seem to suggest continuity during this period for a number of sites in the Dutch River area.