Between 1989 and 1994, north coast fishermen Nelson Torna and Pedro Guerra salvaged approximately 195 well-preserved wooden artefacts, mostly of lignum vitcre, from recently disturbed marine sediments near their village of Punta Alegre, in Ciego de Avila, Cuba. They had collected the artefacts from a shallow lagoon, and from the shoreline near their village at a place known as Los Buchillones. The wooden artefacts include pins, eyed needles, hooks, fragments of dishes, handles for axes (including two that retained the stone tools), duhos or stools that served as badges of rank in Taino society, and zemis or male deity figures. In 1994, on an official Royal Ontario Museum visit to Cuba, then curator David Pendergast was shown these artefacts, and discussions began between Pendergast and Cuban archaeologists Dr Jorge Calvera and Lic. Juan Jardines concerning the possibility of launching an investigation of the contexts from which the artifacts had come. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) thereby established a jointly directed and jointly funded project with the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia, y Medio Ambiente (CITMA) of the government of Cuba, and investigations began in 1997

The Preclassic community of Cuello, the earliest village site hitherto excavated in the Maya Lowlands, centred on Platform 34, a flat-topped eminence where investigations between 1975 and 1993 documented occupation from at least 1200 BC to c. AD 400 (Hammond 1991; Hammond et al. 1995). Between 1000 and 400 BC the locus was occupied by a courtyard which with successive rebuildings became both larger and more formally organized, domestic activities shifting to the margins and ritual, including ancestor veneration, becoming more important (Hammond & Gerhardt 1990). Around 400 BC the final Middle Preclassic structures on the north, west and south sides of the court were ceremoniously demolished, their faqades hacked off and their superstructures burned. The entire courtyard was filled with rubble prior to the construction of the broad, open Platform 34, which itself underwent successive enlargements over the ensuing seven centuries.

A team of archaeologists organized by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton (UK), in association with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, conducted a series of feasibility studies in 1999 to determine whether the prehistoric and historic social landscapes of the Caribbean could be researched from one island, as a case study, in advance of both rapid development and frightening natural destruction. On the tiny island of Nevis, one of the Leewards in the Eastern Caribbean, the airport expansion scheme recently destroyed one of the oldest standing English fortifications in the Caribbean (Figure 1) (Morris et al. 1999), while Hurricane Lenny removed sand and palm trees to reveal two new colonial forts just last year. Torrential rainfall, uncontrolled by centuries of sugar-cane production, erodes prehistoric sites daily (Figure 2). These sandy middens are prime landscaping resources for new golf courses or building materials for hotels and homes.

The site of Sungir (alternatively Sounghir) lies east of the town of Vladimir, about 200 km northeast of Moscow. It is a large mid Upper Palaeolithic ('Eastern Gravettian' sensu lato) cultural accumulation on the left bank of the Kliazma river, of which some 1500 sq. m was excavated in several seasons between 1957 and 1964 (Bader 1965; 1967; 1978; 1998).The single burial (Grave 1/Sungir 1) was excavated in 1964. It is that ofan adult male in extended, supine position, with his head oriented to the northeast and hands placed over his pubis (Figure 1). The second grave was discovered in 1969 and contained two adolescents — one male (Sungir 2) and one (probably) female (Sungir 3) — both extended, supine and lying head to head (Figure 2). All three burials were covered in red ochre and Sungir 1 was possibly associated with fires in a manner intriguingly similar to the DVXVI male burialat Dolní Větonice, Moravia (Svoboda et al. 1996).

The Early Bronze Age barrow, Upton Lovell GZa,on Upton Lovell Down near the south westernedge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, was one ofthe first to be investigated by William Cunnington(Cunnington 1806). His excavation in May 1802revealed an extended primary inhumation of astout male, accompanied near the feet by a largenumber of perforated bone points, three flint axesand a number of stones. These included fragmentsof a broken stone battle axe. At the chest was acomplete stone battle axe and a circular stone withbevelled edges and polished surface. Also foundwere a jet or lignite ring and biconicai beads, anda small bronze awl. The grave was listed by Piggott(1938: grave 82) as one of the burials defining hisWessex Culture.

Hacienda Zuleta in the northern sierra province of Imbabura, Ecuador is the location of the largest 'ramp-mound' site of the Caranqui culture dated to the Late Period in the highlands chronological sequence (c. AD 1250-1525) and also of a large 17th-century Colonial period hacienda of Jesuit foundation. The Late Period is characterised by the construction of very large hemispherical or quadrilateral 'pyramid tolos, sometimes with a ramp or a long 'walkway' and up to 22 of these ramp-tola sites have been identified in the northern sierra provinces of northern Pichincha and Imbabura (Gondard & L6pez 1983; Knapp 1992). They are thought to have been the political centres of the region's paramount chiefs and the ceremonial foci for their scattered communities (Salomon 1986). Studies suggest they are contemporary with one another, originating from about the 8th to loth centuries AD (Athens 1978; 1992; Oberem 1975), although the phases of occupation associated with the creation of the large quadrilateral ramp mounds seem to be later, linked to socio-economic and political trends of agricultural intensification and increasing population densities which are also taken to characterize the Late Period.

One of the most crucial elements in the dynamics of the Late Bronze Age metals trade in the Mediterranean was the production and exchange of copper 'oxhide' ingots (Knapp & Cherry 1994). These are basically flat, oblong slabs of nearly pure and unalloyed copper that weigh between 10 and 40 kg. The majority has an average weight of c. 29-30 kg however, and as a result this 'standard' has been traditionally equated with the existence of a 'talent'. They furthermore form a prominent part of the bulk cargo in shipwrecks discovered at Ulu Burun and Cape Gelidonya (Gale 1991). The results of an extensive programme of lead-isotope analyses aimed at determining the provenance of these ingots have led some archaeologists to propose that most of the ingots were produced from the rich copper resources on the island of Cyprus. Based on the same results, the Oxford group has also discussed the possibility of a specialized centre for their production in the Skouriotissa region of the island (Stos-Gale et ~ l . 1997

The political changes throughout Europe in the latter part of the 20th century have brought about a reduction in the number of military establishments in the British Isles. Large areas of land including airfields and ranges are now classified as 'brown field' sites ripe for development. The archaeological potential of such sites should not be underestimated. Over a three-year period archaeologists from the Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA) and Wessex Archaeology have monitored all intrusive work carried out at the DERA airfield Boscombe Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire. This has been complemented with a desktop survey using vertical photographs from the sites archive, material which has not been available before. The preliminary results indicate that, far from being a sterile site, Boscombe Down still retains a substantial number of monuments and features.

Although significant to societies at a local, regionaland national level for up to 6000 years, the prehistoriclandscape of Avebury, Wiltshire, was formallyattributed the accolade of being 'globally important'in November 1986. At this time the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) inscribed Avebury onto the growing listof World Heritage Sites (http://www.unesco.orglwhc), and along with England's most notorious prehistoricmonument, 'Stonehenge, Avebury, and associatedsites' ((373) was created.The joint nomination ofboth Avebury and Stonehengeby the UK government was rational. At a timewhen no UK sites were on the list, seven UK applicationswere being presented to UNESCO and it wasconsidered that there would be a better chance ofboth landscapes being accepted if they were consideredas one site. Indeed, in comparison with thevariety of cultural and temporal variation in nominations,Stonehenge and Avebury are similar. It istrue that upon closer inspection there are both comparableand contrasting patterns of monument type,construction, use and disuse, but when comparingthese differences to those between here and DnrhamCastle or Ironbridge Gorge, for example, Stonehengeand Avebury certainly have an affinity

Although significant to societies at a local, regionaland national level for up to 6000 years, the prehistoriclandscape of Avebury, Wiltshire, was formallyattributed the accolade of being 'globally important'in November 1986. At this time the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) inscribed Avebury onto the growing listof World Heritage Sites (http://www.unesco.orglwhc), and along with England's most notorious prehistoricmonument, 'Stonehenge, Avebury, and associatedsites' ((373) was created.The joint nomination ofboth Avebury and Stonehengeby the UK government was rational. At a timewhen no UK sites were on the list, seven UK applicationswere being presented to UNESCO and it wasconsidered that there would be a better chance ofboth landscapes being accepted if they were consideredas one site. Indeed, in comparison with thevariety of cultural and temporal variation in nominations,Stonehenge and Avebury are similar. It istrue that upon closer inspection there are both comparableand contrasting patterns of monument type,construction, use and disuse, but when comparingthese differences to those between here and DnrhamCastle or Ironbridge Gorge, for example, Stonehengeand Avebury certainly have an affinity

Neolithic and Bronze Age lake villages have captured the public imagination since their recognition in the 19th century. Commonly thought of as 'Swiss' although similar types of sites are found throughout Europe and beyond, these villages are renowned for unusually well preserved organic finds and the romantic image of being raised above water. Today it is held that both raised and groundlevel dwellings existed, and that each site must be interpreted on an individual basis. Current research analyses sedimentary sequences from thrcc Neolithic lakeside villages on the northern rim of the European Alps using micromorphology, or the study of thin-sectioned in situ sediments from and around archaeologicals ites (FIGUR1E). This research is the first time sediment from lakeside villages was treated as material culture, with the specific purpose of detailing human use of the landscape through the identification of archaeological features (FIGURE2). Features on lakeside villages are often distorted by wave action, sediment loading and/or erosional episodes.

Rock-art, despite much ingenious effort (e.g., among many, Watchman et al. 1997), remains difficult to date by absolute methods, so relative dating has a central importance much as applied to dirt archaeology in the era before routine radiometric dating. It is sound relative dating which will show just what the entities are to which absolute dates may be connected. The first basis for relative dating is the determination of sequence: what motifs done by which techniques in which materials precede and follow each other; and the first basis for sequence is physical superposition, in which one figure plainly overlies another or - in the case of rock-engravings - one figure clearly cuts through another. But often figures do not cut or superpose each other so no relation of sequence exists: and sometimes figures are cut through each other without sequence being clear, or are so much overpainted that the older figures are impossible to discern.

'The Greatest Museum of Prehistoric Art in the whole World'. Such was the description Henri Lhote gave to the rock paintings of the Tassili-n- Ajjer , the massif (a designated World Heritage Site) that lies to the northeast of Ahaggar in the Algerian Central Sahara. His expedition spent 16 months in the Tassili in 1956-7 making 'discovery after discovery' and copying 'hundreds upon hundreds of painted walls'. Lhote's work is now recognized for its denigration of almost all and sundry. He likened the local people, the Tuareg, who made many of his 'discoveries', to wolves and living by the laws of the jungle. Significantly, he made no reference in his 'discovery claims' to Yolande Tschudi, the Swiss ethnologist, whose work preceded his own. Worse still, he undertook what might be regarded today as the systematic vandalism of the sites, not only by liberally washing the paintings to restore their colour, but by collecting and removing copious quantities of material artefacts from the area.

Roman Sicily has long been known from classical sources for its agricultural fertility, but little archaeological research has been conducted on the rural economy. The Campanaio project is uncovering a wealth of information about a small (3 ha) hellenistic and Roman rural settlement and its economy, 25 km west of Agrigento. Excavations (1994-95,1997-98) have revealed seven principal phases. Activity started c. 200 BC, and was intensive for two centuries in the central part of the site. A complex of buildings underwent two complete reconstructions between 200 BC and AD 25; in its last phase (c. 50 BC) it comprised an Lshaped building some 17 m long and 8.40 m wide, with dry-stone walls, earth floors and mud-brick superstructure (FIGUR1E

I am interested in the daily activities of the non-Blites to understand ancient Mesopotamian society.Analysing the activities performed within thehouses of the non-6lites is the first step in definingthe social and economic differentiation amonghouseholds and, in turn, a better understanding ofthe role of these households within ancient communities.1 analyse activity areas using a relativelynew method - micro-debris analysis - which analysessmall artefactual and ecofactual remains(Fladmark 1982; Rosen 1989; Matthews 1995).In my dissertation, 365 sediment samples (10litres each) were taken from over 20 structures.The rationale for sampling deposits and countingand weighing the small remains found withinthe earthen matrix is based on a model of depositionalforces. Site formation theorists suggestthat macro-debris left by daily activities are usuallydisturbed and often discarded far from theloci of the original activity. Whereas the large findsmay be scavenged, discarded, or curated in periodsof abandonment, smaller debris is often sweptinto corners or trampled into the surface of afloor. These small items are more likely thanlarge items to remain where they were droppeddue to the difficulty in removing small debriswith traditional cleaning methods (Schiffer 1983;Dunnell & Stein 1989). My research focused onthe analysis of artefacts under 1 cm in dimensionfound in occupational surfaces and featuresin order to define activity areas at severalEarly Bronze Age (c. 3100-1900 BC) sites insoutheastern Turkey

Hunting methods of bison, whether in the French Palaeolithic or on the plains of North America, have much in common. This paper discusses how the hunters pursued their prey and the tools with which they despatched the bison.

Research on the Mesolithic in the west of Scotland has been gathering momentum since the 1980s. Here, Steven Mithen analyses dates for near-by islands and proposes possible settlement models for the Mesolithic.

Recent revision of the radiocarbon calibration curve for the early Holocene has implications for the ‘absolute’ date of Mesolithic sites such as Star Carr, and for their relationship to the timescale of early Holocene environmental change.

The careful study of faunal and artefact remains associated with Bandkeramik houses in France has shown new details about activity zones and village organization in the Early Neolithic. Lamys Hachem describes the result of work from Cuiry-lès-Chaudardes in the Aisne valley, France.