The papers in this book are concerned with shedding light on a controversial aspect of European prehistory, especially that of north–west Europe: was astronomy practised here in the late neolithic and bronze ages, and, if so, what was its purpose? These questions are of obvious interest to prehistorians, but modern interest in them has been stimulated largely by those whose professional background is in the pure and applied sciences, while they raise technical issues which have aroused the interest of statisticians and astronomers. The diverse backgrounds of the authors of these papers reflect the multidisciplinary approach which the subject deserves and, indeed, requires.

The papers were presented at an international symposium on archaeoastronomy that was held at The Queen's College, Oxford, from 4 to 9 September, 1981. All the invited papers dealing with ancient astronomy in the old world are included, except for one introductory paper on the astronomical background, and the volume also contains a wide selection of the contributed papers, some of which were presented as posters. Papers dealing with American archaeoastronomy will be found in a companion volume edited by A.F. Aveni.

It is a pleasure to thank the authors of these papers for the time they have devoted to the preparation of their typescripts, and the staff of Cambridge University Press for their careful and expeditious production of this volume.