This article considers the long-debated and thorny issue of the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in Britain. The apparently polarised debate that has dominated this discussion is, we suggest, unhelpful, and rather than positing either total colonisation from abroad, or simple indigenous continuity, we propose a model where both incomers and autochthons had their part to play. To explore this further we trace continuities across the divide in practices of hunting and gathering, and place these alongside the demonstrable evidence for change.

This interview covers life and work of Marianne Kleibrink, retired Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology. For more than 25 years she conducted and published excavations at Timpone della Motta near Francavilla Marittima (northern Calabria) and at Satricum (south Lazio), documenting the indigenous roots of these proto-urban sites as well as the transformations they underwent when they became incorporated, respectively, in the colonial Greek and Roman spheres. Her experience as, first, a woman making an academic career for herself in Dutch universities, and, later, as a foreign archaeologist running long-term projects in Italy, echos those of many others.

Burial is a highly symbolic activity through which concepts of the world are reflected in the representation and treatment of human remains. While mortuary studies in archaeology and anthropology have had a long history, our understanding of Neolithic societies through such analyses is lacking. This article has attempted to broaden our understandings of one such society, focusing upon the megalithic tomb tradition in Ireland, through an integrated study of the burial practices taking place at several sites located on the Burren, County Clare. The Parknabinnia chambered tomb, Poulnabrone portal tomb, and Poulawack Linkardstown-type cairn are located within three kilometres of each other and date to contemporary periods. Several questions are explored through the use of archaeological evidence, osteological analysis, and taphonomy to allow for a broader appreciation of social practices in the past – most notably burial practices. What types of burial practices were taking place; how do the sites compare to each other; and how do they fit within the overall scheme of Neolithic practices we have come to understand?

From an analysis of over 3,000 beads and pendants from seven contemporary Late Neolithic/Copper Age (3500–2500 BC) sites in the Portuguese Estremadura, two dominant patterns emerge: (1) most beads show a high degree of standardization in terms of size and shape and are made from local materials; and (2) a minority are made from non-local, rare, and visually distinctive materials (e.g.variscite, ivory), and are less standardized and more labour-intensive. The emphasis on a wide-range of materials suggests that uncommon ornaments may have functioned as ‘value added' materials with special significance, enhancing potential design combinations. Material preferences for beads, bracelets, pendants, plaques, and ground stone tools (da Veiga Ferreira 1951; Lillios 1997, 2008) appear to mirror other Western Mediterranean raw material preferences for ornaments and other polished stone objects (Goñi Quinteiro et al. 1999; Harrison and Orozco Köhler 2001; Pascual Benito 1998; Skeates 2010; Teruel Berbell 1986) suggesting that the Estremadura participated in aspects of a wider system of shared symbolic values.

Palisaded enclosures were huge enclosed spaces with timber boundaries found across Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia in the Neolithic. Five such sites have been identified in Scotland dating to the later Neolithic, four of which have been excavated to varying degrees. These sites form the main focus of this paper, which draws in particular on interim results from the authors' excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross, during 2007–2009. The palisaded enclosures of Scotland are part of a wider British and Irish tradition and there are a number of European parallels, the closest of which lie in southern Scandinavia. The palisaded enclosures in Scotland are tightly clustered geographically and chronologically, constructed in the centuries after 2800 cal BC. This paper explores the function, role, and meaning of palisaded enclosures in Scotland and more generally, drawing not just on the architecture of the monuments, but also the individual posts that were used to create the enclosures. The role of these monuments in reconstituting nature is also considered.

We describe the Bronze Age ceramic economy of the Benta Valley in Hungary. In the Bronze Age, long-distance trade in metals, metal objects, and other specialty items became central to expansive prestige goods exchange through Europe. Was that exchange in wealth, however, linked to broader developments of an integrated market system? The beginnings of market systems in prehistory are poorly understood. We suggest a means to investigate marketing by studying the changing ceramic economy of a region, rather than at a single site. Analysis of the ceramic inventory collected as part of the Benta Valley Project strongly suggests that, although ceramic production was quite sophisticated and probably specialized, exchange was highly localized (mostly within 10 km) and conducted through personalized community networks. Our ceramic study used three progressively finer-scaled analyses: inventorying ceramic forms and decoration to evaluate consumption patterns, petrographic analysis to describe manufacturing sequences, and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to describe exchange. We conclude that, based on present evidence, market systems had not developed in Hungary during the Bronze Age.

A pair of animal heads of the Faardal type is central in our reinterpretation of the Late Bronze Age Vestby hoard from eastern Norway. After a period of use and circulation, the heads were mounted on bodies belonging to a different animal species. We argue that the making of the animal figurines and the other high-quality objects of the hoard can only be properly understood against the backdrop of Scandinavian Bronze Age cosmology. This line of thought extends to the presence of a tin bead necklace, which we interpret as a lunar calendar. By combining a ‘body perspective’ – including understandings of body techniques, operational sequences and the ‘sociality’ of objects – with a ‘symbolist perspective’ – including symbol systems, cosmology and intentionality – we put the head back onto the body, so to speak. We also scrutinize the premises for earlier interpretations of the objects' ‘life stories’ and reinterpret their trajectories. This influences the understanding of the act of hoarding, and finally leads to a discussion of how hoarding was also somehow related to the ‘birth’ of the artefacts.

The assessment of the important changes that occurred in late third and second millennia societies across Europe often emphasizes changes in technology and the emergence of associated objects and art forms, changes in burial rites, and developments in economic practices. Notions relating to the evolution of homo economicus dominate many of the discourses, and the evidence for increased long-distance trade / contact across Europe is used to bolster this assessment. These themes are underpinned by an obsession with ever-refined chrono-typological phases. In an attempt to present a more socially embedded perspective, this paper considers the changes that occurred in the uses of the high-altitude, sub-alpine, and alpine zones in the southern French Alps during the third and second millennia BC. From c. 2500 BC onwards, there was a fundamental change in the use of and engagement with this landscape. The first substantial stone-built pastoral structures at high altitude (2000 m and above), appear at this time. This departure in the use and structuring of the alpine space would have included concomitant changes in the nature of mobility, notions of territory, and memories associated with this area.

John Evans was a key actor in the establishment of high human antiquity in 1859, and his pioneering role in launching the study of ancient stone implements is still celebrated today. However, scholars have overlooked the fact that Evans actually forged this contribution by shifting practices and preoccupations from coins to flint, from one well-established antiquarian domain in which he excelled, to another, new and as yet untested, domain. While providing relevant information on Evans' numismatics, this article shows how these transfers bear successively on the documentation of stone implements (terminology, descriptions, illustrations), their authentication (with regards to frauds and experimentation) and indeed their interpretation (the identification and explanation of their formal variability). Besides serving as an instructive historical case in ‘trans-disciplinarity’, the recognition of this initial numismatic imprint on the study of stone tools also has several consequences for current practices and interpretations in Palaeolithic archaeology.

This article investigates the evolution of cremation rites during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Spectacular finds during the last decade have shed much light on this subject; for example, the discovery and excavation of the largest cremation cemetery to date (Can PiteuCan Roqueta with more than 1000 graves); or the restudy of other sites (Can Bech de Baix or Roques de Sant Formatge). Additionally, relevant material has been obtained from studies of: excavations of settlements with exceptional defensive systems (Vilars d'Arbeca); the preceding and founding layers of the Greek colony of Emporion; and the development of political territories in the River Ebro region and surroundings. A detailed analysis of information from these sites has considerably increased knowledge about the social transformations that occurred over the 600 to 700 year timescale of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.

Using cross-cultural ethnographic and archaeological analogy, this paper offers a new interpretation for a specific societal attribute represented on the Iron Age stelae of Daunia, arguing that the designs on the forearms of the female stelae do not represent gloves but are instead tattoos. By questioning a single, long-held, belief about the stelae, it is hoped to highlight a very important principle of method: the need to identify and investigate the socio-cultural context of an image or artefact. For too long the Daunian stelae have been looked at through Hellenized eyes. Unlike other Italic societies of this period, the Daunians appear to have remained reasonably unaffected by Greek and wider Mediterranean influence, suggesting the Iron Age inhabitants of the region retained a strong ethnic identity. With limited evidence of their social and religious life deriving from other sources, any hope of understanding these people properly relies on a correct reading of their stelae, which can only be achieved by firmly placing these monuments within an Adriatic milieu.

Collyrium stamps, objects used to mark eye medicines, are more commonly found in Gaul than any other Roman province. Since they appear after Roman occupation, it is believed they evince a spread of Roman medicine, but this idea is not well-supported. Through a detailed study of the collyrium stamps it is apparent that the stamps took on other functions beyond marking remedies. They were used as amulets and votive offerings, signified by the fact that most are made of steatite and schist, almost all are green – a colour associated with eye care, and a number are decorated with magical symbols, and also by their context. Ultimately, the manner in which they were used demonstrates an adaptation of Roman material culture to fit the practices and beliefs based on earlier Iron Age traditions in the region.

Burial of horses and horse-elements occurred throughout Europe during the first millennium AD. These burials are prevalent in northwest Europe and are perhaps more significant in Britain than previously realised. This article explores the position and value of the horse within Britain during this period and why the burials are likely to represent ritual deposition. Both horse and human-horse burials, are linked to non-Christian burial and sacrificial practices of the Iron Age and Early Medieval period and are particularly associated with Anglo- Saxon and Viking Britain. Some of the traditions appear to reflect the culture described in the Icelandic Sagas, Beowulf, and other legends and chronicles. Archaeologically, the human-horse burials are also linked with high status individuals and ‘warrior graves’, while complete-horse and horse-element burials may represent ritual feasting and/or sacrificial rites which are probably linked with fertility, luck, and the ancestors.

Arthur Evans is most noted for his work in Crete, particularly the excavation of the Palace of Knossos, which he began in the year 1900. As a consequence, Arthur Evans' earlier archaeology is often overlooked. This paper focuses on a series of lectures, largely unpublished, on the development of megalithic monuments and the religious cult they embodied, delivered by Evans in 1885. Evans' ideas of cult were embedded in contemporary late nineteenth century anthropological concepts set within an evolutionary context. This paper shows that these underlying ideas were also evident in Evans' later writings on the Aegean: notably, the famous article on the Tree and Pillar Cult that formed the basis of his concept of Minoan religion. By contextualizing Evans' early work, we gain a fuller understanding of why he prioritized certain information in constructing his concept of a Minoan civilization.