The Canary Isles, scattered in the Atlantic off the Sahara coastline of southern Morocco, have a remarkable archaeological heritage. Initial settlement, for which mummified bodies from caves are important evidence, relates to the Berbers of the Maghreb, and the islands' distinctive culture was not overwhelmed until the European impact of the 15th century AD. Explanation is given of the special value of Canarian archaeology, and of the efforts now being made more properly to protect it.

James Mellaart’s attempt to demonstrate a ‘high’ chronology for Egypt and the Near East for the period of c. 4000-1500 BC will undoubtedly stimulate much discussion among historians and archaeologists. He has forcefully pointed out various problems which have arisen in trying to reconcile the standard historical chronologies established between and within individual countries. It is probably true that some scholars have treated the so-called ‘middle’ chronology as if it was almost sacred, and certainly some individuals have ignored radiocarbon dates (especially calibrated dates) if they appeared to be in conflict with results obtained from traditional historical and archaeological sources. But neither these faults, nor others pointed out by the author, justify his own methods of trying to demolish the middle chronology in favour of a significantly higher one. Since elsewhere in this issue Barry Kemp is presenting a critical review of Mellaart’s Egyptian historical data, and has included some remarks on the Egyptian radiocarbon dates, I will restrict my own remarks here largely to the Palestinian radiocarbon materials, and will only comment on the Egyptian C14 dates as they pertain to Palestinian Early Bronze Age chronology.

Antiquity is pleased to present a preliminary report on the stone statue of a Celtic warrior recently discovered at the celebrated excavation at Lattes, southern France, and dating to around 500 BC.

The Council of Europe declared 1992 to be the ‘Year of the Ancient Celts’, yet books dealing with the Celts—Celts in the past, Celts today, Celts who never existed—continue to appear unabated. The titles reviewed here are characteristic of three of the main categories of such fare: exhibition catalogues, general introductions and just nice books to look at.

Subdivided strip fields were widespread over most of lowland England before enclosure. Where datable they seem to originate in the late Saxon period and their use survived into the 19th century in some places. In East Anglia and southeast England strips were usually ploughed flat, but in most of the Midlands they were cast up to form ‘ridge and furrow’. This ridging technique was once used in a central band stretching from County Durham in the north to Somerset in the southwest.

A further contribution on the issues raised by modern genetics, and on their relationship to the material evidence offered by archaeological remains.

Most readers of ANTIQUITYw ill have heard of the Pergamon Museum at Berlin; its opening was the chief event of the centenary celebrations of the German Archaeological Institute (see Mr R. G. Collingwood's note in ANTIQUITY, 1929, III, 339). Those, however, who have not actually seen it can hardly realize what an outstanding achievement that museum already is, even in its present unfinished state; nor perhaps do they know that the Pergamon reconstitutions do not stand alone. There are similar reconstitutions of other classical buildings and also of Middle Eastern remains. About five large rooms are at present opened, and their contents represent the high-water-mark of museum-craft in Europe, and are an objectlesson to the world ; but to me their significance seemed even deeper, marking the triumphal emergence of a new craft. I have seen many museums, but here for the first time in my life I felt completely satisfied. The ideal aimed at seemed to have been achieved; there was nothing to find fault with. Here at last was a thoroughly honest attempt to reconstruct ancient masterpieces of architecture, and to exhibit them without irrelevant distractions. The technique of exhibition achieves its end through simplicity and common sense. The lighting is admirable ; the floors of marble slabs (pink in the Altar-room and white or grey elsewhere) are thoroughly pleasing ; the walls are delightfully bare, with nothing but the briefest of labels carved in admirable lettering. The effect of the whole is over-whelming .

The silver plate in the Sutton Hoo treasure is not as uniform in technique and style as the gold ornaments. While the latter can be claimed as the work of a special ‘Sutton Hoo School ’ the silver is a haphazard collection of pieces differing in date and origin, and can only be discussed by taking each item separately.

The present dispute over the date of the of the Linear B tablets found at Knossos has been, for the most part, concerned with the question whether they belong to an LM II/IIIA I destruction of the Palace, which Evans dated about 1400 B.c., or to the end of the LM IIIB period, some 150 or more years later, when Evans believed that the Palace ruins were only partly reoccupied [I]. To many archaeologists, however, the problem is a different one. For them the evidence of the pottery and of the sealings associated with the burning of the Palace and with the baking of its clay archives makes the later dating of the tablets impossible. Their concern is rather to determine more exactly when in the 14th century the destruction took place.

The greatest help towards answering this question will come from a closer definition of the style of pottery in use at the time of the catastrophe. The author has been working on this problem over the last three years by studying the considerable amount of unpublished sherd material in the Stratigraphical Museum established by Evans at Knossos. A comprehensive publication of this material will of necessity take some time to complete. Meanwhile it is hoped that it would be generally helpful to illustrate some eight of the pots which the author has been able to have reconstructed from these sherds; at the same time it is proposed briefly to outline the circumstances in which they were originally found according to the excavation reports.