The goal of this study was to identify cognitive processes in a particular technical subsystem – flint blade debitage in the Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik or LBK, dating to the second half of the sixth millennium BC). The study was based on new archaeological data from pits with debitage waste on a site at Verlaine, near Liège in Belgian Hesbaye. The project mainly involved refitting and analysis of a concentration of blade debitage waste, which had been almost completely preserved; an exceptional situation for this period. This detailed analysis has produced new data for the early Neolithic on the mental conception and technical procedures involved in debitage of large blocks of flint and suggests that the evidence from Verlaine reflects a system of ‘surplus’ production. The objective of Neolithic knappers at Verlaine was clearly to surpass the needs of the local communities, with a view to long-distance distribution well outside the region.

The Neolithic court tombs of Ireland display variation in the ways that their component parts – concave courts, linear galleries and individual cells – were combined and arranged. This variation has been interpreted in the past in terms of both the diffusion of ideas and the design requirements of their builders. In this article it is suggested that the analysis of these formalized components points to central themes of the social and ritual discourse that accompanied the tombs' construction and use, the symbolism of the tombs expressing alleged lineage relationships between the living community, its ancestors and the land. It is suggested that these communities were based on one or more corporate descent groups, in some cases combining with other social units to appropriate and exploit territory, the relationships between them being symbolized and idealized in the spatial layout of the tombs' orthostatic structures.

Thirty-six Atlantic flesh-hooks are documented, classified and discussed after critical evaluation of previously identified examples and the addition of new ones. A chronological progression is shown from the more simple classes to the more complex from 1300 to 800 cal BC, but even the latter examples begin as early as c.1100 cal BC. Although highly distinctive, the Atlantic series derives ultimately from similar hooked instruments to the east and newly recognized Sicilian examples introduce an alternative path of dissemination from the more usually accepted intermediary route of the Urnfield culture. The rarity of flesh-hooks is striking and understanding of their social role needs to take into account not only their marked individuality in terms of technological construction or iconographic features, but also their relationship to other contemporary prestige feasting gear. The distributions of flesh-hooks and rotary spits are mutually exclusive over most of Atlantic Europe; thus, not only did they function differently at a practical level, but also at an ideological one. On the other hand, flesh-hooks and cauldrons have very similar distributions but they have a paucity of direct associations. Rather than implying a limited functional relationship, this is interpreted as resulting from their different symbolic meanings and thus different depositional practices. The zoomorphic imagery encountered on Atlantic spits and occasionally on flesh-hooks is found to be unique to each instrument and thus seen to contrast with that of the Urnfield world, suggesting the signalling of tribal or clan identity rather than an over-arching symbolism.

This article assesses the major changes in landscape and coastline, which took place in an area adjacent to the northern shore of the inner estuary of the river Humber, in East Yorkshire, UK, from the beginning of the Holocene to the Iron Age. It considers the effect of these changes on material culture as represented by artefact distributions, including flint assemblages and polished stone tools located during field survey. The conclusions presented here derive from a continuing programme of research in this study area and they are placed in the context of the wider Humber region and the North Sea Basin. This article advocates a restoration of balance with regard to geographical determinism – a new pragmatism – accepting that environmental factors have a great importance in determining the nature and location of certain activities in the past, though cannot be used to explain them all.

This article looks at the non-utilitarian functions of writing in Crete during the Palatial period. It argues that writing was used as a marker of status and prestige and that it was also used for communication with the divine. It also attempts to interpret what have usually been seen as isolated examples of writing systems as pseudo-writing.

The spread of agriculture is here examined from the perspective of changes in the composition of archaeobotantical assemblages. We apply multivariate analysis to a large database of plant assemblages from early Neolithic sites across South-West Asia and Europe and show that there are coherent and meaningful changes in their composition over time, to a large extent driven by a reduction in crop-taxa diversity. We interpret these changes as being partly caused by environmental factors, and partly caused by cultural reasons linked to the relatively rapid expansion of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) groups that inhibited diversification of crops until later in the Neolithic.

Whilst Sicily is the largest and perhaps most geographically diverse island in the Mediterranean, archaeological survey has been slow to develop there and has had little impact on general accounts of Sicilian prehistory. Discussions of prehistoric settlement distribution in the island have to contend with uneven data obtained by different means and limited evidence for past land-use and environmental change. Nevertheless, survey data point to contrasting settlement patterns between the fourth and first millennia BC (Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages), which can usefully be compared with information from conventional (non-survey) distribution maps. Surveys have the potential to promote new accounts of Sicilian prehistory in which traditional historicist paradigms are at least complemented by those which place a stronger emphasis on relationships or dynamics within the specific island context.

Epitaphs inscribed on stone record biographical information about the deceased, and in certain cases, the age at death. However, it has been demonstrated that these ages on Roman epitaphs are not an accurate reflection of the demographics of death, but are subject to cultural bias. Using the idea of the ‘life course’, this article explores these cultural biases and their relationship to age and gender structures. Material from Italy suggests that these are tied into ideologies of gender, with adulthood defined by the transition to magistrate for men and wife for women. Material from other areas demonstrates different patterns, and in the case of Etruria, these are shown to be a negotiation between pre-Roman and Romanized customs. The phenomenon of ‘age-rounding’ is also argued to be part of these ideas of correct age.

The Athens 2004 Olympic Games presented an opportunity for Greece to celebrate its ancient traditions and modern organizational skills. The organizers used archaeology as theory, iconography, idealism and so on. They particularly focused on Classical antiquity, when the Games were at their height before their modern revival. This article, however, will examine the use of Minoan archaeology. I argue that, although there is no archaeological evidence to connect Minoan archaeology to the original Olympic Games, the modern Greek national narrative adapted it to the current national image of the Olympic Games. I analyse this phenomenon by deconstructing some of its processes, taking Crete as a case study. I also highlight broader issues, concerning the instrumentality of the public domain in the shaping of cultural heritage.