The central massif of the Lake District around Great Langdale and Scafell Pike was one of the major locations for the production of Neolithic, polished stone axes. In response to the continuing erosion of the axe production sites a field survey was undertaken in 1984 and 1985. 566 distinct working sites were identified, within 35 groups; each site was recorded and the site data and high-scale survey plans are presented in microfiche. A fourfold categorization of the working sites is suggested which relates production methods to significant geological, topographic and geomorphic elements of the landscape. The quantity of axe waste, particularly in the Langdale area, confirms that production was on a massive scale and the variations in strategy and methods of extraction suggest a development through time towards greater sophistication and organization. Estimates of relative flake quantities for each group of sites have been used to compare the varying levels of activity at each group. A similar analysis was used to estimate the extent to which differing strategies were used at the two main production areas. Petrographic analysis of the outcrops which were exploited and the debitage associated with axe manufacture suggest that it may be possible to attribute dispersed products to specific production areas.

This paper examines the distribution of stone and flint axes in Wales and the mid-west of England based on systematically collected data. Typological variations within the category of implements generally known as axes are discussed, and the distribution of the largest group, true axes, analysed. Three types of distribution are identified: regional distribution, local distribution and waterborne distribution. Proximity of source is shown to play a major role in the frequency and range of axes present in any given area.

The prehistoric rock art of Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — is surveyed, with specific reference to the over 900 sites bearing motifs more complex than cup-marks alone and apparently random grooves. Of sites bearing cup-marks alone, there are at least 700.

The majority of motifs is geometric, with a few animals, weapons and human hands and footprints. Two main groups are recognized, the Boyne or Passage Grave type and the Galician type. The former occurs mainly on the slabs of Neolithic tombs, especially in Ireland, and includes spirals, rings, lozenges, zigzags and flower-like figures, only some of which occur in Britain. The latter is more restricted in design, with mainly cup-and-rings, rings, and spirals, usually on rock outcrops and boulders. A third group is recognized by some workers, in which cist and burial stones are carved with mostly the Boyne type, but sometimes with Galician or simple cup-marks or a mixture of these. There is also occasional overlap between Galician and Boyne types, occurring on natural rocks and tombs.

The main characteristics, locations in relation to topography and archaeology, and distribution are detailed. Dating and significance are briefly discussed.

Most of the art occurs in a central belt of Britain, but within that it is recognized as being distributed spatially among 16 main regions which are defined both geographically and with regard to concentrations of sites.

There is a gazetteer of all sites, similarly arranged.

The report on partial rescue excavations of the Collfryn enclosure between 1980–82 presents a summary of the first large-scale investigation of one of the numerous semi-defensive cropmark and earthwork enclosure sites in the upper Severn valley in mid-Wales. Earlier prehistoric activity of an ephemeral nature is represented by a scattering of Mesolithic and Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age flintwork, and by a pit containing sherds of several different Beaker vessels. The first enclosed settlement, constructed in about the 3rd century bc probably consisted of three widely-spaced concentric ditches, associated with banks of simple dump construction, having a single gated entranceway on the downhill side. It covered an area of about 2.5 ha and appears to have been of a relatively high social status, and appropriate in size for a single extended-family group. This was subsequently reduced in about the 1st century bc to a double-ditched enclosure, by the recutting of the original inner ditch and the cutting of a new ditch immediately outside it. The habitation area between the 3rd and 1st centuries bc probably focused on timber buildings in the central enclosure of about 0.4 ha, whose gradually evolving pattern appears to have comprised between 3–4 roundhouses and 4–5 four-posters at any one time. Little excavation was undertaken between the outer ditches of the first phase settlement, but these are assumed to have been used as stock enclosures. A mixed farming economy is suggested by cattle, sheep/goat and pig remains, and remains of glume wheats, barley and oats. Industries included small-scale iron and bronze-working. The Iron Age settlement was essentially aceramic, although there are significant quantities of a coarse, oxidized ceramic probably representing salt traded from production centres in the Cheshire Plain. The entranceway was remodelled in about the late 1st or early 2nd, century AD by means of a timber-lined passage linked to a new gate on the line of the inner bank. There is equivocal evidence of continued occupation within the inner enclosure continuing until at least the mid-4th century AD, possibly at a comparatively low social level, associated with domestic structures of uncertain form sited on earlier roundhouse platforms, and including some four-posters and possible six-posters. Drainage ditches were dug across parts of the site during the Medieval and post-Medieval periods, which were associated with various structures, including a corn-drying kiln inserted into the inner enclosure bank in the 15th century.

Ground and polished stone axes in southern Italy received little attention after a period of lively interest in the late 19th century. The great number of axes from archaeological sites and collections suggests widespread manufacture and exchange on a considerable scale. In eastern Sicily the production of basalt axes was long-lived, beginning in the Neolithic (Stentinello phase) and reaching a peak in the Copper and Early Bronze Ages. Greenstone axes are also found throughout these periods. By the Middle or Late Bronze Age, stone axes were probably little used, having been largely replaced by metal tools.

The axes from Serra Orlando (where the historical site of Morgantina is located) form one of the largest collections in Sicily from a single site, where they were found in multi-period contexts, dating from the third millennium BC until the Hellenistic period. Petrological analysis suggests that basalt from the Iblean hills was frequently used for their manufacture, while the serpentinites, tremolite-bearing rocks and pyroxenite probably originate in the Calabro-Peloritani Arc. The results of the analysis of thin sections are presented in appendixes. Raw materials, distribution and manufacture of axes are discussed and a preliminary investigation of their typology is presented. Multiple functions for Sicilian axes, related to morphology and raw materials, are suggested by their archaeological contexts.

Recent discoveries on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish Border have shown that it is now possible to identify the surface remains of prehistoric cultivation without recourse to excavation. Numerous sites of very narrow ridged cultivation, generally no more than 1.4 m between the centre of the furrows and now known as cord rig, are associated with prehistoric settlements of various types. When taken in conjunction with the many examples of demonstrably pre-Roman cultivation terraces, this has finally destroyed the concept of a predominantly pastoral economy believed to have been practised in much of the Tyne-Forth area. It is now apparent that arable regimes formed a significant part of the local economy and that the currency of the myth of the footloose Celtic cowboy is at an end. This paper concentrates upon Northumberland. A more complete description of the Scottish material will be produced by S. Halliday.

In 1982 investigations were resumed at the Kapova Cave in the Urals, which was already widely known for its rock paintings dating from the Upper Palaeolithic period. It is, to date, the only authentic site of its kind in Eastern Europe.

The cave is situated on the western slopes of the southern Urals in the valley of the Belaya River 200 km south of the city of Ufa (fig. 1). It is a cave of a karst type that evolved in limestones of the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. The enormous entrance to the cave facing south-east is in the narrow gorge of the canyon of a U-shaped valley at a distance of 150 m from the Belaya River at a height of 7–8 m above its low-water level (pl. 31). The total length of the cave's passages investigated is 2 km (fig. 2).

Non-funerary deposits of an apparently ritual character are a persistent, often very prominent aspect of all periods of Scandinavian prehistory from the Neolithic to the later Iron Age (post 600 AD). The hoards of the nearer end of this series have recently been brought within theoretical and analytical studies from a variety of modern perspectives differing in ideology and specialism. This paper offers a critical review of those studies in the light of a detailed case-study from the nearer end. Harmonies can be found between the shaping force of economic and social factors posited by Richard Bradley's model and the evidence of this case, although, perhaps inevitably, the effects of these may appear more complex and even quite different from what a description of the general model can encompass. More cautionary conclusions reached which have important implications within the construction of general theory are that greater care ought to be exercised in identifying the establishment of polities and socio-economic crises from this and other contemporary categories of material, and that the specific content of ideology, particularly religious concepts, which affects the fact and the form of ritual hoards, while probably incapable of being built into a general model like Bradley's on the same implicative basis as specific types of economic and social structures, merits a more prominent place in studies of the topic.

Investigations into Mesolithic and Neolithic activity and environmental impact on the Cambridgeshire fen-edge are described, consisting of stratigraphic and pollen analytical research at Peacock's Farm, and trial excavations at Peacock's Farm and Letter F Farm. At Peacock's Farm, the bulk of archaeological occupation was found to be of Mesolithic date, around 8000 BP uncalibrated; minimal signs of Earlier Neolithic activity were recovered. At Letter F Farm there was mainly Earlier Neolithic occupation, around 5000 BP, but there had also been Mesolithic activity. Radiocarbon dating at Peacock's Farm shows that the Mesolithic black band within the peats flanking the sand ridge, first described by Clark et al. (1935), covers a surprisingly long period: over 1700 years, mainly between approximately 8500 and 6800 BP. Dates from Mesolithic occupation areas on the sand ridge coincide with the first half of this period. Consideration of the stratigraphic results, radiocarbon dates and two pollen diagrams suggests that a channel was eroded through the Mesolithic black band at an early stage of its formation, probably not long before 7500 BP. In one area infilling of the channel apparently took place in a number of stages; in another it filled progressively with shell muds. A tentative reconstruction of the sedimentary, environmental and archaeological sequence is made. Before the Mesolithic occupation the landscape appears to have been densely forested both on the wetland and the elevated sands. Minor damage to this cover took place around 8500 BP, coinciding with the beginning of the Mesolithic occupation. This was followed, at about 8250 BP, by a substantial opening of the forest cover, when the site may have been more actively used than before, possibly as part of a new settlement pattern. Relatively open local conditions persisted for some 700–1500 years before the forest cover was re-established. Regeneration may have involved alder as a colonist, coinciding with the classical Boreal-Atlantic transition of Godwin. The relative importance of human impact and the occurrence of a period of dry climate are discussed. The balance of evidence, some admittedly circumstantial, points to a pronounced human impact on the local environment in the Mesolithic period. Burning may have been connected with short-stay visits in a settlement pattern spanning both wetland and dry areas; the context for this apparent lowland change might be sought in the insulation of the British Isles in the 9th millennium BP and increased territoriality from that date as reflected in microlith styles. By contrast in the Neolithic period there is very little pollen evidence of local environmental damage at Peacock's Farm. The Neolithic archaeological evidence from Peacock's and Letter F Farms suggests small short-stay visits only, as part of a regionally now more differentiated settlement pattern.

Unretouched flakes, Clactonian notches, true notches and a unifacial chopper were all used in a series of experiments on staves of yew wood. The aim of the experiments was to see which of the various Clactonian tool types could best reproduce the sharp, straight-sided taper of the Clacton spear point. Because of the hardness of the wood the experimenter was forced to begin close to the end of the wooden staves. The unretouched flakes when used in an outward whittling motion tended to produce point profiles with rounded tips; these resemble the point of the Lehringen lance. The Clactonian notch, better suited to an inward scraping motion, reproduced the same profile as the Clacton spear point. The experiments were repeated on four softer woods than yew in order to see how far the nature of the raw material affected the results. Irrespective of the hardness of the wood, rapid inward scraping consistently produced a point profile resembling the Clacton spear point using both an unretouched flake and Clactonian notches. The sharp, straight-sided taper of the Clacton spear point is therefore interpreted as being a result of the motion and technique of manufacture. Observations were taken on the efficiency and best ways of using the various stone tools used in the experiments. The most efficient of the tool types used for replicating the profile of the Clacton spear point using rapid scraping in an inward motion was the Clactonian notch.

The clearance of White Castle, Gwent, in the late 1920s led to the discovery of an end-blown flute or flageolet in the moat (Megaw 1961). This was a metatarsal of red deer, pierced by five regularly spaced finger-holes, two rear thumb-holes, a sound and suspension-hole (pl. 35 a, b). Its association with medieval pottery suggested a 13th-century date which was supported by its scratch and dot engraving reminiscent of medieval examples from Bornholm and Wartburg (fig. 2). Megaw considered it to be one in a long tradition of block and duct flutes dating as far back as Avebury (1500 BC) and Malham Tarn (Iron Age).

Classification has been a fundamental tool in archaeology since the birth of the discipline, particularly in artefactual analysis. All artefacts, including field monuments, have a limitless variety of characteristics and their reduction into a system of classification necessitates the selection, summarization and simplification of those characteristics regarded as diagnostic in order to clarify groupings of related monuments which might otherwise be obscured by concentration on detail. While some doubt has been cast on the value of the classification of henge monuments as an internally coherent group (and the discovery of many more sites has certainly done little to consolidate that coherence) it can still be argued that a strictly defined class of henge is a useful contribution to our understanding (Harding 1987). Other classes of monument of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC which seem to have ceremonial/funerary functions have also been defined, such as enclosed cremation cemeteries, recumbent stone circles, postcircles, ring cairns, ring ditches and so on. It is widely agreed that there are complex relationships between these various types and their myriad hybrids, or at least that comparisons can be made between various constructional elements.

The discussion and analysis of chevaux-de-frise in Britain have been limited both by the small number of extant examples and by the lack of detailed survey work at some of the known sites. Harbison (1971) discusses twelve sites from Britain and Ireland in some detail, and mentions another, then recently found by C. J. Houlder, that of Carn Alw. The purpose of this note is to describe the remains at this site, to indicate the potential of detailed survey of well-preserved examples, and to compare the evidence from Carn Alw with that from other sites including the nearby inland promontory fort of Castell Henllys (Mytum 1987) where excavation has recently revealed traces of another chevaux-de-frise.

A survey of Ingleborough was undertaken by RCHME in the summer of 1988 at the request of the Yorkshire Dales National Park who are concerned by the considerable erosion and damage occurring on the Peak as a result of the popularity of the Three Peaks footpath. This is affecting not only the natural surface of the hill but also the archaeological remains.

The summit of Ingleborough, one of the Three Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales, is a gritstone cap overlying the sandstone, shale and limestone beds of the Yoredale Series which, in turn, overlie the Great Scar Limestone. This formation gives Ingleborough its distinctive stepped profile, created by differential weathering, except where glacial drift forms smoother slopes on the flanks (Crutchley 1981, 41–44). The coarse gritstone forms a roughly triangular, plateau-like summit with only a slight rise from the rim to the highest point, at 723 m OD, now occupied by a triangulation pillar and cruciform walkers's shelter.