Portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) has become a widely used tool for the chemical characterisation (source identification) of obsidian found in archaeological contexts. While laboratory techniques such as neutron activation analysis (NAA) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) can analyse more elements and have lower detection limits, pXRF can provide quantitative data of sufficient resolution to be able to match obsidian artefacts with their volcanic sources. At the same time, pXRF offers several advantages for obsidian research: (i) it can be deployed ‘in the field’ (i.e. on site or in a museum) without the need to bring samples back to a laboratory for analysis; (ii) information on elemental composition can be obtained relatively quickly; and (iii) measurements require no special preparation of samples and cause no visible damage to materials.

In contrast to the Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic, the Late Palaeolithic archaeological record of the south-east coast of India is poorly understood (Pappu 2001; Petraglia et al. 2010; Pappu et al. 2011). Considerable uncertainty surrounds the definition of the blade-based microlithic or non-Levallois, flake-based assemblages, largely as a result of the lack of chronometric dates from excavated sites and due to the paucity of lithic studies (Pappu 2001). The Late Palaeolithic is a crucial period in relation to questions about the dispersals of anatomically modern humans across India and Sri Lanka (Petraglia et al. 2010; Mellars et al. 2013; Roberts et al. 2015) and regional evolutionary trajectories of blade technologies. Here, we present an overview of the site complex of Kunjaram (KJ) in the Kortallaiyar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, south-east India. This represents one of the 43 Late Palaeolithic sites documented in this region (Pappu et al. 2010). While analysis of the lithics from other sites continues, we focus here on the lithic assemblage from KJ-3 because of its good preservation and potential to yield information on all stages of the reduction sequence, as well as its geographic proximity to the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic site of Attirampakkam, which would enable the construction of regional cultural sequences.

The paucity of archaeological evidence from the northern Afar Rift and Red Sea littoral remains a major hindrance to testing the hypothesised Out-of-Africa dispersal of early humans via the ‘Southern Route’—across the Bab al-Mandeb into Arabia and beyond. Encouraged by renewed geological studies (e.g. Atnafu et al. 2015), and recent archaeological discoveries (e.g. Walter et al. 2000; Beyin 2013), we initiated a pioneering exploration along the ancient Red Sea coast in the Danakil Depression (Figure 1a–c). The most conspicuous geomorphological features here constitute terraces of reef carbonates and associated marine deposits, formed when the depression was covered by the open Red Sea during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Initial results of our exploration promise contexts in which the distribution and cultural/behavioural adaptation of early humans during the Out-of-Africa event can be closely investigated.

Intensive research on the Mesolithic of western Central Asia began in the mid twentieth century, when the discovery of key sites allowed for the formulation of the main regional cultural-chronological schemes (Figure 1).

This short article reports research on the development of ceramic production and exchange between the mainland and islands of Brittany from the Neolithic to the Gallo-Roman period. Archaeometric analysis of ceramics is used to explore the development of communication networks: the movement of people and of products between the islands and the mainland. Did these islands produce their own pottery or were they dependent on mainland production? By determining whether pottery was locally produced or imported, it is possible to identify the changing degrees of connection with, or isolation from, wider networks.

In recent years, the study of Palaeolithic people has been a vigorous, productive topic, with the increasing knowledge of diet contributing significantly to the debate's liveliness (e.g. Richards 2009; Henry et al. 2010; Hardy et al. 2012, 2016; El Zaatari et al. 2016).

The notion of ancient Maya ritual combat, beyond the well-known rubber-ball game played across Mesoamerica, was proposed 40 years ago on the basis of a polychrome vase from southern Belize and a series of Late Classic (AD 700–850) pottery figurines depicting similarly accoutred individuals, found at the site of Lubaantun (Hammond 1976: figs 4–6).

The end of the last Ice Age in Britain (c. 11500 BP) created major disruption to the biosphere. Open habitats were succeeded by more wooded landscapes, and changes occurred to the fauna following the abrupt disappearance of typical glacial herd species, such as reindeer and horse (Conneller & Higham 2015). Understanding the impact of these changes on humans and how quickly they were able to adapt may soon become clearer, due to recent discoveries in the Colne Valley on the western edge of Greater London, north of the River Thames. An exceptionally well-preserved open-air site was discovered in 2014 as part of a wider project of archaeological investigation and excavation carried out by Wessex Archaeology (2015), on behalf of CEMEX UK. The site, at Kingsmead Quarry in Horton, is unusual because it has good organic preservation and, in addition to worked flint artefacts, it has yielded groups of articulated horse bone. The extreme rarity of such sites of this period in Britain makes this discovery especially significant and re-emphasises the potential importance of the Colne Valley (Lacaille 1963; Lewis 2011; Morgi et al. 2011).

The village of Khuntsi is located in the Martvili municipality of Samegrelo, western Georgia, on the west bank of the Tskhenistskali River, on the road that links Martvili, Khoni and Kutaisi. A few short sections of wall on Kukiti Hill (known locally as ‘Najikhu’, translating roughly from Mingrelian as ‘ruins (remains) of a castle’) indicate the presence of a fortress. Six years ago, the installation of a mobile phone mast and associated infrastructure without consultation with the appropriate archaeological agencies revealed and damaged archaeological structures. Animal bone and fragments of pottery were retrieved, and are currently stored in the school in Khuntsi. It was information from a local school teacher, Zoya Gadelia, that led the Anglo-Georgian Expedition to Nokalakevi to investigate the site in 2015.

Isfahan in central Iran was selected as a capital city by both the Seljuk (AD 1040–1157) and the Safavid (AD 1501–1722) dynasties. During the Safavid period, and under Shah Abbas I (AD 1571–1629) in particular, the city was greatly expanded with important new quarters including Naqsh-e Jahan Square (AD 1590–1595). Running north to south, a new avenue or boulevard called the Charbagh (Ḵiyābān-e Čahārbāğ) was also constructed (AD 1595–1596) (Figure 1), serving as both a leisure or tourist attraction outside the city walls, and to connect some of the new capital's institutions.

Reflecting on his motivations for writing a history of tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari (2017: 68) observes that: “historians are asked to examine the actions of our ancestors so that we can repeat their wise decisions and avoid their mistakes. But it almost never works like that because the present is just too different from the past”. What then would Harari make of the new archaeology books reviewed in this instalment of NBC, concerned as they are with the present day and the future as much as they are with the past?

As a part of the multidisciplinary project entitled ‘Archaeological Investigations into the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Lim Channel, Istria’, archaeological research has been conducted at four sites: Romuald's Cave, Abri Kontija 002, Pećina at Rovinjsko Selo and Lim 001 (Figure 1). There is much debate on issues related to biological and behavioural continuity, to patterns of changes and adaptations during this crucial period, and to external factors (e.g. changes in ecology and climate). For example, a clearer insight is needed into how climatic change affects the ecology of specific regions, including changing sea levels. Additionally, there continues to be debate centring on who produced the earliest (Initial) Upper Palaeolithic industries in Europe. To achieve a more precise insight into long-term diachronic changes and cultural relations around the Adriatic, and to document the presence of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic humans in Istria, we concentrated on a single microregion (the Lim Channel in Istria, Croatia). Here we report work on the two sites that to date have yielded Pleistocene material: Romuald's Cave and Abri Kontija 002.

The Lothagam harpoon site in north-west Kenya's Lake Turkana Basin provides a stratified Holocene sequence capturing changes in African fisher-hunter-gatherer strategies through a series of subtle and dramatic climate shifts (Figure 1). The site rose to archaeological prominence following Robbins's 1965–1966 excavations, which yielded sizeable lithic and ceramic assemblages and one of the largest collections of Early Holocene human remains from Eastern Africa (Robbins 1974; Angel et al. 1980).

In the article by Pollard et al. (2017), Figure 2 was incorrectly duplicated as Figure 5.

The longue durée of human activity on the island of Pantelleria represents an important locus of ancient cultural interaction in the Strait of Sicily. This narrow channel in the central Mediterranean has played a major and continuous role in human relations between Italy, Sicily and North Africa since the Neolithic period. Use or control of the Pantelleria has been pivotal for a number of cultures over time, each leaving a lasting impression on the landscape and the people of the island (Figure 1). The volcanic geology of Pantelleria has determined the shape of its landscape and is responsible for the creation of the collapsed-caldera basin and lake that form the study area of this project. The Brock University Archaeological Project at Pantelleria (BUAPP) is working in the Lago di Venere area, examining past human activity on the north-eastern lake shore. A previous project in the Lago di Venere area (1998–2002) interpreted the site as a Punic and Roman sanctuary (Audino & Cerasetti 2004; Cerasetti 2006). Our project complements this and other archaeological investigations of the island's classical past, including the ongoing excavations on the Acropolis, near the main harbour, which have revealed the remains of the island's Punic and Roman centre (Schäfer et al. 2015).