This contribution, in memory of the Cambridge archaeologist and cultural theorist, David Clarke (1938–76), investigates the possibility of a coherent description of long-term change on an archaeological time scale. It rejects an earlier (‘processualist’) synthesis based on ecology; but, rather than retreat into an introverted and fragmented post-modernism, it asserts the continuing value of a ‘grand narrative’. It identifies the problems of the neo-evolutionary conception prevalent in the 1960s and early 1970s, and in particular a division into stages, and emphasis on autonomous development, and the priority given to production. In contrast, this presentation emphasises the importance of social interaction and cultural encounter. This interactionist approach is exemplified in new descriptions of the ‘Neolithic’, ‘Urban’, and ‘Industrial’ Revolutions, and discussed as a means of conceptualising some general properties of long-term change.

Indo-European languages are believed to have spread through population movements from the original epicentre. In recent years, this diffusion and divergence of languages from the ∗proto-Indo-European mother tongue has been identified with the dispersal of farming populations from the region of Anatolia/northern Iran, who are held (e.g. by Renfrew) to have gradually colonised Europe between c. 6000 and 3000 bc. It is here argued that this was not necessarily the case, and an alternative explanation for the divergence of Indo-European languages is presented, based on contact, exchange, trade, and intermarriage. Linguistic models for contact-induced language change, the archaeological evidence for such contacts at the transition to farming in Europe, and evidence for the adoption of farming by the local, hunter-gatherer populations are discussed. This leads to the formulation of the ‘Neolithic creolisation hypothesis’. The paper finally suggests a scheme for the divergence of the Indo-European languages following this hypothesis and discusses the linguistic implications.

This article suggests that the common appearance of cultural (‘midden’) material under barrows of the Trichterbecher culture is interpreted as the purposeful metaphor of continuity of the small-scale society that has just suffered the loss of one or more of its actors. The three stages of rites de passage as outlined by van Gennep are used to explain the mortuary rituals further. Separation was signified by the enclosure (ditch or palisade) around the future barrow site and a ‘facade’. The liminal stage may be marked archaeologically by the ‘cleansing’ of fire or dismantling of facades at the barrow entrance, and sometimes by ploughing, which destroyed the cultural material on the site. Reintegration was the ‘planting’ of the deceased under soil and the erection of the barrow. The paper concludes with implications for the growth of a lineage organisation of society.

Investigating three Bronze-Age cemeteries in a small area near the rock carvings of Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden, this paper suggests that the social and economic structure of the area was not necessarily homogeneous, although this is the traditional view. Variations in the burial practices are analysed: burial construction, grave goods present, and treatment of cremated bones. An elite is suggested as having existed at settlements using the cemeteries at Klinga and Fiskeby, those using Ringeby were less organised or controlled. A speculative interpretation is offered: that Ringeby served as a subsistence area for the ‘central place’ of rock-carving activity, and lacked the benefits of trade and bronze supplies.

The concept of ideology has figured centrally in recent accounts of the fundamental social transformation sweeping Europe from the mid-fifth to second millennia BC. In particular, many have focussed on the human body as a principal medium of ideological expression, notably in terms of a growing ‘prestige goods ideology’. This paper endeavours to expose the deficiencies of this model, which lie in its overly cynical nature and its disregard for the specific socio-cultural contours of status expression. Specifically, by linking the ‘ideological’ transformations of this Period to the development of a distinct institution, a male warrior status group, and its package of expressive themes - individualism, warfare, bodily ornamentation, horses and wheeled vehicles, the hunt, the ritual consumption of alcohol - I seek to demonstrate that the changing treatment of the human body in mortuary rites and in everyday life is more than ideological. In particular, it is implicated in the development of a coherent life style, and as such is fundamentally bound up with changing notions of Personhood and self-identity. Running through the fabric of this life style, through its embodiment of the subject in both life and death, is an equally distinctive notion of male beauty, unique to the warrior.

Despite the extensive household assemblages excavated in Pompeii, material culture studies of this site have been dominated by epigraphical, architectural, and art-historical studies. A database of the excavated contents of 30 Pompeian houses (863 rooms and 6,300 artefacts) was compiled in order to rectify this situation. It was used to investigate room use and the living conditions in Pompeii between AD 62 and AD 79, through these assemblages.

Because of the nature of the excavation records, much effort was required to process the available data in a meaningful and useful manner. Also the state of prior research in this area required the deconstruction of past, predominantly text-based, assumptions about these specific issues. However, using methods and analytical processes appropriate to such an investigation of a previously excavated site, this study was able to present a new perspective on living conditions in the last decades in Pompeii, in particular, and on Roman domestic life and site formation processes, more generally.

Women are often depicted on Romano-British mosaics either as non-specific allegorical characters without personalities, such as personifications of seasons, fortune, learning, and so on, or as figures representative of the forces of nature, such as Medusa or the seasons. Medusa, often identified with chaos, is depicted already neutralised through the nature of her representation; while the seasons are frequently coupled with a male mythological figure such as Bacchus, related to the contrast between nature and culture. Other scenes of male association with culture include scenes from the hunt. Idealised portrayals of Roman social interests focus on male-oriented activities; activities of specifically female interest are not known. These representations are interpreted in light of Sherry Ortner's social attributes of a ‘universal subordination of women’.

This article suggests methods for recognising and recovering symbolic significance in archaeological material. It develops the idea that there are three principal (and overlapping) spheres of the human world. In the first, ‘artefacts’ have a practical purpose and function physically on their immediate surroundings. In the second sphere, ‘institutions’ have a social purpose and function to organise human relationships. In the third, ‘texts’ have a communicative purpose and function through symbolic significance. Application of the ‘elimination method’ starts by testing the first two spheres before undertaking an analysis of possible symbolic significance. The paper uses prehistoric fortifications and houses with sunken floors in Bohemia as examples.

This paper looks at how prehistory was portrayed and taught in Spanish school books in four periods (1880–1920; 1920–36; 1936–75; 1975 onwards). Through the first three periods the scientific advances of archaeology can be seen to enter books often only after a time lag of decades, and only after the dominance of scripture for human ‘origins’ gave way to secular versions of history. But until the death of Franco, there was a strong tradition of emphasising nationalistic sentiments of heroic resistance and positive characteristics of the Spanish’ race’ while concentrating on events and the deeds of individuals, usually military or political. This is graphically demonstrated with illustrations from textbooks. Since 1975 school books have changed radically. This is seen in the shift in illustrative teaching materials, from reconstructed scenes of political events to maps and pictures of source materials.

The paper begins by underlining the existence in Europe of two opposing views on the role that archaeology is to play: the Anglo-American conception and the Mediterranean one. The Spanish situation should be understood within the second, by analysing the legislative, economic, and social background of archaeological activity in the country and by stressing the determining role that the state plays. Next, reference is made to the development of archaeological enterprises created during the last decade, which coincides the recommendations made by the European Council. The general lack of participation by private sponsors in archaeological activities is discussed, followed by a reflection on the legal conditions of the commerce of archaeological goods and the role played by various kinds of institutions and private collectors in the encouragement of plunder. The conclusion stresses the relevance that institutions such as the EAA can have on safeguarding the European archaeological heritage - bearing in mind a respectful attitude towards the different national feelings - by their contribution towards increased integration.