This paper analyses the occupation sequence documented in the Roman house of La Fortuna (Cartagena, Spain). We use a contextual approach to study all the material culture documented in the domus. We start with a complete re-documentation of the stratigraphic record, in order to match the finds to their provenance. As a basis for this documentation, we discuss the abandonment typologies and the formation processes documented in the house. Using this framework we make a detailed examination of the artefact assemblages documented and we apply a quantitative study of the production, redistribution and consumption patterns during the different occupation phases. The ultimate objective of this paper is to provide a social and economic reading of the household activities carried out by the successive inhabitants in their own historical context.

The archaeological study of recent periods in Malta is in its infancy. Despite the high potential for an historical archaeology of Malta contributing to broader issues, such as an understanding of Mediterranean trade and colonialism, as well as the cultural history of Malta, the archaeological resource has remained under-explored. The aim of this article is to address the situation and offer an initial classification and interpretation of local and imported red earthenware ceramics. It will demonstrate the need for such work in relation to answering questions relating to local production, international trade, and foodways.

Over a period of 14 years, and as part of the Polish Archaeological Record research project, the author directed a field survey of the whole of the Lega river basin (NE Poland) – an area of over 850 km2. As a result of the survey of this hitherto poorly investigated area, almost 1100 archaeological sites were discovered, 748 of which contained lithic materials. The most interesting sites were initially studied by detailed mapping of surface-find distribution and later by excavation. A complete study of the whole drainage basin was very important for settlement research. The large number of the surface lithic assemblages enables reliable statistical analyses and accurate cartographic studies supported by palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Lithic assemblages were analysed from the point of production techniques and typology, dispelling some doubts about chronological-cultural affiliations of flint inventories from north-east Poland and neighbouring countries, but also raising new questions. It was possible to observe clear and changing settlement preferences in the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in the zone of late Glacial lakes and their adjacent outwash territories to the south. Six concentrations of sites were discovered, associated with communication routes and zones of economic activity.

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.

Recent anatomical analyses of a human maxilla found in 1927 in the Vestibule at Kent's Cavern, Devon, UK, have been interpreted as confirming its taxonomic status as Homo sapiens, while Bayesian modelling of dated fauna apparently ‘associated’ with it has been interpreted as suggesting a calendar age for the maxilla of around 44,200–41,500 years BP, rendering it the earliest fossil evidence for modern human presence in Northern Europe. In this paper, we examine fully the circumstances of the maxilla's discovery, data not previously considered. Based mostly on archival and limited published materials, as well as knowledge of the cave's stratigraphy, we provide a detailed examination of the context of the maxilla and associated finds. We urge caution over using a small selected sample of fauna from an old and poorly executed excavation in Kent's Cavern to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy and age for a human fossil that cannot be dated directly, and we suggest that the recent dating should be rejected. We place our evaluation in the wider context of the dating of European early anatomically modern humans.

This paper provides a critical review of Smith's (1989) typological discussion of the antler ‘mattocks’ of the British Mesolithic. The evidence for use of the term ‘mattock’ is assessed in relation to a new technological analysis of antler tools from Britain. In the light of the data presented here and developments in the study of Mesolithic osseous technologies from elsewhere in northwest Europe, a redefinition of the terminology and typology used to study these artefacts is presented. The potential for this redefinition to shape research across Mesolithic Europe is demonstrated through a discussion of the earliest occurrence of antler T-axes around the North Sea basin.

Authenticity is frequently seen as crucial in archaeology. In this paper, we examine the nature of authenticity and question by implication whether so much attention should be given to determining the actual age and thus the genuineness of archaeological objects. We show that numbers of authenticated objects are potentially fakes. There is an acceptance that many archaeological sites and reconstructions are not actually really old, although the acceptability of this view depends on one's flexibility towards the concept of authenticity. It is clear that the public does not necessarily put the same value on genuineness as do archaeologists. We suggest that certain aspects of the past have always been a potentially renewable resource. We suggest that a more relaxed approach to genuineness and authenticity is acceptable today and is already accepted by the public as consumers of the past.