This article considers the results of an analysis undertaken on pottery recovered mostly from multi-phase Iron Age sites in the Trans-Urals region of Russia. It focuses on a particular project involving fieldwork and the subsequent analysis of archaeological contexts and the laboratory studies of pottery morphology, ornamentation, technology, and statistics, with an attempt to apply the concept of style. This type of research project is unusual for Russian ceramic studies and the article begins with a consideration of the formal typological approach to the study of artefacts, which is a traditional aspect of Russian archaeology and is still the primary focus of many research programmes.

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.

Over the past few decades the mass media have increasingly shaped public awareness. For many people, television, the radio, or the press are the only sources for archaeological topics and it is essential, therefore, to be able to collaborate with the world of journalism. It is not only sensational news stories that have an opportunity of being covered by the media, but also serious issues – provided that they are well told. Communicating scientific results to an audience outside one's own specialist subject is, however, not only a question of good will, but also of skill. This article focuses on how to get the attention of the mass media, how to exert influence on the quality of a newspaper article, radio or film, and how to communicate what is really important. It provides an overview of public and media relations and tries to give some helpful suggestions.

This paper is concerned with the impact of ancient DNA data on our models of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in central Europe. Beginning with a brief overview of how genetic data have been received by archaeologists working in this area, it outlines the potential and remaining problems of this kind of evidence. As a migration around the beginning of the Neolithic now seems certain, new research foci are then suggested. One is renewed attention to the motivations and modalities of the migration process. The second is a fundamental change in attitude towards the capabilities of immigrant Neolithic populations to behave in novel and creative ways, abilities which in our transition models were long exclusively associated with hunter-gatherers.

This article investigates the evolution of cremation rites during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Spectacular finds during the last decade have shed much light on this subject; for example, the discovery and excavation of the largest cremation cemetery to date (Can PiteuCan Roqueta with more than 1000 graves); or the restudy of other sites (Can Bech de Baix or Roques de Sant Formatge). Additionally, relevant material has been obtained from studies of: excavations of settlements with exceptional defensive systems (Vilars d'Arbeca); the preceding and founding layers of the Greek colony of Emporion; and the development of political territories in the River Ebro region and surroundings. A detailed analysis of information from these sites has considerably increased knowledge about the social transformations that occurred over the 600 to 700 year timescale of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.

In the last chapter of What Happened in History, Childe touched on the problematic of Late Antiquity. His pessimistic view of that period was a variation on the theme of decadence. This theme had existed in the Roman Republic and under the Empire, long before there was any Late Antiquity to be decadent. It then persisted throughout the Middle Ages and found monumental expression in Gibbon's Decline and Fall. Childe, however, took it to excessive lengths in his denunciation of the politics, economy, and culture of the Late Roman Empire. Childe based his arguments largely on the work of Rostovtzeff and Heichelheim. Both these eminent historians were exiles: Rostovtzeff from the Russia of the October Revolution and Heichelheim from National Socialist Germany. It is no belittlement to say that their work was influenced by the insights of their political experiences. Childe, however, did not appreciate this and adopted their thinking somewhat uncritically. He further added parallels between the Roman Period and his own time, which resulted in an unduly dark vision of the last phase of the Roman Empire.