First excavated in 1928 by Dorothy Garrod, Hazar Merd represents the earliest documented Palaeolithic site in the Zagros Mountains and a landmark in regional archaeological research. Nearly a century later, renewed investigations are refining the site’s stratigraphy and cultural sequence, providing a more nuanced understanding of its long-term occupation.

Archaeological excavations at Kota Tampan in West Malaysia recovered a large stone assemblage dated to 70 kya and believed to be associated with the presence of early Anatomically Modern Humans in Mainland Southeast Asia. New technological analysis demonstrates that almost all these stone artefacts result from early stage reduction through freehand and bipolar percussion.

Sudan is a vitally important region for understanding the migrations of Anatomically Modern Humans from the African continent. Here, the authors present the results of a preliminary survey in the Kerma region, during which, 16 new Middle Stone Age sites were discovered.

Few events of European prehistory are more important than the transition from ancient to modern humans around 40 000 years ago, a period that unfortunately lies near the limit of radiocarbon dating. This paper shows that as many as 70 per cent of the oldest radiocarbon dates in the literature may be too young, due to contamination by modern carbon. Future dates can be made more secure — and previous dates revised — using more refined methods of pre-treatment described here.