Scott Archaeol Rev 9--10

An overview of recent fieldwork: rescue projects, research, landscape archaeology, aerial survey. The implications for the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age periods are also reviewed, and there is a note on theoretical debate.

Considers how environmental archaeology can contribute to the wider understanding of material culture, citing a number of recent studies.

Considers the interrelationship of three main types of data used by archaeologists: the archaeological record, written texts, and subjective interpretation. The difficulty of interpreting these three sources is examined using key documentary sources for the transition between Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England.

A reply to Hodder (see 92/63), which argues that a desire to make archaeology more generally accessible should not be allowed to restrict ground-breaking research just because the average individual is not yet familiar with the new concepts on which that research is based.

An overview of the evidence obtained from the study of human remains from cemeteries at Cirencester and York (Rom), Anton and Apple Down (Early Saxon), North Elmham (Late Saxon) and York (med--post-med). The data are compared with a modern sample.

Considers the importance of periods of apparent inactivity in the stratigraphic record and argues that these should sometimes be interpreted as culturally significant. The argument is illustrated with case studies at Fengate and Maxey/Etton (Cambridgeshire) where periods of abandonment are associated with prehistoric ritual landscapes.

Favours Iona as the place of production and a date in the mid-seventh century for this important Insular manuscript.

Four papers from a session at the 1990 TAG conference are introduced by Alison Sheridan (131--2) in `Museums and archaeology'. In `Squat grunting savages? Museums and archaeology' Caroline Wickham-Jones (132--7) outlines how the philosophy and role of museums have changed in recent years and considers whether early prehistory is being presented in an up-to-date way in Scottish museums. `At the cutting edge: the local museum' by Victoria Pirie (138--41) looks at three themes: the role of academic archaeology in museums, the audience, and hidden messages in museum displays. `An archaeological approach to display: the "encyclopaedia of the North-East" in Marischal Museum' is described by Neil Curtis (142--4). `Archaeology on display in Denmark' is reported on by Eva Bredsdorff (145--8).