MASCA J 1

An experimental first attempt at the presentation of routine TL data is made and thrown open to discussion. It is now possible to set up criteria for reliable dating that will permit confident age quotation (ie within 7% and 11% per sherd). The MASCA TL results will be reported by the conventions set up by the Oxford TL laboratory, with additional details to indicate which factors have been included in the analytical results (eg test for anomalous fading, supralinearity correction, etc.).

Describes the adaptation to archaeological fieldwork of the SELGEM system developed by the Smithsonian Institution for documentation. The system was found to be a dynamic, adaptable and economical research tool, especially helpful when dealing with grave associations.

Strongly questions the validity of the statistical analysis by which Alexander Thom has deduced the existence of a Megalithic Yard accurate to + 0.003 feet used for laying out many of the stone rings throughout Britain. The data used by Thom himself - the diameters of 145 circles - cannot be tested by a simple quantum hypothesis: at each site one has to consider not just the intended value of the measuring unit, but also the number of units making up the diameter. For large circles, two different units, only slightly differing in value, can both be fitted an integral number of times to the measured diameter; the inclusion of these sites in the analysis leads to artificially small residual errors and hence to an overestimate of the accuracy of the supposed measuring unit. This and other problems lead to the conclusion that by Broadbent's criterion Thom's case for an accurate MY is unproven. C R

XRF analysis of a small brass bust from London showed it had been tinned (to imitate silver) and later covered with a mixed sulphide of iron and copper (to imitate gold). The results shed light on some 1st millennium AD recipes for pseudo-gilding.