Circaea 7

Gives over 350 references on seed and fruit identification, listed by family.

Looks towards a basic definition providing guidelines for what environmental evidence can disclose about a site and what on-site sampling procedures can do this. Deriving techniques and terminology from a number of other disciplines, principally the natural sciences, it is closely identified here with Quaternary palaeoecology. There are intradisciplinary differences between the European concern with biological evidence and the American emphasis on geographical considerations, though Butzer's `prehistoric geography' definition is approved. Nine basic identifying criteria are put forward to start the process of definition. In response, M G Bell (69-70) cautions that archaeologists are ultimately concerned with identifying a cultural rather than a physical landscape. M Jones (71-2) emphasises the need to define goals and questions and sees the main concern as being how social complexity has allowed change in the human relationship with the ecosystem. K D Thomas (72-6) disagrees with the use of `prehistoric geography' as prehistoric denies the inclusion of any historic period and geography already incorporates much that is interdisciplinary and is therefore not definitive. In addition, the relationship with archaeological priorities are seen as of central importance with `human ecology of the past' being offered as an alternative. M van der Veen (76-7) firstly points out that an emphasis on biological evidence is a British trait rather than a European one. The idea that this area is a subset of palaeoecology may be responsible for some of the confusion surrounding definition as this marginalises considerations pertaining to archaeology. It should be classified as a historical, not a natural or social, science. Replying to these comments, W E Boyd (77-9) welcomes the start of debate in this area. However, he reasserts the need to define environmental archaeology explicitly, as it is currently standard practice to do this, in order that others become aware of `who we are and what we can do'. IH

The discovery of fresh shells of this supposedly non-burrowing species throughout the soil profile of a rendzina suggests that it is living within the soil voids. This has implications for the interpretation of fossil land snail assemblages from similar sites. Au(adp)

Describes a system for recording some organic-walled microfossils, such as fungal spores and algal cysts, based on a simple pro-forma record sheet. MH