Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58

Provides the results of experiments designed to investigate the efficiency of objects hitherto interpreted as chopping tools. The results are evaluated in relation to data from Clactonian and other Lower to Mid Pleistocene sites. It is thought that artefacts formerly described as choppers should instead be seen as cores.

Excavations undertaken in advance of construction work recovered Mesolithic worked flint from a sandy layer overlying river gravel, in two distinct concentrations suggesting two distinct episodes. Use wear analysis of the flint suggests that the sites were used as home bases at which a wide range of activities took place, with an emphasis on the processing of plant foods. A 14C date of 9,100 + 80 BP was obtained from a sample of hazelnut shells from within one of the concentrations. Analysis of the soil and sedimentary sequence as well as the pollen indicates constantly changing localised environments in the early Holocene in the Thatcham area, with sporadic occupation by Mesolithic communities on the drier areas at the edge of the floodplain. Includes reports on: `Artefacts' by F Healy (47--53); `Use wear analysis' by R Grace (53--63); `Soils and sedimentary sequence from the relict channel' by I M Fenwick (63--4); `Plant macrofossils' (64--6) and `Pollen analysis' (66--70) by R G Scaife; and a `Discussion' by M J Allen & F Healy (70--2). There is an appendix providing a `Catalogue of illustrated lithic material' (73--4) and a `Bibliography' (74--6).

The excavation of an oval crop mark close to the Abingdon causewayed enclosure showed a complex sequence of development, starting with a rectangular ditched enclosure and most probably ending with an oval barrow of a type with parallels elsewhere in lowland England. The site included the grave of two individuals associated with a polished knife, a belt slider and most probably a leaf shaped arrowhead, and produced a series of radiocarbon dates extending from the earlier to the later Neolithic. A number of formal deposits around one end of the site are matched by similar material from the inner ditch of the causewayed enclosure, suggesting a direct link between the two monuments. Includes reports on the `Excavated features' by R Bradley, M Cook & B Mead (128--32), `Human burials' by M Harman (135--6), `Pottery' by R Cleal (136--8) and `Animal bone' by B Levitan (138).

Radiocarbon dates on samples excavated earlier this century by Gray and Keiller and one more recently by Pitts, confirm that the henge at Avebury is in the same general Late Neolithic horizon as the other great Wessex enclosures of Durrington Walls, Marden and Mount Pleasant. They leave open to interpretation the details of Avebury's sequence. The monument may have been constructed in a series of stages, but further investigation is badly needed.

Detailed topographical surveys and geophysical examinations of the Penrith `henges' were undertaken in order to assess the present state of the monuments for management purposes. At Mayburgh, geophysical prospection was designed to assess the validity of the early reports of the presence of two concentric settings of stones. Some possible parallels in Ireland are noted. The nearby site of King Arthur's Round Table was also sampled by geophysical techniques, but was found to be too disturbed for the recovery of any further information as to its original form. The `cremation trench' discovered in pre-Second World War excavations at this site was relocated. The position of the enigmatic Little Round Table was re-established by both topographical and geophysical methods, and its north entrance firmly located. The classification of Mayburgh and of the Little Round Table is considered. The apparent disunity of these three distinctly different monuments within one complex is emphasised -- all are traditionally classified as `henge-related', yet the structure and orientation of each site is markedly different. Contemporary topographical considerations are now difficult to reconstruct.

The excavations of the cemetery groups at Balneaves, Loanleven and Park of Tongland facilitate an examination of many aspects of Bronze Age burial practices in Scotland. They are notable as much for the differences in burial ritual they imply as for the very narrow chronological period in which they were used. Of the seventeen 14C dates from the three sites, the means of fifteen fall within a period of 250 years (3370--3620 bp). The penannular ditch at Balneaves enclosed sixteen features, including a group of seven pits with cremation burials, four associated with a distinctive assemblage of collared urns. At Loanleven only a segment of the enclosing ring-ditch survived, within which were four cists containing two inhumations and two cremations. One cist yielded a decorated slab and a mat of plant material which probably underlay the body. Park of Tongland, regarded as a four-poster stone circle, was shown to be of multi-period construction; a cairn overlay seven pits containing fragmentary cremation burials. The standing stones may not all have been erect at the same time. An `Introduction: a note on the monuments' by J B Stevenson (286--9) is followed by `Balneaves, an enclosed Bronze Age cremation cemetery near Friockheim, Angus' by C J Russell-White (289--301). This includes reports on `Cremations' by J I McKinley (2935), `The urns' by J A Sheridan (295--300), `Stone' by C J Russell-White (300), `Botanical remains' by Christine M Rushe (300) and `Pollen' by R Tipping (301). C E Lowe then deals with the `Excavation of an enclosed Bronze Age cemetery at Loanleven, Methven, Perth and Kinross district' by (301--12), including `Inhumations' by F Lee (305), `Cremations' by J I McKinley (305--6), `Pottery' by J A Sheridan (306), `Flint' by B Finlayson (306--7), `Coarse stone' by V J McLellan (307) and a `Palynology report' by R Tipping (307--8). Lastly, `The excavation of the Bronze Age cemetery and standing stones at Park of Tongland, Kircudbright, Dumfries and Galloway' is dealt with by R P J McCullagh (312--21) including reports on `Pottery' by T Cowie (315 & 318--19), `Perforated bone plate' V J McLellan (319), `Cremated bone' by J I McKinley (320) and `Soil thin section micromorphological analysis' by D A Davidson (320). In addition to further contributions by the authors, the microfiche contains: `Post-medieval pottery' from Balneaves by D M Hall (M38); `Analysis of green-stained bone fragments' from Loanleven by A O'Berg (M44--45); and from Park of Tongland, `Pollen' by S Butler (M49--50), `Geology and pottery fabric inclusions' by G Collins (M51--2) and `Charcoal' by C Dixon (M53--4).

About 170 round barrows and fifteen flat graves from Kent are recorded, with a small selection of Thanet's ring-ditches, mostly of ploughed-out round barrows, a full list of which is being prepared by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology. Nine sites have yielded primary central inhumations and ten have contained primary central cremations. Four sites have yielded burials in their encircling ditch. Warrior equipment has come from two sites, and `Wessex' interments from another two. Barrow Wouldham I/THAN contained a central primary cremation in a four-post mortuary structure with parallels in the Toterfout-Halve-Mijl cemetery in the Netherlands, with which area relations are suggested. One site (Lydden I/DOV) is identified as the Ellenbeorge of an Anglo-Saxon land charter. Several Bronze Age round barrows were used by the Jutes and Saxons for their intrusive burials, and there are two instances of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery being sited to adjoin a Bronze Age round barrow. More than twenty sites have recorded local names of which the most frequent general name is Mount. Some of the best surviving barrows are beside or near the North Downs Way and the Pilgrims' Way.