Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 67

Explores some of the ways in which the cultural and political history of the United Kingdom has affected writing about the Neolithic in what is now Scotland. It uses the terms `core' and `periphery' as they have been applied by historiographers writing about the operation of cultural and political relations within the United Kingdom in the last three centuries. The paper is in two parts. The first part presents a summary of relevant literature generated by twenty years of debate about Scottish and `British' identity, history, literature, and culture. The second part considers the ways in which the general issues have affected the writing of Scottish prehistory, concentrating on the Neolithic of lowland Scotland and examining in particular the writings and influence of Fox, Childe, Piggott, and Atkinson.

A long cropmark enclosure, interpreted as a Neolithic cursus, was investigated to confirm its date and establish a site sequence. The enclosure was c. 690 m long and thirty-seven to forty-nine metres wide, the ditch being uninterrupted in all areas examined. Features within the interior at the eastern end included an incomplete ring of substantial post-pits which it is suggested originally formed a complete circle. Peterborough pottery, predominately Mortlake style, Grooved Ware, a small amount of Beaker pottery, earlier Bronze Age urn sherds, and flint artefacts of the late-third to early-second millennium BC were recovered from the cursus ditch and other features. Collectively the evidence indicates a prolonged period of use. The results of the excavations are described, the site is discussed in its local and regional context and the implications of the excavation for our understanding of cursus monuments are considered. Includes separately authored reports on:

which reports that the material came from three distinct flintworking traditions dating from the Mesolithic, Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic. Includes a specialist report on

which notes a small quantity of fired clay from within the cursus ditch

which notes a small quantity of faunal remains, mostly sheep

which provides an overview of the evidence from the site

which suggests a LBA date for all samples except some beaver-worked wood from the EIA

which suggests a mixed alder forest/grassland environment

This paper accepts the position that the European Aurignacian should be seen as a reflection of behaviour connected to a modern human dispersal. A two-phase dispersal model (`Pioneer' and `Developed' facies) is proposed to explain the variations in artefactual diversity and spatio-temporal patterning, enacted by directional, rapid movement across the continent rather than by a `Wave-of-Advance'. Presumed behavioural signatures of this population dispersal are also explored.

which records five pieces of animal bone, including two fragments of antler, one of which belongs to the extinct giant deer Megaloceros giganteus