Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72

Paper re-examining current arguments concerning the evidence for Neandertal--modern human interaction and admixture, and the issues that remain to be resolved about the tempo and mode of early modern human dispersal and interaction with archaic humans. The author focuses on what happened at the time of contact in Europe, and assesses the level of admixture that may have occurred, as well as the extent to which this level may have varied in both time and space. It explains how the available mtDNA evidence does not preclude admixture at the time of contact, and is in fact consistent, depending on a number of parameters, with a possibly substantial Neandertal contribution to the initial modern human population of Europe. It is argued that the absence of Neandertal mtDNA lineages among present Europeans is likely, on dating evidence, to be simply a particular case of generalised loss of Pleistocene mtDNA lineages. The author suggests that although the full range of interaction types (mutual avoidance, hostile confrontation, full integration) is conceivable, there is plenty of archaeological evidence to suggest that admixture must have been the general rule, and that the palaeontological evidence for the generalised presence of archaic traits among Europe's earliest moderns implies the transmission of genes, and indicates that mixed groups should have been reproductively viable. In this context, it would seem that the most parsimonious explanation for the disappearance of the Neandertal mtDNA lineage is genetic swamping. French, German and Spanish summaries provided.

Paper describing a small late Upper Palaeolithic open-air site situated on a prominent ridge top interfluve in the Midlands. A discrete cluster of worked flint of Late Palaeolithic blade technology was discovered within an excavated area of 100m2. The lithic scatter represents the hearth-side activities of a short-term occupancy by a small hunting group with evidence for provisioning of flint, production of blades/bladelets, and toolkit maintenance. Spatial analysis provides some dynamics to these activities. The assemblage has strong affinities with the Late Glacial--early Post-glacial Long Blade industries of southern England and northern France but displays many attributes that are atypical of the classic sites. The Launde assemblage appears to be a missing facies of the Long Blade tradition. The blade technology and the typology of the projectile points are also closely paralleled further afield in Belgium, the Netherlands and western Germany, what might be termed a late Western Ahrensburgian, probably dating to the early Pre-Boreal at the beginning of the tenth millennium BP. French, German and Spanish summaries provided.

Excavation at a cropmark enclosure in the Upper Severn Valley was undertaken to try to obtain material from which to provide relative and absolute dating for the site. Lying within an area rich in Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology and in close proximity to a proven long barrow, the conventional later prehistoric date postulated for the enclosure was questioned. Excavation proved the site to have been a ditched enclosure with internal bank and a possible gate structure. Post-pits ran inside the bank. Finds were few but radiocarbon dates from the floor of the ditch proved the Early Neolithic credentials of the monument which seemed to have continued in use for at least some 500 years. French, German and Spanish summaries provided. Separately authored contributions include

A series of recent radiocarbon determinations from sites in lowland Scotland suggests that cursus monuments defined by posts and pits are generally earlier than the more familiar bank and ditch structures, and may have been constructed very early within the British Neolithic sequence. The implications of such a sequence are discussed in relation to the affinities of these structures, and landscape change between 4000 and 3600 cal BC. French, German and Spanish summaries provided.

Report on three seasons of archaeological fieldwork carried out in 1998--2000 within the Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, Bodmin Moor. The first two seasons involved the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season on the Northern Downs involved the evaluation of a number of cairns, field systems, and palaeoenvironmental sites. The cairn group consisted of three earlier Bronze Age ring-cairns and two `tailed' cairns. One ring-cairn continued to be used as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and was reused during the Iron Age as a dwelling. An artefact assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Two prehistoric beads, one of faience, the other of amber, were also found. Ten Bronze Age radiocarbon determinations spanning 2490--1120 cal BC and two Iron Age determinations 370--40 cal BC) were obtained from three of the cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated. Significantly, a series of eight determinations was obtained from a single column, which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval period. The radiocarbon dating showed that impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with larger-scale clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was established by the Middle Bronze Age. It is suggested here that use of space within the cairn group was structured and that the cairns formed a monument complex which was part of a wider landscape cosmology, involving groupings of particular monument types and the referencing of rocky outcrops and tors. The investigations on Stannon Down were important as an opportunity to study an Early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape and reconsider how later Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples on Bodmin Moor might have engaged with and interpreted the materiality of earlier prehistoric monuments. French, German and Spanish summaries are provided.

The paper considers the recesses in the entrance passages of British hillforts that have been found throughout the twentieth century, mainly on sites in north Wales and the Welsh Marches, though some occur elsewhere. The author contends that, although from their first discovery they have been assumed to be `guard rooms' or `guard chambers', no discussion about their function has taken place. The paper is an attempt to start such a discussion. The idea that these recesses were necessarily of defensive use is challenged and an alternative ritual or symbolic `explanation' is suggested. French, German and Spanish summaries are provided.