Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 34

A detailed typological analysis of thirty-eight handaxe assemblages from southern Britain. On the basis of metrical and other attributes the industries are divided into seven major groups, comprising two major "Traditions" ("Pointed" Tradition - Groups I-III - and "Ovate" Tradition - Groups V-VII) as follows: Group I - predominantly narrow, pointed forms with many cleavers (six sites). II - broader pointed forms with many "twisted tips"; two sub-groups (six sites). III - pointed forms with plano-convex sections (one site). IV - intermediate between Pointed and Ovate Traditions, possibly representing artificial mixtures of both types (four sites). V - ovates of predominantly thick, coarse form (three sites). VI - more refined ovates with many "twisted" outlines; four subgroups (eleven sites). VII - blunt-ended ovates with many "tranchet" tips (seven sites). Some of these typological variations may conceivably reflect "functional" rather than traditional factors. Geological evidence for dating the sites is scanty, but certain Groups (notably Group VI) appear to span long periods of time. P A M

SE 816535. Fairly extensive excavation of the only hillfort on the Yorkshire Wolds showed that deep ploughing had removed most of the internal features. Behind the single ditch the rampart, completely levelled, had been of modified Priest construction confined between two lines of posts 6ft apart. These continued uninterrupted past the only ditch causeway located; however, the causeway was probably a genuine, if minor entrance with perhaps a clear way left through one or two of the rampart "boxes". The four-post granaries are discussed in their British context (see 69/501). There were no storage pits. Pottery is atypical of the Yorkshire EIA. The four burials, including that of a warrior with shield (recorded by Mortimer from just within the defences) are discussed, and a typology for Iron Age shields with oval bosses is suggested. A fifth burial was found in the ditch filling-in 1961. There are problems of dating and of associating the defences with the internal features. Animal remains are analysed in their EIA context; two 14C dates obtained from stratified bone proved unhelpful.

The gold lunulae of W Europe are the products of a distinctive sheet-working school which in style and technique lies between Beaker and Wessex Culture traditions. Related to the lunulae by their broadened terminals are three copper neck-rings from Oxfordshire, Aberdeenshire and Caernarvonshire. Versions of these in gold come from Kerivoa (Côtes du Nord) and Arlon (Belgium) - these should not, pace Butler, be classed with Scandinavian oar-ended objects. Associated with the Kerivoa fragments were three lunulae, suggesting that gold neck-rings were in fact partly-made lunulae; experiment showed that a rod of similar dimensions could be beaten into a lunula-shape. The formalised classical decoration of the Irish lunulae and a few exports is not seen on the provincial variants from Scotland, Wales and Brittany, where a decorative technique closely allied to Beaker dot-line motif was preferred. Datable associations are lacking, but production of lunulae probably reached its peak as Beaker traditions gradually gave way to those of the Wessex Culture.

Problems of the origins of domestication are best attacked, not via present distributions of wild forms, but through the admittedly imperfect record of the past. Derivation of the sheep from Ovis orientalis, the Urial, and the goat from Capra hircus, the Bezoar, was based on the very shaky assumption that present distributions and characteristics reflected Pleistocene conditions. Direct evidence does have its limitations: the literary/pictorial record is incomplete and unreliable, and bones offer problems of stratigraphy and identification. Nonetheless, ancient forms are best distinguished in (necessarily large) archaeological samples before attempting comparisons with modern data representing forms not necessarily separate in ancient times. On previous assumptions, the five caprine genera should be geographically separate in the Pleistocene fossil record; but the available evidence does not support this view. Experimental taxonomy may be more helpful than classical; interbreeding experiments show that, although intergeneric fertility is low, gene-flow can occur between sheep and goat, which are thus still closely related. Alternative theories for the origins of sheep are- 1) evolution in the isolated Aralo-Caspian basin, or 2) mutation preserved by human intervention (see also 69/437).