A celebration of Patricia Smiths distinguished career, the papers presented in this Festschrift focus on a region and research topics that have fascinated and challenged her since her student days. The broad intellectual and geographic range covered by the papers offers a wealth of information and insights into the biology of past and present populations of the Eastern Mediterranean, a region rich in history and human diversity.

In October 2004 over 70 delegates met in the Department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford for the second International Conference on Prehistoric Ceramics. The conference was the second major biannual conference to be organised by the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group. It is hoped that in the papers presented in this volume, readers will find much to stimulate the mind and their own directions of study even if the subject matter is not directly relevant to their own specific fields. This is the unifying beauty of ceramic research.

Explores the possibilities of using coarse stone assemblages from the Northern Isles of Scotland to observe aspects of social change throughout the prehistoric period. This report draws together the available data on coarse stone artefacts, much of which is rather disparate, with a view to providing a standard work of reference for use to those excavators in the Northern Isles who, faced with a large coarse stone assemblage, require a description of the types of artefacts which occur as well as background information on their context and chronology. This is in part a synthesis as it combines proposals for standardised definitions of the various artefact types together with a record of occurrence. Of greater interest, however, is the use to which this information can then be put. By comparing the various artefacts with reference to their form, manufacture, use and deposition it is possible to perceive certain aspects of continuity and change within and between assemblages. This variability within the artefactual record is interpreted at a broader organisational level in order to assess the social implications that these patterns may represent. The period under investigation is from the Neolithic to the end of the Iron Age: from the beginning of the fourth millennium cal BC to 800 cal AD. The main part of this work is concerned with the Neolithic and Bronze Age, particularly the transition period between the two as, during this time, the use of stone for tools and other objects was at its peak.

This study focuses on the management of raw materials used in early ceramics production (late Neolithic to early Bronze Age) in the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsular (Catalonia). The main aim of the study was to attempt to understand some aspects of the socio-economic organization of the ancient inhabitants of the area. The objective was not only to describe the archaeological material and put forward some economic and chronological hypotheses, but also to define some aspects of the social structures. Special consideration in this study was paid to the Bell Beaker finds and the work contains detailed scientific analyses of the finds. Spanish text.

This work defines Neolithic Near East Dark Faced Burnished Ware (DFBW), on the basis of new data, taking into account areas of production, analyses of architectural, economic and environmental information, and the verification of the existence of a specific DFBW region and its characteristics. The distribution of DFBW to external areas is also investigated, with the goal of explaining relations between these regions during this Neolithic phase. This research was prompted by the renewed excavations at Yumuktepe-Mersin, one of the central sites of the so-called Syro-Cilician culture, and by the possibility of analyzing two of the main contexts of DFBW Judaidah, in the Amuq and Ain el-Kerkh, in the Rouj Basin. The study is presented in three main phases: the technical and typological definition of the DFBW; its distribution and characteristics within the horizon of DFBW producers; and its external distribution. A chapter is devoted to a chronological summary of the analyzed developments, as reconstructed from comparisons in the ceramic assemblages from all the sites, and in correlation with available radiocarbon dates.

This work is a study of plant macro remains from the Late Neolithic site of Opovo. Opovo is dated from 4700 to 4500 B.C., and culturally to the late phase of the Vinca culture, which is considered one of the most prominent Neolithic cultures of the Balkans. The author provides information on such important issues as vegetation reconstruction, plant use, subsistence, husbandry, wild plant procurement, and intra-site plant distribution at this late Vinca culture site.

Moravia played a very important role in the Palaeolithic migration of ancient Homo sapiens as it made a natural corridor between the south and the north of the central Europe, which allowed for shifting of both humans and animals in times of glaciations; a fact amply evidenced by the dense network of Palaeolithic settlements. This study looks again at the material from Upper Palaeolithic Czech sites using the most recent use-wear techniques, equipment and analysis.

This volume stems from sessions at the 2004 Theoretical Archaeology Conference at Glasgow University, entitled "Hunter-Gatherers in Early Prehistory" and "Hunting for Meaning: Interpretive Approaches to the Mesolithic." The sessions came about as a response to a continuing lack of appreciation of new developments in theoretical approaches to the archaeology of prehistoric hunter-gatherers both in the Pleistocene and Holocene. Contents: 1) Hunter-Gatherers in Early Prehistory (Fiona Coward & Lucy Grimshaw); 2) Upper Palaeolithic Social Colonisation and Lower Palaeolithic Biological Dispersal? A Consideration of the Nature of Movements into Europe During the Pleistocene (Lucy Grimshaw); 3) Transitions, Change and Prehistory: An Ecosystemic Approach to Change in the Archaeological Record (Fiona Coward); 4) Darwin Vs. Bourdieu - Celebrity Deathmatch or Postrocessual Myth? A Prolegomenon for the Reconciliation of Agentive-Interpretive and Ecological-Evolutionary Archaeology (Felix Riede); 5) We're Not Waiting Any More - Or, Hunting for Meaning in the Mesolithic of North-West Europe (Hannah Cobb & Steven Price); 6) Midden, Meaning, Person, Place: Interpreting the Mesolithic of Western Scotland (Hannah Cobb); 7) Reconstructing the Social Topography of an Irish Mesolithic Lakescape (Aimee Little); 8) Can't See the Trees for the Wood: The Social Life of Trees in the Mesolithic of Southern Scandinavia.

Subtitled: The Zooarchaeological Remains from Megalo Nisi Galanis, a Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age Site in Greek Macedonia, this study also contains contributions by Michael Fotiadis and Elizabeth Arnold.

This work sets down the results of the author's excavation and fieldwork in west Wales within the framework now emerging for British early prehistory. Whilst much of the new data assembled here is thus relevant to the early Flandrian settlement of Wales, the coverage has been extended to include a consideration of the evidence for Late Pleistocene settlement as well. This arises not only from the author's interests but also from the fact that both Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic find-spots are co-located if not at the same find-spot then frequently in the same area. In chronological terms, the scope of the work therefore extends from c. 250,000 BP to c. 5,000 BP, but concentrates specifically on the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic record. Chapter II sets out to summarize the Pleistocene archaeological record for Wales against what is known of the environmental background. Only after the late Devensian glacial maximum, does this record become in any sense prolific in Britain. In Chapter III the discussion moves on into the Flandrian to consider the early Mesolithic settlement of Wales. In Chapter IV a further very important Mesolithic find-spot is introduced. This is the well-known flint 'factory' at The Nab Head on the clifftop of St. Brides Bay, west Wales, recognized since the last century as a prolific source of flint tools and chippings. Later Mesolithic technology in Wales is introduced and discussed in Chapter V. Additional chronological and environmental data are assessed followed by a description of some of the other important Welsh find-spots with 'narrow blade' material. Amongst the latter is a newly discovered site at The Nab Head (Site II) - described in Chapter VI - where the writer conducted excavations in 1981, 1982 and 1986. Using the results from the excavations at The Nab Head to predict the probable appearance of local late Mesolithic stone technologies, Chapter VII then discusses collections made by the author from the abundant lithic scatters along the coastal lowlands of north-west Dyfed. Earlier research sought to place a greater emphasis on the high biotic potential of western coasts and the advantages of a combined exploitation of both terrestrial and marine economies. This latter theme is taken up again here in the final part of Chapter VII, which assesses the economic resources potentially available during the late Mesolithic and speculates upon the exploitation and settlement patterns responsible for such apparently intensive coastal activity. The significance of coastal regimes to the emergence of farming at the end of the Mesolithic is also considered. Finally, a concluding Chapter briefly notes some of the more significant results of this research and ends by emphasizing the need both for more freshly excavated data and the further application of AMS dating throughout the periods covered.

Papers from the session The Neolithisation Process from Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Contents: 1) Le Cardial franco-iberique et le debut du Neolithique en Mediterranee nord-occidentale (S. van Willingen); 2) Les groupes regionaux du Rubane et la colonisation du Sud de la Plaine du Rhin superieur (Ph. Lefranc); 3) A Contribution of Charcoal Analysis to Knowledge of the Neolithic Environment in the Grand-Duchy Of Luxembourg (F. Damblon, Ch. Buydens, A. Hauzeur); 4) Belgium among the Neolithisation Flow of Western Europe (A. Hauzeur); Contacts, blocages et filiations entre les aires culturelles mesolithiques et neolithiques en Europe atlantique (G. Marchand); 5) Entre determinisme naturel et tradition technique: le "debitage cotier" dans l'ouest de la France (J.-N. Guyodo, G. Marchand); 6) The Site of Doel "Deurganckdok" and the Neolithisation of the Sandy Lowland of Belgium (J. Sergant, Y. Perdaen, P. Crombe); 7) La mise en place des reseaux d'echanges transalpins de lames de haches polies et leur role dans la neolithisation des Alpes occidentales: Faits et hypotheses (E. Thirault); 8) Proche-Orientaux et Indo-Europeens: Antinomies et interactions culturelles (P.-L. van Berg); 9) La structuration de lespace dans le neolithique du levant (12.500-6.500 avant notre ere) (P.-L. van Berg).

Britain's leading expert on stone circles turns his attention to the greatest example of them all - Stonehenge. Every aspect of Stonehenge is re-considered in Aubrey Burl's new analysis. He explains for the first time how the outlying Heel Stone long predates Stonehenge itself, serving as a trackway marker in the prehistoric Harroway. He uncovers new evidence that the Welsh bluestones were brought to Stonehenge by glaciation rather than by man. And he reveals just how far the design of Stonehenge was influenced by Breton styles and by Breton cults of the dead. Meticulously research sets the record straight on the matter of Stonehenge's astronomical alignments. Although the existence of a sightline to the midsummer sunrise is well known, the alignment and the viewing-position are different from popular belief. And the existence of an earlier alignment to the moon and a later one to the midwinter sunset has been largely unrealized. One almost unexplained puzzle remains. The site of Stonehenge lies at the heart of a vast six-mile wide graveyard, but before it was built there appears to have been a mysterious gap two miles across on that site.Burl argues that earlier totem-pole style constructions served a ceremonial purpose for the living - to celebrate success in the hunt.

21 papers from Section 15 (African Prehistory), Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. French and English."

This collection of essays look at the availability and use of lithic raw materials across the Near East. The essays each cover a particular region, with an introductory article which sets out the key issues in the study of chert exploitation in the Near East, and reviews the hitherto available research.

Ages and Abilities explores social responses to childhood stages from the late Neolithic to Classical Antiquity in Central Europe and the Mediterranean and includes cross-cultural comparison to expand the theoretical and methodological framework. By comparing osteological and archaeological evidence, as well as integrating images and texts, authors consider whether childhood age classes are archaeologically recognizable, at which approximated ages transitions took place, whether they are gradual or abrupt and different for girls and boys. Age transitions may be marked by celebrations and rituals; cultural accentuation of developmental stages may be reflected by inclusion or exclusion at cemeteries, by objects associated with childhood such as feeding vessels and toys, and gradual access to adult material culture. Access to tools, weapons and status symbols, as well as children's agency, rank and social status, are recurrent themes. The volume accounts for the variability in how a range of chronologically and geographically diverse communities perceived children and childhood, and at the same time, discloses universal trends in child development in the (pre-)historic past.

The papers in this volume were originally collected for a symposium entitled Recent Developments in Bone Tool Studies, organized for the 69th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Montreal (Canada) on April 2nd, 2004. The objective of the symposium was to illustrate how recent developments in approaches, methods and techniques in worked bone studies can contribute to our understanding of basic problems encountered in archaeological research, with case studies from Europe and North America essentially, but also from Latin America and Oceania.

This research presents the qualitative and quantitative data collected from the architecture within ten Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic settlements in the Central and Southwestern regions of modern-day Anatolia. The sites investigated are: Akl Hoyuek, Catalhoyuek, Canhasan III, Canhasan I, Guevercinkayas, Hoyuecek, Bademadac, Erbaba, Haclar and Kurucay. After investigating the interplay between theory and methodology in order to establish a research methodology, the work offers a general overview of the topography and climate of Central and Southwest Anatolia, reviews the current state of archaeological knowledge about prehistoric subsistence and settlement patterns and explains the selection of the ten sites for further study. The qualitative and quantitative data for these ten sites are then presented and analysed and the concluding chapter considers to what extent the research has been able to contribute to current theories about household and community within the Near East. Includes appendices of sites and data.

Oxbow says: There is no doubting that this is an important collection of studies by some of the foremost scholars in Aegean and Mediterranean archaeology and classical studies. The thirty papers were presented to O.T.P.K. Dickinson at the Institute of Classical Studies in London in 2005, to mark his retirement from his post at the University of Durham. They cover a wide range of topics including four papers on survey and settlement from the likes of John Bintliff and Todd Whitelaw, three on the environment and landscape, four on the Mycenaeans including papers by John Bennet and Elizabeth French, two on architecture, three on administration and the economy, four on iconography and symbolism including a paper by Sue Sherratt, three on ritual and cult and four on the subject of contacts and exchange. Three appreciations to Dickinson by Hector Catling, Anthony Snodgrass, and N Claire Loader and Stuart Dunn open the volume.

Oxbow says: In 1999 excavations were held at Grange Park, Courteenhall in Northamptonshire by Birmingham University Archaeology Unit in advance of the re-development of the site. The project aimed to investigate the date and function of the various sites and features revealed, as well as the social organisation and economy of the site, from the first major occupation of the site in the middle Iron Age, to the early-middle Saxon period. This volume reports on the findings from the initial desk-based research, survey work, fieldwalking and test-pitting, and most especailly from the excavations carried out at the site. Reports on the pottery, including large quantities of Iron Age and Roman ceramics, metal, stone and clay finds, and on the envionment, people and economy, are included.

This study is the first gendered study of the prehistoric rock art of Naquane National Park in Valcamonica, northern Italy. Its purpose is to identify and describe gendered representations and imagery in the rock art of Naquane, in order to reconstruct potential gender roles, gender relations and ritual activities during the Bronze and Iron Age periods. The social role of art in non-western cultures is explored, as well as recent work on gender studies in archaeology and rock art, with a view towards placing the prehistoric rock art of Naquane within a social and cultural context. Gender-specific access to and usage of the rock art sites during successive phases of prehistory is considered and analysis is presented of the possible rituals being portrayed in the rock art and their potential social implications. Discussion also focuses on the social and ritual construction of femininity and masculinity during different chronological periods, as well as upon possible gendered motifs and sexual imagery in the rock art. The study concludes with a discussion of the incidence of over-carving and the incorporation of earlier images into later rock art panels, considering potential reasons why certain earlier carvings were actively curated among the predominantly male-orientated Iron Age rock art.

During the transition to the early Neolithic, a number of changes took place among the hunter-fishers of southern Norway. One of the most important social changes may have been the development of more marked ethnic boundaries, which were related to increasing social inequality among the local groups. In this study, the main theme is the investigation of whether such ethnic boundaries can be delineated. The author identifies them archaeologically, and discusses how and why they were established and maintained.

Understanding Paleolithic animal exploitation requires a multifaceted approach. Inferences may derive from research on paleoenvironments and taphonomy, the development of new methods for interpreting seasonality patterns, and ethnoarchaeological observations. A full understanding of Paleolithic economies also requires a multiregional perspective. This volume brings together a group of scholars with research interests from across the globe to understand the nature of animal exploitation practices through the lens of taphonomy. The chapters include case studies on the types of animals that Paleolithic peoples hunted and gathered through time and space, and taphonomic analyses of non-human animal bone assemblages.

8 papers from Section 16 (Asian and Oceanic Prehistory) Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. French and English."

5 papers from the session on Atlantic Megaliths from Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Contents: 1) An Introduction to the Atlantic Megalithic Complex (A.A. Rodriguez Casal); 2) The Megalithic Complex in Cantabrian Spain (P. Arias, A. Armendariz & L. C. Teira); 3) Le phenomene funeraire dans le Pays Basque pendant le Neolithique et lage des metaux: contextes culturels (J. Fernandez Eraso & J.A. Mujika Alustiza); 4) On the Life-Histories of Megaliths in Northwest Iberia (M. Martinon-Torres); 5) Research on the Megalithic Culture of Galicia (NW Iberian Peninsula) During the Last Century (A.A. Rodriguez Casal).