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This thesis presents the results of a study of social change in Wales and the mid-west of England during the period 4500 - 2000 BC. Emphasis is given to understanding the entire extinct social system, as far as archaeological data permits, and for analytical purposes neolithic society is conceived of as a set of six interpenetrating action based subsystems. Social change is taken to mean alterations in the pattern of co-existant actions. Principles developed in the field of General Systems Theory to cope with open-organic systems are adapted to model the operation and integration of the subsystems. A review of available chronological evidence allows four phases to be identified within the neolithic period. Examination of evidence pertaining to activities within each subsystem reveals a complexity of putatively interrelated changes through time. Regional variation is also evident, and the overall trajectory of change is shown to be neither straight nor unilinear. During the first half of the period, changes appear to be cumulative and progressive. In areas east of the River Severn a disjunction is identified in the period shortly after 2500 bc, when the effects of pressure on land were putatively instrumental in a breakdown of projective and political control. Subsistence, economy, exchange and settlement all show dislocation which is rapidly overcome by colonisation of new areas, changes in the exploitation pattern of animal resources and a shift in th axis of exchange. Projective activities, which prior to c.2500 be were probably based. on a cult of the ancestors, never regained their former character, and new practices became established. Political activities became severed from projective activities and some evidence exists for the emergence of an elite who controlled trade and presumably people also. Changes west of the Severn are shown to be less dramatic, possibly because continuous colonisation of the uplands and exploitation of coastal and marine resource

Scholars have long seen in the monumental composition of Stonehenge evidence for prehistoric time-reckoning - a Neolithic calendar. Exactly how such a calendar functioned, however, remains unclear. Recent advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the unity of the sarsen settings. Here, the author argues that the numerology of these sarsen elements materialises a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-western Europe is possible, but an Eastern Mediterranean origin is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularise festivals and ceremonies.

The application of novel geochemical provenancing techniques has changed our understanding of the construction of Stonehenge, by identifying West Woods on the Marlborough Downs as the likely source area for the majority of the extant sarsen megaliths at the monument. In this study, we apply the same techniques to saccharoid sarsen fragments from three excavations within and outwith the main Sarsen Circle to expand our understanding of the provenance of sarsen debitage present at the monument. Through pXRF analysis, we demonstrate that the surface geochemistry of 1,028 excavated sarsen fragments is significantly affected by subsurface weathering following burial in a way that cannot be overcome by simple cleaning. However, we show that this effect is surficial and does not have a volumetrically significant impact, thus permitting the subsequent use of whole-rock analytical methods. Comparison of ICP-AES and ICP-MS trace element data from 54 representative sarsen fragments with equivalent data from Stone 58 at Stonehenge demonstrates that none are debitage produced during the dressing of this megalith or its 49 chemical equivalents at the monument. Further inspection of the ICP-MS data reveals that 22 of these fragments fall into three distinct geochemical ‘families’. None of these families overlap with the geochemical signature of Stone 58 and its chemical equivalents, implying that sarsen imported from at least a further three locations (in addition to West Woods) is present at Stonehenge. Comparison of immobile trace element signatures from the 54 excavated sarsen fragments against equivalent data for 20 sarsen outcrop areas across southern Britain shows that 15 of the fragments can be linked to specific localities. Eleven of these were likely sourced from Monkton Down, Totterdown Wood and West Woods on the Marlborough Downs (25–33 km north of Stonehenge). Three fragments likely came from Bramdean, Hampshire (51 km southeast of Stonehenge), and one from Stoney Wish

Using archaeological sites and historic landscapes to promote mental health well-being represents one of the most significant advances in archaeological resource management for many years. Its potential contribution to health-care and wellness initiatives is boundless. Prompted by the Human Henge project working within the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, this volume provides an overview of work going on across Britain and the near Continent at many different scales. Contributors share experiences, and discuss the outcomes, implications, and theoretical underpinnings of heritage-based well-being projects.

This paper presents a case study of a participant’s experience of exploring and connecting to the New Cut docks, in Bristol, UK, which had been excavated by Irish immigrant labourers between 1804 to 1809. This particular site was sought out by the British born, second generation Irish participant to “find the orphaned, Irish parts of me”, in order to explore the potential for healing self-determined aspects of personal identity suppression and denial of unwanted traits, through direct connection to their ancestors. Using this case as an example of the phenomenon of archaeotherapy, which encourages direct site visitation, exploration and communion, the chosen site has the potential to offer connectedness, understanding, and health and healing, in ways that promote well-being and belonging in diasporic communities. It is further suggested that heritage sites offer a unique ability to support participants, mirroring personal heritage in a manner that invites storytelling, yarning, and meaning making. This unique ability, where the site and participant are in embedded communication, suggests the site has agency and is an active therapeutic facilitator in its own way, inviting challenging and sense-making narratives that support a positive outcome. This research has direct ramifications for UK based “social prescribing” projects that are currently being delivered by well-being, archaeology, heritage and ecotherapy organisations. Non-clinical approaches to well- being and mental health outreach in a variety of settings, including organisations who work with displaced communities and with politics of identity, will also benefit from the findings of this study.

Large-scale development-led archaeology has changed the very nature of archaeological datasets. In addition to the familiar positive evidence of structures and deposits, there is now a wealth of 'true-negative' evidence: the confirmed absence of archaeological remains. Making good use of such data presents a challenge and demands new ways of thinking. Using case studies based on recent developer-led work in the UK, the authors suggest that focusing on 'fingerprints' of past human activity at a landscape scale provides a useful approach. The results argue in favour of changes to existing recording systems, as well as the need to integrate more fully both positive and negative evidence in archaeological interpretation.

Over millennia, and right across the globe, people have invested time and energy to create cultural landscapes that revolve around or incorporate powerful stones. Questions about the structured nature, distribution, source, or placement of stones (both within physical and meta-physical worlds), pose intriguing theoretical and methodological challenges. Emic and etic perspectives may provide additional insights into the complex (often animate) nature of the stone, the purpose of which varied radically between communities. In this special number of Archaeology in Oceania we explore some of the ways in which First Nations and non-Indigenous archaeologists address these potent features and objects, across widely varying chrono-cultural contexts in the Australia–Pacific region.

Review of book: Paul Everill & Karen Burnell (ed.). 2022. Archaeology, heritage, and wellbeing: authentic, powerful and therapeutic engagement with the past. Abingdon: Routledge; 978-1-032-02165-2; hardback £120. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2022

Neolithic funerary monuments across north-west Europe are considered as cemeteries and here divided into two types: single-mound cemeteries, and multi-mound cemeteries. Their general characteristics are discussed in relation to models of access to the internal chambers, and the distribution of chambers within their cover-mounds. The 238 megalithic tombs recorded in Western Mecklenburg are classified according to whether they are single-mound cemeteries or components of multi-mound cemeteries, and the distributions compared. Examples and case studies are described, and possible understandings of the emergence of multi-mound cemeteries are considered in relation to social organization and connections with the landscape. Abstrakt: Neolityczne grobowce w Europie Północno-Zachodniej występują w postaci pojedynczych nasypów i skupisk kurhanów. W pracy przedyskutowano ich podstawowe cechy z uwzględnieniem dostępu do głównej komory i jej lokalizacji wewnątrz nasypów. W zachodniej Meklemburgii zarejestrowano 238 grobowców megalitycznych, które sklasyfikowano pod względem liczby konstrukcji na stanowisku oraz porównano pod względem rozprzestrzenienia. Opisano przykłady oraz możliwe przyczyny pojawienia się cmentarzysk z wieloma konstrukcjami, rozważane na tle organizacji społecznej i relacji do elementów krajobrazu.

This first of three papers presenting selected prehistoric pottery and associated radiocarbon dates from the landscape surrounding Cadbury Castle, Somerset, covers periods from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Ceramic petrological and chemical analysis of a selection of the pottery has qualified the macroscopic fabric descriptions and given evidence For the sourcing of raw materials whilst shedding light on changing cultural influences in the region which will be explored in part 3.

Advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the integrity of the sarsen structures. Here it is suggested that the numerology of the sarsen elements materialize a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days, starting at the winter solstice. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-west Europe is possible, but a source in the eastern Mediterranean is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar, perhaps a replacement for an earlier lunar calendar, was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularize festivals and ceremonies.