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During the Early Bronze Age in northern Europe, tree-like features appear in henges, burials, and rock art in ways that differ from earlier periods. Rather than investigating this phenomenon in symbolic or metaphorical terms, a concept of tree-ness is explored that focuses on the real constitution of trees and what trees actually do. It is suggested that the accentuation of tree-ness in Early Bronze Age ritual contexts can be related to an ontological shift in conjunction with emerging bronze technology in which different entities can merge or take advantage of each other’s generative properties.

Large scale geophysical survey has identified two classic henges in the Wharfe Valley and excavation at the henge at Yarnbury has proved its Bronze Age date, reuniting it with antiquarian finds hitherto lacking secure provenance. These henges are placed in their archaeological context suggesting that Wharfedale may have been an important route in cross-Pennine contacts during the third and second millennia BC and that the Neolithic archaeology of this upland region may be more mainstream than peripheral. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The stone structures known as kites and found widely in 'Arabia', are one of the more intriguing archaeological traces in what are often arid and bleak landscapes. They were first reported from the air in 1927, and by 1995 - largely through interpretation of old aerial photographs - c.500 had been identified. Now (2012), remote-sensing techniques of various kinds have produced a huge increase, to over 3000. Recent work has also extended the geographical spread of kites in 'Arabia', from south-eastern Turkey and north-western Iraq to central Yemen. Much detailed work will be required to develop and refine a typology for kites as a whole and to digest and present data from remote sensing on which specialists may build interpretations and explanations. Current tabulation and mapping, however, already reveal patterns, and the discovery of an unusual form in the desert between Damascus and Palmyra in Syria deserves special attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species of Dysphenges Horn 1894 are described from the United States: D. penrosei (Arizona), D. oblivius (Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas) and D. secretus (Texas). Habitus photographs and illustrations of male and female genitalia are presented. A taxonomic key is provided to facilitate identification of the described species of Dysphenges. A map is provided to indicate the distribution of each of the new species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Palaeoecological methods can provide an environmental context for archaeological sites, enabling the nature of past human activity to be explored from an indirect but alternative perspective. Through a palynological study of a small fen peatland located within the catchment of a multi-period prehistoric complex at Ballynahatty, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, we reconstruct the vegetation history of the area during the early prehistoric period. The pollen record reveals tentative evidence for Mesolithic activity in the area at 6410–6220 cal BC, with woodland disturbance identified during the Mesolithic–Neolithic transitional period ca. 4430–3890 cal BC. A more significant impact on the landscape is observed in the Early Neolithic from 3950 to 3700 cal BC, with an opening up of the forest and the establishment of a mixed agricultural economy. This activity precedes and continues to be evident through the Mid-Neolithic during which megalithic tombs and related burial sites were constructed at Ballynahatty. Due to chronological uncertainties and a possible hiatus in peat accumulation in the fen, the contemporary environment of the Ballynahatty timber circle complex (constructed and used ca. 3080–2490 cal BC) and henge (dating to the third millennium cal BC) cannot certainly be established. Nevertheless, the pollen record suggests that the landscape remained open through to the Bronze Age, implying a long continuity of human activity in the area. These findings support the idea that the Ballynahatty prehistoric complex was the product of a gradual and repeated restructuring of the ritual and ceremonial landscape whose significance continued to be recognised throughout the early prehistoric period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the adoption by archaeologists of perspectives of 'land scape' currently being explored in the social sciences. Despite an appreci ation of the social construction of landscape and nature, it is suggested that generally archaeologists have failed to take account of the significance of the social identification of 'natural' constituents of the world. Virtually all societies identify particular 'elements' in the composition of the experienced world and cosmos. The importance of these elements is that they represent the basic substances from which everything is derived and to which every thing decays (including humanity). Therefore, elements maintain ontological status and provide a potent symbolic medium of expression. Here the late Neolithic henge monuments of Britain, the architecture of which has defied archaeological interpretation, is examined in terms of a representation of landscape and a strategic deployment of 'elements'. In particular, the element of water is identified as being a major component in their architectural image and symbolic constitution. The henge monuments are shown to embody a physical representation of the local topography and to draw heavily on that topography to create a series of homologies of landscape. A crucial aspect of this observation is the suggestion that archaeologists have misconceived the visual appearance of henge monuments, particularly the probability that the enclosure ditches were receptacles for water. Furthermore, it is argued that the relationship between henges and rivers provides a metaphorical con junction between the natural flowing of water and human movement into the monuments. It is hoped that this study will focus attention on the import ance of the social constitution of nature and landscape, and the influence this may have on the materiality of architectural representation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The application of stone dust for coal dust explosion prevention has been practiced in South African coal mines in the 1970s. By late 1990s, improvements in its method application were resulted in new regulations on the application of stone dust to freshly exposed coal face areas came into effect in 1998. However, the implication of frequent stone dusting of freshly exposed coal faces has resulted in contamination of the personal and engineering dust samples meant for exposure assessment in mines. In a continued effort to identify and reduce the dust problem and informed exposure assessment in the coal mines, influence of stone dust on the personal coal dust exposure levels was determined. This was determined on the basis of the collected real-time personal dust data and the time study in the continuous miner (CM) section. From the data analyses of the three personal dust samples it is noted that, on average, 26.43% of the dust samples were contaminated with stone dust (mass basis), with an average exposure level of 12 mg/m3 for a period of just 12 minutes. The amount of stone dust in the sample appears to be small, but it must be noted that the actual exposure to stone dust at the waiting place is a significant underestimation of the exposure closer to the stone dust source. Similarly, fallout of stone dust analyses indicated that to avoid the influence of stone dust in the personal dust samples require no stone dusting during the shift, or at least 5 hours before the start of the morning shift. Problem is relevant to all underground coal mines and there are no easy solutions to the mine operators to overcome this unavoidable situation. However, there are efforts to develop alternate to dry spraying of stone dust, which is currently being trialed in South Africa and Australia. In the meantime, greater administrative control of stone dusting well before the start of the shift would alleviate the situation or documenting the stone dust contamination in dust sampling results so that personal dust samples submitted specifically to regulators were not contaminated with the stone dust, which could skew the exposure values towards non-compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paul Murdin recounts his experience of an astronomical occasion that gets New Yorkers talking about the sky.Paul Murdin recounts his experience of Manhattanhenge, an astronomical occasion that gets New Yorkers talking about the sky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]