FLINT-WORKING IN THE METAL AGE

Summary. This paper considers the relationship between flint technology and the development of metalworking in Britain. The gradual adoption of metals is reflected by changes in the range of flint flakes being produced, the efficiency with which the raw material was worked and the number of implement types that continued to be made of stone. The main types to remain in use were those for which flint was a more suitable material than bronze. The intensity of flint-working as a whole may be one clue to the accessibility of metal in different areas.     

Imizamo Yethu: a Case Study of Community Resilience to Fire Hazard in an Informal Settlement Cape Town,South Africa

Imizamo Yethu, in Cape Town, is one of the many informal settlements in South Africa's post-Apartheid urban landscape. Residents live in abject poverty and are potentially vulnerable to a range of environmental hazards, of which fire hazard is one of the most common. A major fire, on the 8 February 2004, caused significant damage to housing and infrastructure, resulting in widespread homelessness and loss of personal possessions. Despite this, there was minimal loss of life and few major injuries. The community re-grouped after the fire and Imizamo Yethu has remained viable as a community to the present day. Contemporary geographical research on hazards emphasises aspects of community vulnerability and resilience. The present paper identifies and examines factors that enhance community resilience in the informal settlement of Imizamo Yethu, particularly in response and recovery to fire events. A survey completed in the aftermath of the 2004 fire found that social networks, some formal community institutions that foster community participation and the resourcefulness of individuals were the most important factors underpinning resilience.     

DOMESTICITY BY DEFAULT. RITUAL, RITUALIZATION AND CAVE-USE IN THE NEOLITHIC AEGEAN

Summary.   Neolithic caves in the Aegean are conventionally understood in domestic terms, principally as temporary homes for farmers or pastoralists. This paper challenges the theoretical and empirical foundations of this orthodoxy and develops an alternative model grounded in an understanding of Neolithic ritual and how through ritualization the everyday is referenced and transformed. This model is explored with reference to the corpus of well-published cave-sites. Although further testing remains a priority, facilitated by the development of new ways of studying cave assemblages, ritual explanations are considered to provide a more credible explanation for Neolithic cave-use in all its aspects, from the selection of caves as locales for activity to the complexity and diversity of their material records. In this way the Aegean may be seen to fit within a broader pattern of ritual cave-use in the Mediterranean during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic.     

THE METALLURGY of the WILBURTON HOARDS

Summary: The results to date of a programme of research into the metallurgy of the Wilburton hoards of the British Late Bronze Age are described and some interpretations presented. Possible origins for the metal are discussed. the associated technical advances are discussed and an attempt is made to provide a realistic metallurgical context for the hoards.
I would like to thank the British Museum, London; the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography; Museum of London; Winchester City Museums; Somerset County Museum, Taunton; Dorset County Museum, Dorchester; Exeter City Museums; Plymouth City Museums; Royal Institution of Cornwall, Truro; Musée des Antiquités Nationales, St.-Germain-en-Laye and Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, West Berlin for permission to take samples for analysis.
A special acknowledgement must be made to Miss E. Owles and the Moyses Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds for immense assistance given in the study of the Isleham hoard.
I would also like to thank Mr. D. Britton, Mr. R. Bradley and Mr. S. Needham for several useful discussions, Mr. A. McKnight for photography and Dr. M. Leese, British Museum Research Laboratory, for statistical calculations. Mr. A. McKnight for photography, Dr. M. Leese, British Museum Research Laboratory, for statistical calculations and Dr. N. H. Gale, Department of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Oxford for lead isotope analyses.