Analysis and interpretation of flint toolmarks found on bones from West Tump long barrow,Gloucestershire

West Tump is a Neolithic chambered tomb originally excavated in 1880. The mound was found to contain a mixed skeletal assemblage, the majority of which was disarticulated. Between 2000 and 2001 material from the site including human bone was re‐examined with a portion of this project focused on taphonomic evidence observed on the human skeletal material. Amongst the factors selected for investigation were deliberate toolmarks. Three specimens were identified as exhibiting toolmarks. Analysis demonstrated that the observed features were cutmarks, consistent with the use of flint tools. However those on two of the specimens were found to be both post‐mortem and recent. The cutmarks observed on the remaining specimen, a right clavicle, were identified as having been inflicted during the peri‐mortem period and consistent with decapitation. British Neolithic mortuary practice has been the subject of ongoing debate since the earliest excavations of relevant sites, but until very recently few assemblages from such contexts have been re‐examined and much of the data in use has derived from sources of considerable age and questionable reliability. The selective removal of specific skeletal elements (particularly skulls) has repeatedly been described in the literature regarding the collective funerary monuments of this period. It has often been assumed that such practices took place after the soft tissues had decayed. One of the examples discussed, suggests this may not always have been the case and the potential significance of this finding is discussed in addition to a possible interpretation of the cutmarks seen on the remaining specimens. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Intellectual Internment of a Conflict: The Forgotten War in Northern Ireland

One of the most enduring ideas about the Northern Ireland conflict is that it has been rigorously studied. This is a myth. The stark absence of analysis of its military and international dimensions makes the conflict one of the least understood of modern times. Scholarly studies of Northern Ireland have been insulated from influences in the wider academic world by the dominance of hitherto unchallenged images about the crisis. These images support a dominant orthodoxy that has confined intellectual investigation of the 'Troubles' to Northern Ireland itself, sustaining a view that little of value can be gained from studying the military nature of the conflict. This orthodoxy is one to which, depressingly, the international relations community has been only too willing to contribute to justify its fear and neglect. Not only does this reflect poorly on academic practice but it has also helped to engender a dangerously distorted image of the conflict that bodes ill for the future.     

A probable case of metastatic carcinoma from the late prehistoric eastern Tennessee River Valley

There are few described cases of metastatic carcinoma from the prehistoric eastern United States and none primarily differentially diagnosed from the southeast. A mature adult female exhibiting several large lytic cranial lesions suggestive of neoplastic disease was identified in a late prehistoric Mississippian Period (AD 1200–1600) context. Burial 371 is from Ledford Island, a Mouse Creek phase (AD 1400–1500) site from the Chickamauga Reservoir of southeastern Tennessee. It is the only case in this reservoir (total adult n = 843). The radiographs of the otherwise asymptomatic postcranium yielded radiolucencies in both proximal femora, both medial clavicles, the sternum, the surviving humeral metaphysis and fragmentary innominate. The locations are all consistent with metastasized carcinoma. The identity of the possible primary lesion is argumentative. Age, sex and the mixed nature of the osseous response are consistent with carcinoma of the breast but not to the exclusion of bronchogenic, thyroid, or kidney cancers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.