NEOLITHISATION AND MEGALITHIC ORIGINS IN NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE: A REGIONAL INTERACTION MODEL

Summary. This article reviews recent publications on Neolithic and Megalithic origins in North-Western France, and focuses on a debate within French archaeology between a 'Parisian' school, which emphasises the influence of Bandkeramik communities, and an 'Atlantic' school which emphasises contact along the Atlantic facade with Impressed Ware groups. It is argued that this debate is largely sterile, and an alternative model is proposed, stressing different forms of interaction between Neolithic and Mesolithic groups in different regions.     

VISUAL AFFORDANCE, LANDSCAPE, AND THE MEGALITHS OF ALDERNEY

The core of this paper seeks to make a methodological contribution to the GIS-based analysis of visibility as a potential locational factor in past landscape placement, an area of study whose utility and value have been hotly debated by archaeologists keen to promote more experiential approaches to the interpretation of past landscapes. In doing so it seeks to break with recent discussions on the topic by not show-casing new or technically more sophisticated sets of approaches. Instead it backtracks to reclaim a methodology introduced over a decade ago, yet rarely applied in routine archaeological practice – a case of taking one step back to advance two steps forward. An important subtext is that for the utility of GIS-based work to be appreciated, it has to be driven by a clear archaeological research programme. To this end the study is fully embedded in a current research initiative exploring the megalithic monuments of prehistoric Alderney, the northernmost of the Channel Islands.     

Defining Dispensationalism: A Cultural Studies Perspective

This article begins by noting the recent development of scholarly interest in the cultural importance of Dispensationalism. It suggests that this work has been complicated and hindered by our lack of a suitable definition of Dispensationalism. After tracing the difficulties of definition, and considering and rejecting Charles Ryrie's attempt to define Dispensationalism by appeal to three “sine qua non,” an alternative strategy is suggested by considering David Bebbington's very influential definition of Evangelicalism. Following this model, the article posits a five‐point definition of Dispensationalism, highlighting its Evangelicalism, its insistence on the literal interpretation of Scripture, its recognition of stages in God's dealings with humanity, its expectation of the imminent return of Christ to rapture His saints, and its focus on both apocalypticism and millennialism.