THE ROMAN DENARIUS UNDER THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS: MINTS, METALLURGY AND TECHNOLOGY

Summary. The results of the chemical analysis of 78 silver denarii issued by the Julio-Claudian emperors are presented and interpreted against the available numismatic, archaeological and historical information. Earlier surface analyses are found to be incorrect, especially for the coinage of Nero, and the reasons for this are investigated. The new elemental data are augmented by a subset of coins being subjected to lead isotope analysis and the results of this are found to complement these data in unexpected ways.     

A STUDY OF THE DECAY PROCESSES OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM THE PARISH CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, ROTHWELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Summary. The 13th century charnel house (or 'bone crypt') situated underneath the church of the Holy Trinity, Rothwell is one of only two surviving charnel houses in Britain and is therefore important not only in structural terms but also as a reservoir of human osteoarchaeological material. Over the last 60 years concern has been expressed about the condition of the crypt and the 'deterioration' of the bones. In this paper the authors outline their multidisciplinary approach to the study of the bone degradation and conditions within the crypt and stress the role of histology in such an approach. The implications of their findings are discussed and action for the long term preservation of the bones are recommended.     

THE CROW DOWN HOARD, LAMBOURN, WEST BERKSHIRE

Summary.   The discovery of a hoard of five middle Bronze Age gold objects during a metal-detecting rally on the Lambourn Downs in 2004 precipitated an archaeological investigation into their character, provenance and context. This article describes the objects themselves, their composition, how they were made and their archaeological background. It also reports the result of forensic archaeological work undertaken on them. The parallels for the objects and the social context of their deposition are discussed.     

REVIEWING THE BRITISH LATE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC: NEW EVIDENCE FOR CHRONOLOGICAL PATTERNING IN THE LATEGLACIAL RECORD

Summary. Variation in Lateglacial lithic assemblages has led some researchers to sub-divide the British Later Upper Palaeolithic into two or more typologically distinct phases (Campbell 1977; Jacobi 1988). Until now, however, the chronological relationships between the different phases have been difficult to demonstrate. In this paper we present new dating evidence for two distinct blade technologies of Lateglacial type found in southwest Britain. The first corresponds to the 'Creswellian'(as defined by Jacobi 1991; Jacobi and Roberts 1992), and is dated to the earlier part of the Lateglacial Interstadial (c. 13–12,000 years BP); the second technology compares with European Federmessergruppen assemblages (literally, 'penknife group' industries, as described in Schwabedissen 1954) of the 'forested' phase of the Interstadial (c. 12–11,000 years BP). In addition to presenting the new dates, this paper explores the implications of treating the technologies as separate entities and puts forward preliminary ideas on differences in raw material use and other human subsistence behaviour.