Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there?

Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there? HILLY K. MURRAY, J. CHARLES MURRAY & SHANNON M. FRASER. A taleof the unknown unknowns: a Mesolithic pit alignment and a Neolithictimber hall at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire. xii + 132 pages, 51b&w & colour illustrations, 19 tables. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow;978-1-84217-347-3 hardback 20 [pounds sterling]. ANNA RITCHIE. On the fringe of Neolithic Europe: excavation of achambered cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray, Orkney. xx+152 pages, 49illustrations, 46 tables. 2009. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries ofScotland; 978-0-903903-47-9 hardback 25 [pounds sterling] (20 [poundssterling] to Fellows of the Society). CHRIS FENTON-THOMAS. A place by the sea: excavations at SewerbyCottage Farm, Bridlington. xxi+341 pages, 228 illustrations, 86 tables.2009. York: On-Site Archaeology (On-Site Archaeology Monograph 1);978-0-9561965-0-7 paperback 25 [pounds sterling]. LILIAN LADLE & ANN WOODWARD. Excavations at Bestwall Quarry,Wareham 1992-2005. Volume 1: the prehistoric landscape (Dorset NaturalHistory and Archaeological Society Monograph 19). xxii+402 pages, 223b&w & colour illustrations, 124 tables. 2009. Dorchester: DorsetNatural History and Archaeological Society; 978-0-900341-88-5 paperback29 [pounds sterling]. MARTIN SMITH & MEGAN BRICKLEY. People of the long barrow: life,death and burial in the earlier Neolithic. 192 pages, 70 b&w andcolour illustrations, 16 tables. 2009. Stroud: The History Press;978-0-7524-4733-9 paperback 18.99 [pounds sterling]. KENNY BROPHY & GORDON BARCLAY (ed.). Defining a regionalNeolithic: the evidence from Britain and Ireland. viii+128 pages, 55illustrations, 1 table. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-84217-333-6 paperback28 [pounds sterling]. VICKI CUMMINGS. A view from the West: the Neolithic of the IrishSea zone. x+219 pages, 114 illustrations. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow;978-1-84217-362-6 paperback 35 [pounds sterling]. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two thousand and nine seems to have been a bumper year forpublications about Neolithic Britain and Ireland, and the volumesreviewed here offer a variety of information and perspectives, coveringa wide geographical area. Four (Murray et al., Ritchie, Fenton-Thomas,and Ladle & Woodward) are excavation reports; one (Brophy &Barclay) is the proceedings of a Neolithic Studies Group meeting ondefining regionality in the Neolithic; and two (Cummings and Smith &Brickley) are clearly pitched as student textbooks, the former tacklingthe Neolithic of the Irish Sea, and the latter providing a round-up ofinformation on the human beings whose remains have been found in longmounds. The experience of reading these books has generated mixedfeelings in this reviewer: admiration at the sheer amount of work thathas gone into the creation of some of these volumes; frustration, mixedwith hope, at the challenges posed by the remains of this period; andsheer exasperation at the ill-informed and simplistic nature of thereasoning offered in one or two of the publications. Do these volumesget us closer to an understanding of this fascinating period? Perhapsnot surprisingly, the answer is 'yes and no; some, more thanothers'. Getting closer ... Presenting new information on the Neolithic is a step in the rightdirection, and three of the excavation reports significantly advance ourunderstanding of specific site types and periods. The fourth (onexcavations at Bestwall) also provides invaluable information, althoughthe main thrust of that volume is concerned with a well-preserved BronzeAge landscape. Murray et al.'s account of an Early Neolithic rectangulartimber 'hall' at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire--and ofa nearby Mesolithic pit alignment dating to the eighth millennium BC,revisited during the Neolithic--offers an exemplary exposition of theresults of their excavations. This structure is one of a growing numberof large (> 20m long), rectangular structures dating to the earlycenturies of the fourth millennium BC and relating to the Carinated BowlNeolithic (for whose definition see Sheridan 2007 and 2010; see alsoBrophy 2007 for a recent review of these structures). They are mostly,but not exclusively, found in Scotland, and the Crathes example liesvery close to the 'hall' at Balbridie, just across the riverDee (but seemingly not intervisible with it, as the viewshed analysisindicates: fig. 20). The Murrays' excavation was undertaken as apart-rescue, part-research exercise for the National Trust for Scotland,with additional support from elsewhere. The excavators have asked all the right questions of the site, andthis has paid rich dividends: in addition to obtaining a suite ofhigh-quality radiocarbon dates (whose Bayesian modelling by PeterMarshall indicates that it was probably built between 3820 and 3720 calBC and burnt down between 3780 and 3690 BC), they have been able toconstruct a detailed biography of the structure and a clear picture ofactivities in the surrounding area. A pair of massive posts seems tohave been erected as a 'foundation' activity, establishing theaxis of the building--although without a clear structural role--andevoking the end-posts of contemporary timber mortuary structures. Havingbuilt the 'hall' around these, lived in it and carried outrepairs to it, the inhabitants then appear to have removed these'totem' posts, cleared out most of the contents of thestructure, and deliberately set fire to it. Whether they subsequentlymoved across the river to construct the Balbridie 'hall' is amatter that has elicited differing views from the various contributorsto the volume, with this reviewer proposing that they did. Otherinsights gained from the excavators' and specialists'meticulous interrogation of the evidence include the observation thatthe post bases had been deliberately charred to prolong their use-life;that a sizeable area around the structure had been cultivated; and thatthe inhabitants' animal husbandry regime included the processing ofdairy products, from either cattle or sheep/goat, as indicated by thelipid analysis of the pottery. Two alternative reconstructions of thestructure are offered (figs. 26 and 27), and the excavators'experience with, and interest in, experimental archaeology has led tothe inclusion of a useful discussion about how it may have burnt down. The Murrays' discussion of comparanda--which include therecently-excavated 'hall' at Lockerbie in south-west Scotlandand the earlier of two structures at Doon Hill, East Lothian, its daterecently confirmed by pottery examination and radiocarbon dating--ishelpful, although they stop short of embracing this reviewer's view(p. 93) that such structures represent the communal houses of the firstfew generations of immigrant farmers from the Continent. Discussion ofthe broader significance of Crathes within the debate overMesolithic-Neolithic transitions is left to Shannon Fraser (pp. 63-9),who claims 'in my opinion, it does not much resemble the very firstsettlement of incoming farmers. Rather, it looks like the result of acertain passage of time in which perhaps quite complicated and variedinteractions among native populations and more recent arrivals havetaken place ...' (p. 66). Debate over interpreting the evidence isindeed welcome, but it is only productive if it is accurate andwell-informed--something that cannot be claimed of the text here which,for example, inaccurately casts the 'immigrant farmers'hypothesis as a catastrophist scenario as regards the impact on localindigenous groups and which incorrectly implies that this reviewer hadsuggested that forerunners of the 'halls' are to be found inAtlantic Europe. Furthermore, while it may be true to say that theprecise point of origin for the Carinated Bowl ceramic tradition has notyet been pinpointed, we are closer to locating it than Fraser implies(Sheridan 2010). Anna Ritchie's report on her research excavations of thechamber tomb at the Holm of Papa Westray North, in Orkney, offersanother exemplary exposition of a carefully-executed excavation, and anattempt to maximise the information yield from the material retrieved.Beautifully produced--like other Society of Antiquaries of Scotlandpublications--this report falls into two parts. Part 1 describes theresults of her 1982-3 excavations of this stalled cairn, integratingthem with the results of George Petrie's 1854 exploration, whilePart 2 presents the results of specialist work undertaken on the findsboth during the 1980s and much more recently. Some of the latter hasresulted from external research projects, including Keith Dobney'sregarding the origin of the Orkney vole (an immigrant to thearchipelago, arriving from Continental Europe around 3000 BC); RickSchulting's and Mike Richards' on the diet of Neolithiccoastal and island dwellers; and Anne Tresset's and MarieBalasse's on Neolithic animal husbandry in island contexts. Theresults have produced a detailed picture of the construction and use ofone of Orkney's earliest megalithic monuments, and of the life ofthe human and animal inhabitants on what had been a promontory duringthe fourth millennium. The monument started as a free-standing circular cairn with amostly drystone-built, corbelled polygonal chamber opening to theNorth-West. Its contents were probably cleared out when a rectangularstalled chamber and its enveloping rectangular cairn were added around3500 BC, i.e. roughly at the same time as the nearby settlement at Knapof Howar on Papa Westray and the chambered horned cairn at Point of Cotton Westray. The main part of the interior remained accessible during andafter subsequent structural alterations, until the monument wasdeliberately infilled and sealed, around 2600 BC. Unburnt remains ofseven men, women and children date to between c. 3500 and c. 2900 BC;and during the second quarter of the third millennium it appears thatthe front part of the chamber was used by sheep as a shelter and forlambing. Isotopic analysis of the latter's teeth has shown thatsheep must have fed on seaweed over the winter (in contrast to the Knapof Howar sheep). If this had also been the case when the monument was inuse for human interments, this could account for the slight marinesignature noted in the diet of at least two of the three individualsanalysed by Schulting and Richards. Alternatively, fish could haveformed part of these people's diet, as suggested by the presence ofdeep-water species that must have been caught by humans; Harland andParks' thorough report on the fish remains draws a useful contrastbetween these bones and others that most probably entered the tomb asotter spraint. Not only does Ritchie's book thus provide a detailedlife history of a chamber tomb; like John Barber's report on thePoint of Cott excavation (Barber 1997), it also reminds us to focus onthe natural history and taphonomy of such monuments, and like Bayliss etal.'s work on southern English long barrows (Bayliss & Whittle2007), it highlights the importance of obtaining a good set ofradiocarbon dates. Moving south into Yorkshire, Fenton-Thomas' account of thelarge-scale, developer-funded excavations at Sewerby Cottage Farm,Bridlington, is also set to become a much-cited publication. Whilearound a third of the volume deals with post-Neolithic activity, therest deals with a rare phenomenon: the relatively well-preserved tracesof Middle Neolithic settlement, dating to the second half of the fourthmillennium BC. These include a trapezoidal post-built structure, around5 x 5m; a possible rectangular post-built structure, around 6.2 x 2.1m;and, overlying this, an oval, possibly turf-walled structure with arammed gravel floor, around 5m long. That structure seems to have beenre-built, then formally sealed (with a deposit including Grooved Ware)at the end of its life. Elsewhere within the excavated area, adistinction was drawn between groups of pits containing material thathad been deposited not long after use, and spreads of material thatseemed to have been lying around for a considerable period, with abradedsherds of different ages and flint from different episodes of knappingintermixed. This evidence prompted a discussion of the nature andtemporality of the Neolithic settlement, with the authors arguing forseveral episodes of occupation, of differing duration in different partsof the site, over the course of several centuries (pp. 78-95). As in the previous two volumes, the excellent specialist reportsare reproduced in their entirety, and they provide many useful insightsinto the nature and dating of the activities, the use of raw materialsand the wider cultural context. The pottery, dealt with by Terry Manby,comprises a small amount of undecorated Towthorpe Ware; a large amountof Peterborough Ware, in both its widespread sub-styles (Ebbsfleet,Mortlake and Fengate) and some of its north British variants (Rudstonstyle and 'Carnaby Top' jars); and a small amount of GroovedWare (in its 'northern manifestation of the Woodlands style').The radiocarbon dates, some obtained from organic encrustations on theinterior of sherds (and discussed by Bayliss et al. on pp. 294-301),make this a key assemblage for understanding the chronology of Middle toLate ceramic traditions in Yorkshire and beyond; and lipid analysis ofsome Peterborough Ware sherds by Rob Berstan and Richard Evershedrevealed the presence of ruminant dairy fat, and showed that some potshad been heated (during or after use) to over 300[degrees]C. There weretwo other findings of particular note. The first is the discovery,through radiocarbon dating, that some charred plant remains (includingthose of pea and wheat) from apparently secure Neolithic contexts musthave been introduced as a result of ploughing during the fifteenth andsixteenth centuries AD: once again, this underlines the importance ofemploying a rigorous programme of radiocarbon dating. The second is thediscovery of a fragment of quern made from Niedermendig lava from theRhineland, used as a post-packing stone in a pit (3878), one of acluster of similar-looking pits containing Neolithic material (pp. 38,40, 185-6). The authors have argued that the quern (or its stone) is aNeolithic import from the Rhineland, and they suggest that other quernfragments of the same material found in Wessex may also representNeolithic imports. This is a remarkable claim, whose potentialimportance (if correct) has not been appreciated: while we now have goodevidence for the cross-Channel Neolithic importation of a quern fromNormandy to Maiden Castle (Peacock et al. 2009), as part of a suite ofevidence for fourth-millennium cross-Channel links between southernEngland and north-western France (Sheridan et al. 2008 and 2010), thereis no evidence for Neolithic contact with Germany, so this discovery, ifgenuinely Neolithic, would be very significant. However, a question markmust remain over the Sewerby quern's date. Querns of Niedermendiglava (although not of the specific form of the Sewerby Cottage Farmexample) are well known from Roman contexts in Britain, and given thatRomano-British sherds were found in two of the pits in this cluster, andthat an Early Roman ditch is only about 15m away, it seems more likelyto this reviewer that the quern fragment actually belongs to that laterperiod of activity, and that the Neolithic material from the pit isresidual. The fourth excavation report, by Ladle and Woodward, on thelarge-scale, long-term excavations at Bestwall Quarry at Wareham, nearthe south coast of England, has already been hailed as a classic interms of advancing our understanding of Bronze Age settlement and landuse. It also represents a huge achievement by the principal authors, insynthesising such a large and complex body of data, and is a shiningexample of what can be achieved through collaboration betweendevelopers, voluntary archaeologists, and the state-funded archaeologyservice. The Neolithic evidence is relatively sparse (pp. 42-50, 133, 175-7,202-4, 353-6), and its interpretation is hindered by uncertainties overphasing and function and by the non-survival of bone. It is neverthelessimportant for yielding a good-quality date for Early Neolithic pottery(p.133), and the discussion (pp. 353-6) draws out much usefulinformation about the Early Neolithic of the Bournemouth region. Theevidence for Neolithic activity is restricted to scattered lithics ofEarly to Late Neolithic date and, within a 15 x 15m area, the following:four early Neolithic pits (one pre-dated by a timber post); arectangular post-built timber structure, 5 x 4m in size; a squashed ringof 15 timber uprights surrounding it; and an irregularly-shaped ditchedenclosure, roughly echoing the shape of the timber ring. A small amountof pottery of Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic (Peterborough Ware) andLate Neolithic (possible Grooved Ware) type was found in the ditchfills. While some stratigraphic sequencing was possible, with the pitsand timber ring pre-dating the ditched enclosure, the position of therectangular structure in this sequence could not be ascertained,although only Early Neolithic pottery was associated with it (p. 354);the authors choose to interpret it, together with the timber ring andenclosure, as part of a monument that could represent the first stagesof creating a long barrow that was never completed. The pit contents aredescribed as the result of earlier ceremonial activity in this location,perhaps feasting (p. 353), and the associated pottery is identified asbeing typical of that found in Early Neolithic pit clusters within theBournemouth area (p. 204; table 18; fig. 214). As such it is pertinentto the debate about the origins and dating of the 'Hembury',or 'South-Western' style of Early Neolithic pottery (asdiscussed elsewhere by Cleal 2004 and Sheridan et al. 2008). The date(GrA-28428, 4955 [+ or -] 40 BP, 3900-3650 cal BC at 2[sigma] usingOxCal v.3.10), from carbonised residue inside a pot from pit L577,provides a much-needed chronological indicator; Bayliss considers itsmost likely date to lie between 3800 and 3640 cal BC (p. 133). Ceramicspecialists will no doubt continue to discuss the identity andsignificance of this pottery, just as others may revisit theinterpretation of the structural features. In the meantime, the authorsand excavators are to be congratulated for producing these useful newnuggets of information. The final volume to be considered in this section results fromSmith and Brickley's research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust andthe Arts and Humanities Research Council, into the information yieldedby human remains from Neolithic long mounds. People of the long barrowis an accessible and well-illustrated volume focusing mostly on southernEnglish long barrows but also including information from severalchambered long cairns in Wales and Scotland (table 9). It offers auseful summary of the history of research into these remains (Chapter2); of funerary and mortuary practices (Chapters 3 and 4); ofinformation gained about age (both biological and chronological), sex,relatedness, mobility, violence, diet, disease and disability (Chapters5 and 6); and of the later re-use of monuments (Chapter 7), finishingwith suggestions for future research (Chapter 8). It should provepopular with students and interested non-specialists. Criticisms arerelatively minor. Some relate to spelling and grammar (especiallyregarding apostrophes and the mis-spelling of 'practised').The historical review could arguably have mentioned the contribution ofSir William Turner and other Scottish-based anatomists, and on p. 83,the omission of a reference to Saville's and Hallen's datingof bones from Macarthur Cave to the Iron Age (Saville & Hallen 1994)is regrettable. At times, the use of Continental evidence, especiallyregarding Otzi the Ice Man, smacks of padding to fill gaps in theBritish evidence; and sometimes, contentious assertions made by othersare accepted uncritically, especially as regards Mesolithic-Neolithiccontinuity (pp. 83-4) and the nature of Early Neolithic settlement andland use (p. 119). On balance, however, the volume is to be welcomed. ... but still a way to go The last two books in this review are among the most expensive and,in this reviewer's opinion, are the least satisfactory--althoughindividual contributions to Brophy and Barclay's slim volume(Defining a regional Neolithic) are praiseworthy, including FionaRoe's brief essay on Neolithic querns (see also above). This bookresults from a Neolithic Studies Group meeting in 2001, but it tookeight years to appear, and the editors' preface was two years oldby the time of publication. The diverse contributions offer differingperspectives on regionality, and Clays summary of the Neolithic of theEast Midlands reminds us of the magnitude of the challenge to fill gapsin our knowledge for large parts of Britain. Loveday's contributionincludes the remarkable (and unconvincing) suggestion that polishedrectangular flint knives, 'Seamer' flint axeheads and'Duggleby' flint adzeheads are copies of early Continentalcopper axeheads, despite the absence of such 'prototypes' fromBritain (except one find of questionable provenance). And inCummings' paper on megaliths in south-west Wales and south-westScotland, it is stated (p. 58) that 'late Neolithic pottery wasfound at the White Cairn, Bargrennan', despite the fact that thepottery report which appeared in Cumming and Fowler's 2007publication (included in the bibliography) made it clear that the sherdswere from Early Bronze Age urns. Such lack of attention to detail isalso to be found in large parts of Cummings' book, which expandsher study to include eastern Ireland and claims to cover The Neolithicof the Irish Sea zone. In fact it focuses mostly on early Neolithicmegalithic monuments, and Chapters 6 and 7 reprise Cummings'off-published observations about the relationship between these andmountains and the sea. In the author's words, 'All I canrelate is what I myself have seen from the various chambered [sic] tombsof the Irish Sea zone. I have no way of knowing how people in theNeolithic may have perceived these landscape features ...' (p.126). No attempt is made to relate monument location to existingevidence relating to settlement and land use, and previous locationalstudies (e.g. by Cooney on the megaliths of County Louth, summarised inCooney 2000) are not discussed. This book reads as though it is a lecture course for first-yearundergraduates, and unfortunately the use of the first person not onlyforegrounds the narrator, but magnifies the pratfalls when they occur.Bold claims to 'provide a comprehensive overview of Neolithicmonumentality in the Irish Sea zone' (p. 60) simply offer hostagesto fortune (e.g. in the failure to discuss non-megalithic monuments (seeSheridan (2006) or Kytmannov's work on portal tombs (2009)); andsimplistic statements such as 'We know that Neolithic things appeareverywhere around about 4000 BC in Britain and Ireland' make onewonder whether the author has actually read the articles that haveappeared in books that she has co-edited (e.g. Cummings & Fowler2004; Whittle & Cummings 2007). It is one thing to disagree with thehypothesis of there being an Atlantic, Breton strand of Neolithisationreaching Wales, Scotland and the north of Ireland between 4400/4300 and4000 BC (as expressed, for example, in Sheridan 2004 and 2010); it isquite another to appear to be wholly unaware of this hypothesis, and tolump closed chambers and simple passage tombs together with portaltombs. Similarly, if Cummings had paid attention to the reviewer'sdiscussion of ceramic developments in west and south-west Scotland thatappeared in the volume she co-edited with Fowler in 2004, she could haveavoided the muddled and misleading account of Irish Sea pottery that shepresents in Chapter 3. (Furthermore, the provenancing work on Neolithicpottery that Cummings advocates (e.g. on p. 200) has, for IrishNeolithic pottery, already been done and published more than once bythis reviewer.) Other shortcomings, which reveal a shallowness in theauthor's knowledge of the archaeology of the Irish Sea region,include the surprising claim that the fragmentary jet spacer platenecklace, Food Vessel and associated lithics found in the Brackley Clydecairn date to 'the end of the early Bronze Age (1500 BC)'(p.79; and note that 'Scott 1955' should be 'Scott1956'). There is much to commend in Cummings' recording of thelandscape settings of megalithic tombs, but unfortunately those readingthis book are likely to end up further away from an understanding of theIrish Sea Neolithic than when they started. In sum, the reports and overviews discussed here leave thisreviewer both inspired and frustrated. Inspired by the quality andreporting of the fieldwork carried out in a multitude of environmentsand circumstances, and by the exciting new information obtained throughthe application of science. And frustrated at the lack of criticaljudgement and the inadequate knowledge base shown by some authors. Thejourney towards understanding the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland wasnever going to be easy. Yet it is only by 'keeping buggeringon' (to use Churchill's famous expression), by continuing todocument precisely its manifold manifestations, by keeping up-to-datewith the information available both here and on the Continent, and mostimportantly by asking the right questions of the evidence and knowinghow to go about answering them, that we are to advance. References BARBER, J. 1997. The excavation of a stalled cairn at the Point ofCott, Westray, Orkney (STAR Monograph 1). Edinburgh: Scottish Trust forArchaeological Research. BAYLISS, A. & A.W.R. WHITTLE (ed.) 2007. Histories of the dead:building chronologies for five southern British long barrows. CambridgeArchaeological Journal 17.1 (supplement). BROPHY, K. 2007. From big houses to cult houses: Early Neolithictimber halls in Scotland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73:75-96. CLEAL, R. 2004. The dating and diversity of the earliest ceramicsof Wessex and south-west England, in R. Cleal & J. Pollard (ed.)Monuments and material culture: 164-92. Salisbury: Hobnob Press. COONEY, G. 2000. Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London:Routledge. CUMMINGS, V. & C. FOWLER (ed.). 2004. The Neolithic of theIrish Sea: materiality and traditions of practice. Oxford: Oxbow. --2007. From cairn to cemetery: an archaeological investigation ofthe chambered cairns and Early Bronze Age mortuary deposits atCairnderry and Bargrennan White Cairn, south-west Scotland (BritishArchaeological Reports British Series 434). Oxford: Archaeopress. KYTMANNOW, T. 2008. Portal tombs in the landscape: the chronology,morphology and landscape setting of the portal tombs of Ireland, Walesand Cornwall (British Archaeological Reports British Series 455).Oxford:Archaeopress. PEACOCK, D., L. CUTLER & P. WOODWARD. 2009. A Neolithic voyage.International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 39(1): 116-24. SAVILLE, A. & Y. HALLEN. 1994. The 'Obanian IronAge': human remains from the Oban cave sites, Argyll, Scotland.Antiquity 68: 715-23. SHERIDAN, J.A. 2004. Neolithic connections along and across theIrish Sea, in V. Cummings & C. Fowler (ed.) The Neolithic of theIrish Sea: materiality and traditions of practice: 9-21. Oxford: Oxbow. --2006. A non-megalithic funerary tradition in early NeolithicIreland, in M. Meek (ed.) The modern traveller to our past: Festschriftin honour of Ann Hamlin: 24-31. Rathfriland: DPK. --2007. From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig Hill? Newinformation on the 'Carinated Bowl Neolithic' in northernBritain, in A.W.R. Whittle & V. Cummings (ed.) Going over: theMesolithic-Neolithic transition in North-West Europe: 441-92. Oxford:Oxford University Press. --2010. The Neolithization of Britain and Ireland: the 'BigPicture', in B. Finlayson & G. Warren (ed.) Landscapes intransition: 89-105. Oxford: Oxbow. SHERIDAN, J.A., R.J. SCHULTING, H. QUINNELL & R. TAYLOR. 2008.Revisiting a small passage tomb at Broadsands, Devon. Proceedings of theDevon Archaeological Society 66: 1-26. SHERIDAN, J.A., D. FIELD, Y. PAILLER, P. PETREQUIN, M. ERRERA &S. CASSEN. 2010. The Breamore jadeitite axehead and other Neolithicaxeheads of Alpine rock from central southern England. WiltshireArchaeological and Natural History Magazine 103: 16-34. WHITTLE, A.W.R. & V. CUMMINGS (ed.) 2007. Going over: theMesolithic-Neolithic transition in North-West Europe (Proceedings of theBritish Academy 144). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Alison Sheridan, Department of Archaeology, National MuseumsScotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK (Email:a.sheridan@nms.ac.uk)