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This work initially examines the origins and methods of entomo-archaeological studies and reviews the current state of this discipline. Original work is presented on coleopteran faunas, mainly from medieval pits, recovered and analysed from sites in Winchester, Southampton and Chichester. The faunas resemble those recovered from deposits of similar provenance from other sites. They also contain the earliest records of some species in Britain and the earliest medieval occurrences of others which, were common in Roman Britain, but missing from the Saxon urban record. A modem analogue of a medieval cesspit was set up in order to investigate the coleopteran faunas, which develop in that environment. Further experimental work was carried out using a choice chamber, to determine the preferred pabulum of certain species of Aphodius dung beetles. The findings are placed in a wider context as a representative sample of all work, carried out on Roman and post-Roman coleopteran thanatocoenoses, were included in the following investigations. Methods of standardising data from different sources are discussed. The distribution of synanthropic species through time was studied, with special emphasis on Tipnus unicolor and Cryptolestes ferrugineus. Investigations into the characteristics of pit faunas and into the relationship between the assemblage and the physical properties of the feature, in which it formed, were undertaken. Correspondence analysis, from the CANOCO computer program, was used as an aid to interpretation, in both exercises. Definite faunal types were discovered in pit assemblages, which could be related to the known archaeological details and certain properties of the feature were shown to influence the development of the fauna. These exercises proved that comparing work by different authors can be productive and that CANOCO is a powerful tool in analysis.

The Late Iron Age settlement evidence is considered for a geographical area that contains amongst the highest known concentration of such evidence and which has formed much of the basis of understanding of the period. The thesis aims are to evaluate this evidence with respect to: a. the reasons for its geographical concentration, b. whether a critical examination of it can contribute to understanding of social and economic processes in the Late Iron Age. An assessment of the evidence concluded that deficiencies in the analysis of artefacts and environmental evidence substantially restricts the extent to which it can address the thesis aims. An assessment of geographical distortions also concluded that the potential for spatial analysis is limited by the pattern of archaeological fieldwork. An analysis of factors, for which it is considered that the evidence can usefully be used, concluded that there appears to be a preference for site location in river valleys and close to principal overland routes. It also concluded that earlier Iron Age settlement probably did not have a significant influence upon Late Iron Age settlement. An assessment of the evidence for defined activities concluded that few sites have such evidence, and most of it is for burial or ritual. Spatial analysis suggested that earlier prehistoric sites were influential in the location of some Late Iron Age ritual sites. Conjectured territories were also identified around some of the major settlements fi7om patterns in the location of Late Iron Age ritual sites. It is concluded that a combination of agricultural wealth, the bias of archaeological fieldwork, the archaeological visibility of ritual and burial evidence and the development of probably long-lived contacts with northern France, is the likely explanation for the large number of sites within the Study Area. it is also concluded that developments in ritual practices in the Late Iron Age may have been a key factor determining the nature of the archaeological evidence.

This dissertation is the first overview of the history and present state of archaeology in Iran. Its aim is to consider the relevance of recent developments in Western archaeology, and their relevance to a Near Eastern Islamic State. The Palaeolithic of Iran is taken as a case study. The first concern of chapters (1) and (2), in this thesis is to evaluate the distinctively national characteristics of archaeology in Iran. Specifically the chapters consider the development of archaeology in Iran in the 1960s and 1970s in relation to the `New Archaeology' in the USA. It is clear that these external influences had only a minimal impact on archaeology in Iran; the `New Archaeology' which first developed in American circles more than thirty years ago, made a somewhat belated impact on Iranian archaeology in the seventies. Not all of its agenda has been adopted, and because it was pioneered by anthropologists on relatively recent and simple New World sites, it is not totally applicable to the long historical sequence of complex Iranian mounds. I argue that Iranian archaeology was simply left behind, "out of date" and generally atheoretical. I also stress that its traditional authority structure prevented discussion of new ideas. Chapter (3), emphasises that, despite a wide range of archaeological work in Iran, the blanks on the archaeological maps are far greater in extent than the small regions that have to some extent been filled in. On the other hand the unparalleled expansion of archaeology particularly the complexity and costs of fieldwork, will force us to determine priorities much more clearly. Thus in the future we will probably see fewer of the enormous ten-year excavations at Tell- sites such as characterised the 1960s and 1970s. We have to move to smaller projects deliberately designed to answer specific problems (i. e., excavation at one period sites; surface survey, and regional studies). Because the concept of surface surveying as a reliable method of data recovery has not been introduced into the archaeology of Iran, and archaeologists there are still not familiar with its methods and techniques, this chapter aims to emphasise the importance and productivity of this strategy and provides a general model of archaeological survey methodology for the future. The present thesis goes radically beyond the traditional cultural-historical paradigms of Iranian research orientation, and suggests, for instance that the study of Palaeolithic Archaeology (in new perspectives) is a fundamental period of human cultural progress, but one that has long been completely neglected in Iranian archaeology. The current issues of Palaeolithic Archaeology, the importance of environmental data, and the range of our understanding of Iranian Palaeolithic Archaeology are the subjects of Chapters (4) and (5). The political and ideological problems of the archaeology of Iran are discussed in chapter (6) where I argue that the concept of Archaeological Heritage Management is a matter of top priority for Iranian archaeology. This chapter discusses major disasters in Iranian cultural heritage (i. e., looting of sites due to a lack of legal protection, an adequate management system, as well as economic and social problems). I conclude in this thesis that there are major challenges for archaeology in Iran in the future; the older generation is almost gone, the new generation coming to the fore must face many tasks, among them the transition from a monolithic national school to a more subtle, many-sided approach to archaeological problems. It must salvage what it can of sites rapidly being destroyed by various factors. At the same time we will have to challenge the political and ideological constraints affecting archaeology in society. The new generation must envision a master-plan for the future archaeological development in this region, where economic development and prosperity still allows good opportunities and support for systematic archaeological research.

This archaeobotanical analysis was carried out as part of the Khirbet Faris project: a multi- disciplinary archaeological study of a rural village on the Kerak plateau with a chronology dating from the Bronze Age to Ottoman period. It has contributed to the debate surrounding settlement, economic continuity and change and the influence of Islamic expansion on agricultural practices in this environmentally and politically marginal location. An ethnoarchaeological analysis, FIBS (Functional Interpretation of Botanical studies), was carried out to aid the interpretation of crop management practices from archaeobotanical remains. Results of the analysis have indicated general continuity in agricultural activity from the Byzantine to early Ottoman periods: Free threshing wheats, barley, pulses, fig, olive and vine were all cultivated throughout this period. The samples were rich and of mixed origin, and typically dominated by cereal grain and chaff (mostly cleaned barley and wheat grain and chaff). Settled farmers seem to have adopted a mixed economy, utilising a range of crops together with animal herds. Crop residues were used to feed herds and the dung used as fuel, to varying degrees across the site, throughout the Islamic period. Contrary to Watson's (1983) belief that free-threshing wheats were introduced at the time of Islamic expansion, as part of a wider agricultural revolution, these crops seem to have been cultivated from at least the Byzantine period. Signs of agricultural change appear from the 13th century A. D. New, `exotic' crops: cotton, sorghum, watermelon, pistachio and citrus fruit. Analogy with FIBS evidence suggests irrigation may have been introduced at this time. These `introductions' appear first in the mid-Islamic period, not at the advent of Islamic expansion as Watson describes, perhaps due to the marginal location of Kerak. It is questionable whether these `exotic' crops were cultivated or imported as they are present at a low frequency in the samples. Irrigation evidence comes from the weeds of winter cereal crops so there is no direct evidence for the irrigation of `exotic' summer crops. It is, therefore, uncertain to what extent these introductions affected the local landscape and economy. The success of the FIBS analysis in aiding interpretation of the archaeobotanical assemblage, in terms of crop management practices, is encouraging for future archaeobotanical research.