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This thesis focuses on the complex phenomenon of cultural change in the lower Rhone during the Iron Age. More cosmopolitan tastes in monumental architecture, food, drink and ritual practices all developed in this period and in this work I attempt to explain why these broader Mediterranean practices were adopted by lower Rhone societies. I begin by building up a picture of lower Rhone society through a review of settlement patterns and communications in the region. I also consider the sorts of identities that were being expressed through the adoption of different practices. My investigations lead me to conclude that good communications with the wider Mediterranean meant that lower Rhone societies were open to new traditions. I propose that cultural change was stimulated by a combination of communications with the wider Mediterranean and internal politics. I suggest that the willingness of lower Rhone societies to adopt new practices was owing to political instability and the needs of emergent elite to distinguish themselves from earlier groups through the adoption of novel practices and the development of new identities. My approach to cultural change in the lower Rhone thus differs from earlier studies, which have tended to view this phenomenon through a colonial lens and have thus viewed the adoption of new practices in the Iron Age lower Rhone as a product of Hellenization. In contrast to these approaches, I propose that Massalia was not central to developments in this region and that it should no longer be treated as a privileged case or studied as part of a separate discipline. As a study of the development of Massalia in its regional context, this work has implications for the way we understand the foundation of "Greek colonies" of the archaic period and as a regional study, it offers a new perspective on how we understand cultural transformations in the lower Rhone.

This thesis analyses the reuse of megalithic tombs in Atlantic Europe, between Scotland and Iberia, during the Iron Age and Roman periods (c. 800 BC--400 AD). Research on megalithic tombs has been dominated by prehistoric studies on megalithic origins, distributions, construction, classification, and use during the Neolithic period (c. 4000-2000 BC). Comparatively little has been done on the later lives of these sites, and such work has lacked a wider geographic context. By exploring the patterns and natures of subsequent interactions with megalithic tombs throughout Atlantic Europe, this thesis attempts to answer three central research questions. Firstly, are there patterns in the presence, or lack, of subsequent activity at megalithic tombs across this study area? Secondly, are there regional differences in the nature of interactions found at these sites? And finally, does the nature and pattern of reuse change between the Iron Age and Roman periods, and might such changes be a reflection of social memory in Roman- occupied versus non-Rom an-occupied territories, where Roman materials functioned within different social contexts?

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The Middle Palaeolithic of Europe has long been characterised by its rich technological diversity, with an array of core volume management strategies exhibited. In understanding and accounting for this diversity, interpretations of consistent behaviour and technological change have stressed the importance of three factors: social transmission and cultural tradition (Bordian-centric models), site-function and adaptation (Binfordian-centric models), and diachronic change andchronology. In many of these investigations and analyses into the Middle Palaeolithic, little emphasis is placed on commonalities and differences in blank-type, product desirability and their behavioural potential given their morphology. While function may not account for all aspects of technological variability, analyses of functional performance may explain chronological changes in various core volume management strategies which appear, at face value, to produce similar blanks. Undertaking such provides an entry-point into the nature and behaviour of Neanderthal tool-makers and tool-users, and a platform for discussing the role of other factors (e.g. ecological adaptation). This thesis investigates the behavioural potential of the main methods of ‘technological blade production’, the specific proceduralised sequence of producing stereotyped elongated blanks from a homothetic core morphology: Levallois (unidirectional/bidirectional) elongated recurrent and Laminar sensu stricto systems of blade manufacturing. A thorough technological analysis of blade production systems from eleven Middle Palaeolithic contexts were first undertaken to characterise technological variability of blade production systems throughout the Middle Palaeolithic. Traditional and geometric morphometric analyses of an experimental (n = 499) and archaeological (n = 908) dataset were then undertaken in order to understand differences in: 1) blank shape and form (size plus shape), 2) economisation and efficiency, and 3) product regularity and standardisation. Analyses from the technological framework were then assessed alongside findings from the functional analysis through a goodness-of-fit test, to explain whether a working hypothesis grounded on ‘performance attributes’ (Skibo and Schiffer, 2001) and artefact design could explain the change from a predominantly Levallois method of blade production in the Early Middle Palaeolithic, to a predominantly Laminar method in the Late Middle Palaeolithic, in addition to on-site concurrency (equifinality vs. activity-specific behaviours). The thesis highlights the expansive evidence for technological blade strategies within the Middle Palaeolithic and highlights the ‘retouch potential’ of Levallois technological blade strategies, given a higher flattening index, increased width and size, and an increased amount of edge per blank, while Laminar blades produce more cutting edge per weight of stone, and blades per core, representing a more portable, economic and expedient technological blade strategy. This is supported through archaeological evidence for extensive preparation and invasive continuous retouch featured on Levallois products, and the lack of retouch observed on Laminar products. This research also provides a thorough account into the role of raw material in the shape and form of blades produced from both methods, details a quantitative framework suggestive of spatio-temporal relationships of social learning within MOIS 5, supports arguments for a ‘Northwest Technocomplex’ (Depaepe, 2007), and queries the archaeological integrity of the Le Rissori sequence.