This is an anthropological inquiry into how humans use beads and other personal ornaments, and what this can tell us about production, labor organization, regional traditions, and cultural exchange. Specifically, it examines the manufacture and provenience of 8,000 Late Neolithic and Copper Age (3500-2500 BC) beads from a group of closely related collective burials in the Sizandro River Valley of southwestern Portugal. Because these burials lie within five kilometers of each other and have access to similar geological landscapes, patterns of raw material consumption would be expected to be comparable. This period witnessed the rise of socially-complex, non-state societies, but there is still debate about how socially differentiated people were. One way archaeologists can shed light on this type of prehistoric social complexity is to examine how and why people produce things in the way that they do--how they work. Beads in museum collections were measured and coded for shape, usewear, composition, and other traits. Analyses were conducted using microscopy, spectroscopy, petrography, and isotopic chemistry. The goal was to determine the extent of intra-site versus inter-site variation in the Sizandro, and to compare these results to other sites in the Estremadura in order to better understand craft production and interregional exchange in the context of the demographic transition to agriculture. A number of striking patterns were found. The vast majority of beads (~90%) show a high degree of standardization and are made of abundant, locally-available materials. Discoid calcite beads in particular have low standard deviations in diameter and thickness, highly indicative of batch production. Because of their transportability, beads (perhaps sewn into garments) likely served not only a decorative but a semi-monetized function. This pattern is similar to the use of `wampum' beads as commodity money among chiefdom-scale groups in parts of pre-contact North America, and has numerous cross-cultural ethnographic parallels. Approximately 10% of the beads were much less standardized and made from a diverse range of non-local raw materials obtained via direct or down-the-line exchange from other groups in the Iberian Peninsula. The emphasis on rarified materials is similar to elsewhere in the Western Mediterranean, suggesting that the Estremadura participated in a wider system of shared symbolic values.

This research focused on the petrographic analysis of prehistoric ceramics within the East Midlands. Prior assessments have been intermittent and not drawn together by a research-based agenda, with a few notable exceptions. This research uses petrographic analysis to shed light on early prehistoric society within Leicestershire, a county overlooked in comparison to other regions. The aim of this research was to investigate the procurement of raw materials and the subsequent production of Neolithic and early Bronze Age ceramics in Leicestershire, placing the county in its regional context. Petrographic slides from several early prehistoric sites were produced and analysed to determine the presence of any non-local material within the fabric of the ceramics. Existing petrographic data from other sites in the East Midlands were used as a comparative data set to test whether the ceramics from Leicestershire were typical or atypical of the wider production and procurement pattern. The results of the petrographic analysis on the Leicestershire sites indicated that the clay and inclusions were most likely of local origin, with no definitive evidence for non-local inclusions. However, the results from the comparative petrographic data obtained from sites within the wider East Midlands does support the movement of raw materials and/or finished ceramic products within the region. Preferential sources appear to have been continually exploited, both chronologically and geographically. The prime target of the exploitation was the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire, with groups from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire utilising this resource in addition to more local groups within Leicestershire.

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Yes / Landscape geophysical survey around the small upland ‘henge’ at Yarnbury, Grassington, North Yorkshire revealed few anthropogenic features around the enclosure but did identify a small rectangular structure in the same field. Sample trenching of this feature, radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic dating proved it to be an earlier Neolithic post and wattle structure of a type that is being increasingly recognised in Ireland and the west of Britain. It is the first to be recognised in the Yorkshire Dales and it is argued that the Dales may have been pivotal in the Neolithic for east–west trade as well as pastoral upland agriculture.

Yes / Uses new C14 chronology to chart the burial sequence within and the development of the iconic round barrow.

No / This paper outlines the types, developments and relationships of British enclosures in the middle and later Neolithic.

The full text will be available at the end of the embargo: 23rd Oct 2025

Yes / There is a significant lack of geomagnetic field strength (archaeointensity) measurements for many archaeological time periods in the United Kingdom (UK). This not only makes past geomagnetic secular variation difficult to model but also limits the development of archaeointensity dating. This paper presents the first archaeointensity study on UK Neolithic material. In this study, twenty-five sherds of Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery from the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney, UK, some with direct radiocarbon dates, were subjected to a full archaeomagnetic investigation with the aim of increasing the amount of archaeointensity data for the UK. Both thermal Thellier and microwave palaeointensity experiments were used to determine which technique would be most suitable for British Neolithic pottery. Three successful archaeointensity results between 35 and 40μT were obtained using thermal Thellier method, which is consistent with the limited data available within a 15° radius and geomagnetic field model predictions from the same time. We separated the results into four different types with an intention of explaining the behaviours that determine the likelihood of achieving an acceptable archaeointensity estimate. The feasibility of obtaining geomagnetic field strength information during the UK Neolithic from ceramics has been demonstrated and the results provide a solid basis for improving our knowledge of geomagnetic secular variation during archaeological time in Britain. / The Andy Jagger Fund, University of Bradford, for supporting the stay at the University of Liverpool and Crafoord Grant, Sweden, No. 20160763. The radiocarbon dates were funded by AHRC NF/2017/2/7.