Ian Armit

Cultural encounters form a dominant theme in the study of Iron Age Europe. This was particularly acute in regions where urbanising Mediterranean civilisations came into contact with ‘barbarian’ worlds. This volume presents preliminary work from the ENTRANS Project, which explores the nature and impact of such encounters in south-east Europe, alongside a series of papers on analogous European regions. A range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches are offered in an effort to promote dialogue around these central issues in European protohistory.

Iñigo Olalde, Selina Brace, Morten E. Allentoft, Ian Armit, Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Booth, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Alissa Mittnik, Eveline Altena, Mark Lipson, Iosif Lazaridis, Thomas K. Harper, Nick Patterson, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Yoan Diekmann, Zuzana Faltyskova, Daniel Fernandes, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Peter de Knijff, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Alistair Barclay, Kurt Werner Alt, Corina Liesau, Patricia Ríos, Concepción Blasco, Jorge Vega Miguel, Roberto Menduiña García, Azucena Avilés Fernández, Eszter Bánffy, Maria Bernabò-Brea, David Billoin, Clive Bonsall, Laura Bonsall, Tim Allen, Lindsey Büster, Sophie Carver, Laura Castells Navarro, Oliver E. Craig, Gordon T. Cook, Barry Cunliffe, Anthony Denaire, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, Natasha Dodwell, Michal Ernée, Christopher Evans, Milan Kuchařík, Joan Francès Farré, Chris Fowler, Michiel Gazenbeek, Rafael Garrido Pena, María Haber-Uriarte, Elżbieta Haduch, Gill Hey, Nick Jowett, Timothy Knowles, Ken Massy, Saskia Pfrengle, Philippe Lefranc, Olivier Lemercier, Arnaud Lefebvre, César Heras Martínez, Virginia Galera Olmo, Ana Bastida Ramírez, Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Tona Majó, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Kathleen McSweeney, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Alessandra Mod, Gabriella Kulcsár, Viktória Kiss, András Czene, Róbert Patay, Anna Endrődi, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, Tamás Szeniczey, János Dani, Zsolt Bernert, Maya Hoole, Olivia Cheronet, Denise Keating, Petr Velemínský, Miroslav Dobeš, Francesca Candilio, Fraser Brown, Raúl Flores Fernández, Ana-Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Sebastiano Tusa, Emiliano Carnieri, Luigi Lentini, Antonella Valenti, Alessandro Zanini, Clive Waddington, Germán Delibes, Elisa Guerra-Doce, Benjamin Neil, Marcus Brittain, Mike Luke, Richard Mortimer, Jocelyne Desideri, Marie Besse, Günter Brücken, Mirosław Furmanek, Agata Hałuszko, Maksym Mackiewicz, Artur Rapiński, Stephany Leach, Ignacio Soriano, Katina T. Lillios, João Luís Cardoso, Michael Parker Pearson, Piotr Włodarczak, T. Douglas Price, Pilar Prieto, Pierre-Jérôme Rey, Roberto Risch, Manuel A. Rojo Guerra, Aurore Schmitt, Joël Serralongue, Ana Maria Silva, Václav Smrčka, Luc Vergnaud, João Zilhão, David Caramelli, Thomas Higham, Mark G. Thomas, Douglas J. Kennett, Harry Fokkens, Volker Heyd, Alison Sheridan, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Johannes Krause, Ron Pinhasi, Wolfgang Haak, Ian Barnes, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Reich

From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Academia, like everything else, has its fashions. At the moment, one trend in both North American and European archaeology has been to un-pacify the past. Over the past decade, archaeologists have turned away from a view of the past, dominant through much of the ...

Cite as: Bonsall, J., Gaffney, C. and Armit, I. 2013. Back and forth: paving the way forward by assessing 10 years of geophysical surveys on Irish road schemes. In Futures and Pasts: archaeological science on Irish road schemes (eds. Kelly, B., Roycroft, N. & Stanley, M.). NRA Monograph.

Geophysical surveys have played an important role in the discovery of archaeological sites on Irish national road schemes. The National Roads Authority has recently funded a Research Fellowship to critically review all of the archaeological geophysical surveys conducted on such schemes between 2001 and 2010. The review, which is being carried out by the University of Bradford and its industrial partner Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, has reappraised the success or otherwise of these geophysical assessments and has suggested ways to enhance the effectiveness of future surveys on NRA-funded roads.

Cite as: Bonsall, J., Gaffney, C., Armit, I. 2015. ‘You know it’s summer in Ireland when the rain gets warmer: Analysing repetitive timelapse earth resistance data to determine ‘optimal’ survey climate conditions’. Archaeologia Polona, Volume 53, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, pp623-626.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there are temporal changes/variations observable in time-lapse earth resistance surveys carried out in Ireland, how important those variations are and whether geophysicists can be confident of interpreting data from such surveys undertaken all year round in Ireland. Temporal or ‘seasonal’ weather changes impact the results of earth resistance surveys by altering rainfall and temperature, which influence the amount of net moisture entering the soil. It is known that these changes influence the moisture contrast of archaeological features, which can be quantified via repetitive time-lapse earth resistance surveys over a given study area. The timetable of most development-led assessments (and many research programmes) is not conducive to the use of earth resistance surveys at the ‘optimum’ time of year (if there is an optimum time of year). However, if levels of confidence for the detection of archaeological features can be achieved throughout the year, then geophysicists and curators can be made aware of the potential limitations of the technique for a given set of climatic conditions. It is important to establish the impact of temporal variations on earth resistance data to determine how effective such a survey will be for a given climate.
Extensive time-lapse studies on archaeological features and the near surface have occurred across Europe (Al Chalabi and Rees 1962; Hesse 1966; Clark 1980; Coombes 1991; Cott 1997; Parkyn 2012; Fry 2014), but the impact of temporal variations on the archaeological prospection of Irish soils has not been examined. Annual average precipitation in Ireland exceeds evapotranspiration by over 500 mm (Walsh 2012). Average annual rainfall figures are approximately 1230 mm. To determine the influence of this climate, a 14 month time-lapse investigation was designed to review, investigate and test the temporal variables that impact the success or failure of earth resistance geophysical surveys.

A recent programme of integrated geophysical and topographic survey has revealed new evidence for the organisation of space and movement at a number of Iron Age sites in Mediterranean France including the long-lived oppidum of Le Castellan, Istres, the unenclosed rural site of Vigne Gaste, and the Late Iron Age oppidum of Entremont, near Aix-en-Provence. This paper examines the effectiveness of the various geophysical methods employed and the implications for our understandings of incipient urbanism in the region.

Iñigo Olalde, Selina Brace, Morten E. Allentoft, Ian Armit, Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Booth, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Alissa Mittnik, Eveline Altena, Mark Lipson, Iosif Lazaridis, Thomas K. Harper, Nick Patterson, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Yoan Diekmann, Zuzana Faltyskova, Daniel Fernandes, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Peter de Knijff, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Alistair Barclay, Kurt Werner Alt, Corina Liesau, Patricia Ríos, Concepción Blasco, Jorge Vega Miguel, Roberto Menduiña García, Azucena Avilés Fernández, Eszter Bánffy, Maria Bernabò-Brea, David Billoin, Clive Bonsall, Laura Bonsall, Tim Allen, Lindsey Büster, Sophie Carver, Laura Castells Navarro, Oliver E. Craig, Gordon T. Cook, Barry Cunliffe, Anthony Denaire, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, Natasha Dodwell, Michal Ernée, Christopher Evans, Milan Kuchařík, Joan Francès Farré, Chris Fowler, Michiel Gazenbeek, Rafael Garrido Pena, María Haber-Uriarte, Elżbieta Haduch, Gill Hey, Nick Jowett, Timothy Knowles, Ken Massy, Saskia Pfrengle, Philippe Lefranc, Olivier Lemercier, Arnaud Lefebvre, César Heras Martínez, Virginia Galera Olmo, Ana Bastida Ramírez, Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Tona Majó, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Kathleen McSweeney, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Alessandra Mod, Gabriella Kulcsár, Viktória Kiss, András Czene, Róbert Patay, Anna Endrődi, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, Tamás Szeniczey, János Dani, Zsolt Bernert, Maya Hoole, Olivia Cheronet, Denise Keating, Petr Velemínský, Miroslav Dobeš, Francesca Candilio, Fraser Brown, Raúl Flores Fernández, Ana-Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Sebastiano Tusa, Emiliano Carnieri, Luigi Lentini, Antonella Valenti, Alessandro Zanini, Clive Waddington, Germán Delibes, Elisa Guerra-Doce, Benjamin Neil, Marcus Brittain, Mike Luke, Richard Mortimer, Jocelyne Desideri, Marie Besse, Günter Brücken, Mirosław Furmanek, Agata Hałuszko, Maksym Mackiewicz, Artur Rapiński, Stephany Leach, Ignacio Soriano, Katina T. Lillios, João Luís Cardoso, Michael Parker Pearson, Piotr Włodarczak, T. Douglas Price, Pilar Prieto, Pierre-Jérôme Rey, Roberto Risch, Manuel A. Rojo Guerra, Aurore Schmitt, Joël Serralongue, Ana Maria Silva, Václav Smrčka, Luc Vergnaud, João Zilhão, David Caramelli, Thomas Higham, Mark G. Thomas, Douglas J. Kennett, Harry Fokkens, Volker Heyd, Alison Sheridan, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Johannes Krause, Ron Pinhasi, Wolfgang Haak, Ian Barnes, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Reich (2018) – The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe, Nature, 21 february 2018, doi:10.1038/nature25738

Abstract
From around 2750 to 2500 BC, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 BC. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

This document reviews Legacy Data generated from 10 years’ worth of road scheme activity in Ireland to determine how archaeological geophysical surveys could be carried out on national roads in the future. The geophysical surveys were carried out by several different contractors across a range of challenging field conditions, geologies, weather and seasons. The research is based upon the results of linear schemes but also has validity for wider approaches. The findings of this research are based upon the compilation of all terrestrial archaeological geophysical surveys carried out on behalf of the National Roads Authority (the NRA, now Transport Infrastructure Ireland), a review of the success or otherwise of those surveys in comparison with ground-observed excavations and in combination with experimental surveys that tested previously held assumptions or knowledge to determine best practice methods for the future.

The use and success of geophysical surveys in Ireland differ quite significantly from those in the UK, from where many of the methods of assessment were derived or adapted. Many of these differences can be attributed to geology. Ireland has a very high percentage of Carboniferous limestone geology, overlain mostly by tills and frequent occurrences of peat. These soils can reduce, to some extent, the effectiveness of magnetometer surveys; the most frequently used geophysical technique in Ireland. However, magnetometer data can be maximised in these cases by increasing the spatial resolution to produce effective results. An increase in spatial resolution is also effective generally, for enhancing the chances of identifying archaeological features by discriminating between archaeological and geological anomalies as well as increasing anomaly definition and visualisation of small and subtle archaeological features.

Seasonal tests have determined that Irish soils are generally suitable for year round earth resistance assessments although some counties in the southeast of the country may experience very dry soils at the surface during some periods of the year.

A variety of sampling strategies were used in the past, however it is now apparent that detailed assessments across the full length and width of a proposed road corridor are the most appropriate form of geophysical investigation. Magnetometer surveys are generally suitable for most Irish soils and geologies, although exceptions apply in areas of near-surface igneous deposits, deep peat and alluvial soils; however magnetometer surveys are not capable of identifying all types of archaeological features and other methods will be required for a full evaluation.

Analysis of the Legacy Data has determined that in general the NRA archaeological geophysical surveys were historically used in a very positive way on road schemes. The range of features assessed or identified account for most types of archaeological sites in Ireland. These have provided a significant archive of case studies that will be of benefit to future archaeological geophysical research and will help to protect the globally dwindling archaeological resource that is threatened by development-led or commercially driven projects.

Cite as: Bonsall, J., Fry, R., Gaffney, C., Armit, I., Beck, A. and Gaffney, V. 2013. Assessment of the CMD Mini-Explorer, a New Low-frequency Multi-coil Electromagnetic Device, for Archaeological Investigations. Archaeological Prospection, Volume 20, Issue 3, July-September 2013, doi: 10.1002/arp.1458

In this article we assess the abilities of a new electromagnetic (EM) system, the CMD Mini-Explorer, for prospecting of archaeological features in Ireland and the UK. The Mini-Explorer is an EM probe which is primarily aimed at the environmental/geological prospecting market for the detection of pipes and geology. It has long been evident from the use of other EM devices that such an instrument might be suitable for shallow soil studies and applicable for archaeological prospecting. Of particular interest for the archaeological surveyor is the fact that the Mini-Explorer simultaneously obtains both quadrature (‘conductivity’) and in-phase (relative to ‘magnetic susceptibility’) data from three depth levels. As the maximum depth range is probably about 1.5 m, a comprehensive analysis of the subsoil within that range is possible. As with all EM devices the measurements require no contact with the ground, thereby negating the problem of high contact resistance that often besets earth resistance data during dry spells. The use of the CMD Mini-Explorer at a number of sites has demonstrated that it has the potential to detect a range of archaeological features and produces high-quality data that are comparable in quality to those obtained from standard earth resistance and magnetometer techniques. In theory the ability to measure two phenomena at three depths suggests that this type of instrument could reduce the number of poor outcomes that are the result of single measurement surveys. The high success rate reported here in the identification of buried archaeology using a multi-depth device that responds to the two most commonly mapped geophysical phenomena has implications for evaluation style surveys. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Excavations at the Sculptor’s Cave (north-east Scotland) during the 1930s and 1970s yielded evidence for activity in the Late Bronze Age, Late Iron Age, and early medieval periods, including a substantial human skeletal assemblage with apparent evidence for the removal, curation, and display of human heads. The present project, combining osteological analysis and a programme of AMS dating, aimed to place the surviving human remains from the site into their appropriate chronological context and to relate them to the broader sequence of human activity in the cave. A series of AMS determinations has demonstrated that the human remains fall into two distinct chronological groups separated by a millennium or more: one from the Mid–Late Bronze Age and one from the Late Iron Age. Osteological analysis suggests that while the Bronze Age group may, as previously suggested, include the remains of the heads of juveniles formerly displayed at the cave entrance, this was not the sole mechanism by which human remains arrived in the cave at this time. The Late Iron Age group provides evidence for decapitation and other violent treatments within the cave itself.

The occurrence of human remains in Iron Age domestic contexts in southern England is well-attested and has
been the subject of considerable recent debate. Less well known are the human remains from settlement
contexts in other parts of Iron Age Britain. In Atlantic Scotland, human bodies and body parts are found
consistently, if in small numbers, in Atlantic roundhouses, wheelhouses, and other settlement forms. Yet these
have remained unsynthesised and individual assemblages have tended to be interpreted on a site-specific basis,
if at all. Examination of the material as a corpus suggests a complex and evolving set of attitudes to the human
body, its display, curation, and disposal, and it is improbable that any single interpretation (such as
excarnation, retention of war trophies, or display of ancestral relics) will be sufficient. Although the specific
practices remain diverse and essentially local, certain concerns appear common to wider areas, and some, for
instance the special treatment accorded to the head, have resonances far beyond Iron Age Britain.

Later prehistoric Europe has traditionally been studied in relation to a series of boundaries. These include the bounded chronological horizons which divide Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age communities; geographical boundaries created through the development of separate national traditions of archaeological research; boundaries between perceived ethnic groups such as the Celts, Iberians, Veneti, Illyrians etc; and disciplinary divisions which separate ‘humanities’ from ‘scientific’ approaches. In recent years however this picture has begun to change. New research agendas seek to break down chronological horizons, with particular attention paid to transitional periods; more nuanced understandings of cultural identity are promoting cross-border collaboration, with a focus on zones of interaction between communities traditionally viewed as monolithic and bounded; interdisciplinary research frameworks are demonstrating the benefits of integrating scientific with more traditional approaches; and increasingly collaborative projects are fostering relationships and knowledge exchange on an international scale.

This session will draw on a number of papers from the ENTRANS Project (2014-16); a HERA-funded collaborative project between the Universities of Bradford (UK), Ljubljana (SLO) and Zagreb (CRO), which explores cultural identities and encounters across the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age transition in the East Alpine region- a zone of interaction and encounters between Mediterranean societies and their traditionally perceived ‘barbarian’ neighbours. We also invite papers which seek to break down chronological, geographical or disciplinary boundaries within other parts of later prehistoric Europe (broadly, the Bronze and Iron Ages).

Cross-culturally, naturally occurring hilltops, terraces, and other prominent locations have been the focus for long-lived and/or recurrent human activity. These places have frequently been enclosed with ditches, ramparts and palisades, creating culturally-prescribed arenas for human action. The practice of enclosure frequently forms just one element in the complex biographies of such places and is not always necessarily related to defence. At various points in their biographies, such places might be social and/or political centres, elite residences, centres of exchange, liminal zones where communication could be made with the gods, spirits or ancestors, funerary sites, or places of refuge. Despite the potential interpretive gains to be derived from cross-cultural analysis of the biographies of enclosed places, attempts to critically compare sites in different temporal and geographical contexts have been generally lacking. This session will address this lacuna, drawing on research from several parts of the world. Papers will focus on biographical approaches, the agency of natural places, and the role of enclosure in materialising social memory and identity.

"Over the last 3 years the University of Bradford have assessed legacy data generated from 10 years of archaeological geophysical surveys on Irish road corridors on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA). These extensive surveys were used by the NRA over the past decade to prospect for previously unknown archaeological sites and to investigate known or suspected sites on 70 new roads across Ireland, covering more than 1,700 hectares of survey. The surveys were carried out by a number of geophysical consultancies from the UK as well as Ireland and Germany, resulting in more than 170 individual reports available for analysis.

A key objective of the NRA is to ensure that the vast quantity of archaeological information generated by road scheme activity feeds back, not only into the decision-making and project-planning process, but also that this knowledge is disseminated and is transparently accountable to the Irish public, who have funded much of the work.

The major outputs of the assessment include a reappraisal of the geophysical data in light of subsequent excavations, a guidance document advising the NRA on the best practices for future geophysical assessments and a publicly accessible database of the geophysical reports (http://www.field2archive.org/nra/), made available by the NRA. The reappraisal of geophysical data has facilitated a technical review of the success or otherwise of detailed magnetometry and scanning surveys across a range of geologies and soils for which quantitative data is now available.

The research has served to place the NRA in a unique position with respect to development and application of new archaeological geophysical investigation technologies and techniques. This has direct benefits for the efficiency and suitability of the NRA's work on road schemes. The assessment of geophysical survey 'success' will lead to a sustainable future for geophysical survey on linear projects in Ireland, while some of the conclusions to the research are likely to have ramifications beyond the Irish road corridors from which the data derives."

Archaeomagnetic studies have been employed as a dating technique in the British Isles for the last 50 years, using the record of the ancient geomagnetic field recorded by fired archaeological materials. Archaeomagnetic dating can be a powerful chronological tool that dates the last anthropogenic use of an archaeological feature. However, in order to provide a date of last firing, variations in the past geomagnetic field must be established.

The impediment for archaeomagnetic dating of the UK Neolithic has been the lack of data of known date defining the past geomagnetic field. This paper will address this lacuna and present crucial developments in elucidating geomagnetic field variation in Orkney. Extensive sampling of fired material from the Neolithic sites at the Ness of Brodgar, Smerquoy and The Links of Noltland have enabled a compilation of 32 mean stable magnetic directions from over 700 samples. In particular, the internationally significant excavations at the Ness of Brodgar have yielded a large number of stone-built structures which contain formal hearth settings and other burnt deposits. This paper will specifically demonstrate the benefits from analysing multi-layered hearths containing well-stratified burnt deposits. By combining the radiocarbon dating evidence, the artefactual information and the archaeomagnetic study, this research shows the recent developments in defining the geomagnetic field variation. The outcomes of this research will allow archaeomagnetic dating of other archaeological sites in the Scottish Neolithic and will be a valuable contribution to the wider study of the past geomagnetic field.

From an archaeological point of view, "public space" can be understood as a specific location structurally and functionally devoted to social interaction, the negotiation of identity and "institutionalized" meetings and performances. Such spaces are quite recent in human history. This session examines different perspectives on the definition, structure and function of public space in later prehistoric Europe. It includes case studies examining the ways in which how public space is organized and understood in different communities and regions, as well as papers explaining transformation of public space within individual communities over time. Particularly important in that sense are the transformations and negotiation of such spaces that occur in transitional periods when Iron Age communities are becoming part of Hellenistic or Roman world.

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

Excavations in the 1920s and 1970s at the Sculptor’s Cave, north-east
Scotland, revealed that the site was used for mortuary rituals during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1100–800 BC) and Roman Iron Age (late first–fourth centuries AD), whilst a series of Pictish symbols carved into its entrance walls suggest that the cave’s importance continued into the Early Medieval period. A new programme of analysis has utilised advanced 3D digital documentation and 3D metrology (specifically, 3D laser scanning) to enable this inaccessible site to be appreciated by wider audiences and analysed remotely. Detailed in situ recording of the Pictish symbols was undertaken using macro-level structured light scanning, and the high-fidelity digital models were subsequently blended with terrestrial laser scan data of the cave interior to show the location and detail of the carvings. This work highlights the value of emerging digital approaches in the analysis, presentation and management of the Sculptor’s Cave, from the elucidation of additional carved details and the monitoring of surface degradation, to the dissemination of this difficult-to-access site to the wider public via online platforms.