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Preliminary results are presented from three seasons' work at the Lower Palaeolithic site at Barnham. The complex stratigraphy is described and a provisional interpretation given, which suggests that the archaeological deposits date to a warm phase after the Anglian (Middle Pleistocene) cold stage. A faunal assemblage from the deposits is described, providing an environmental and biostratigraphic context for the site. Further geochronological control is provided by amino acid ratios on shells from the sequence. Two flint assemblages have been excavated, the first consisting of flakes and cores, and the second including bifaces. These assemblages and their position in the British sequence are considered in terms of their stratigraphic context and their relationship to other Lower Palaeolithic assemblages in the British Isles.

A 40m core from Loagan Bunut, Malaysian Borneo, yielded a high-resolution early Holocene (11.34.75 ka) sequence of marginal-marine deposits. Palynological analysis showed relatively stable fire-regulated lowland forest through this time, [...]

The roots of pyrometallurgy are obscure. This paper explores one possible precursor, in the Faynan Orefield in southern Jordan. There, at approximately 7000 cal. BP, banks of a near-perennial meandering stream (today represented by complex overbank wetland and anthropogenic deposits) were contaminated repeatedly by copper emitted by human activities. Variations in the distribution of copper in this sequence are not readily explained in other ways, although the precise mechanism of contamination remains unclear. The degree of copper enhancement was up to an order of magnitude greater than that measured in Pleistocene fluvial and paludal sediments, in contemporary or slightly older Holocene stream and pond deposits, and in the adjacent modern wadi braidplain. Lead is less enhanced, more variable, and appears to have been less influenced by contemporaneous human activities at this location. Pyrometallurgy in this region may have appeared as a byproduct of the activity practised on the stream-bank in the Wadi Faynan ~ 7000 years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations of 222Rn were measured in ancient copper mines which exploited the Faynan Orefield in the South-Western Jordanian Desert. The concentrations of radon gas detected indicate that the ancient metal workers would have been exposed to a significant health risk and indicate that any future attempt to exploit the copper ores must deal with the hazard identified. Seasonal variations in radon concentrations are noted and these are linked to the ventilation of the mines. These modern data are used to explore the differential exposure to radon and the health of ancient mining communities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]