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The excavation of the earthwork and part of the interior of a C-shaped enclosure in south Norfolk produced evidence of a Neolithic occupation from the mid fourth to the late third millennium B.C. The earthwork was constructed at the end of the third millennium B.C. and palaeobotanical analyses of the fossil soil beneath it produced information concerning the environment of the time. Quantities of pot-sherds and stone tools were recorded from the earthwork and from clusters of pits, and a study of grain impressions on the pottery has given some indication of the crops cultivated in the third millennium B.C. in East Anglia. The report is concluded with a discussion of a system of fossil ice-wedge casts uncovered during the excavation and their relevance to archaeological investigations.

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SummaryAcidic soils (pH below 5.5) may contain a great deal of pollen through the profile, and the floristic composition of this pollen may vary greatly in samples from successively greater depths.Various attempts have been made in the past to interpret pollen diagrams from soils, but they have usually broken down through the application of methods of interpretation which are only applicable to properly stratified materials such as peats or lake sediments. Once it is appreciated that downwash of pollen through the soil confers on each species a depth distribution pattern characteristic of its history on the site, broad conclusions about the vegetative history of a site can frequently be drawn.The preservation of pollen depends on the biological activity of the soil, which is closely correlated with pH. Soils which have only been decalcified recently will have a short pollen record, perhaps only a few centuries, but intrinsically base‐poor parent material may permit preservation for several millennia.

The site of the early prehistoric farming settlement at Nea Nikomedeia, Western Macedonia, was first noted in 1958 by Mr Photios Petsas, Ephore of Antiquities of the area for the Greek Archaeological Service: he investigated the reported discovery of archaeological finds exposed during the course of removing earth from an inconspicuous mound to make a road embankment, and forthwith stopped further destruction of the site. His willing advice and assistance, and the most generous cooperation of the Greek Archaeological Service under the direction of Dr John Papadimitriou, and of the Ministry of Agriculture, made possible the five-week excavation season in the summer of 1961. The excavations were carried out under the aegis of the British School at Athens. Thanks are due to the British Academy, the Crowther-Benyon Fund administered by the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research for providing the necessary funds. I wish to acknowledge help and guidance both in the field and in the preparation of this report from Professor Grahame Clark, under whose supervision I worked at Cambridge University during the academic years 1959–60 and 1960–61. Grateful acknowledgment is also made to Mr R. W. Hutchinson for his valuable help in the field, and to the undergraduates and research students from the University of Cambridge who willingly undertook most of the field and laboratory work. The ready assistance of the Curator of the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and his staff in shipping matters and the loan of equipment is greatly appreciated.

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