This paper describes the morphology of a small piece of the Chalk escarpment near Brook in east Kent, and reconstructs its history since the end of the Last Glaciation. The escarpment contains a number of steep-sided valleys, or coombes, with which are associated deposits of chalk debris, filling their bottoms and extending as fans over the Gault Clay plain beyond. Here the fans overlie radiocarbon-dated marsh deposits of zone II (10 000 to 8800 B.C.) of the Late-glacial Period. The debris fans were formed and the coombes were cut very largely during the succeeding zone III (8800 to 8300 B.C.). The fans are the products of frost-shattering, probably transported by a combination of niveo-fluvial action and the release of spring waters; intercalated seams of loess also occur. The molluscs and plants preserved in the Late-glacial deposits give a fairly detailed picture of local conditions. The later history of one of the coombes, the Devil’s Kneadingtrough, is reconstructed. The springs have effected virtually no erosion and have probably always emerged more or less in their present position. In the floor of the coombe the periglacial chalk rubbles of zone III are covered by Postglacial deposits, mainly hillwashes. They are oxidized and yield no pollen, but contain rich faunas of land Mollusca, which are presented in the form of histograms revealing changing local ecological and climatic conditions. During most of the Post-glacial Period, from the end of zone III until about the beginning of zone VIII, very little accumulation took place on the coombe floor. But below the springs there are marsh deposits which span much of this interval. They yield faunas of considerable zoogeographical interest. The approximate beginning of zone VII a (Atlantic Period) is reflected by a calcareous tufa, which overlies a weathering horizon, and represents an increase in spring flow. Two clearance phases are deduced from the molluscan record. The first may have taken place at least as early as the Beaker Period (Late Neolithic/earliest Bronze Age); the second is probably of Iron Age ‘A’ date. In Iron Age times the subsoil was mobilized and a phase of rapid hillwashing began. As a result the valley floor became buried by humic chalk muds. The prime cause of this process was probably the beginning of intensive arable farming on the slopes above the coombe; a possible subsidiary factor may have been the Sub-Atlantic worsening of climate. The muds yield pottery ranging in date from Iron Age ‘Kentish first A’ ( ca . 500 to ca . 300 B.C.) to Romano-British ware of the first or second centuries A.D. Evidence is put forward for a possible climatic oscillation from dry to wet taking place at about the time of Christ. In the later stages of cultivation, possibly in the Roman Era, the valley floor was ploughed and given its present-day form.

Subaerial deposits of the Late-glacial Period ( ca . 12000 to 8300 B. C.) of the Last Glaciation are described at a number of sites in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The deposits are primarily stratified chalk muds and fine rubbles, produced by frost-shattering and the release of water from melting snow-fields and from frozen ground. The climatic improvement of zone II, or Allerod Oscillation (10000 to 8800 B. C.), is widely reflected stratigraphically by a rendsina soil, containing fragments of wood charcoal, separating two sheets of chalk muds referred to zones I and III. The age of the soil has been confirmed by radiocarbon dating. It is correlated with the Usselo Layer within the Younger Coversands of the Netherlands. There is evidence from two areas, Folkestone and the Medway Valley, that the climate of south-east England became sufficiently cold during zone III to produce fairly intense frost-heaving (cryoturbation). The deposits contain virtually no pollen, but yield a fauna of land Mollusca. Columns of samples were collected from six sections and the assemblages they yielded are presented in the form of histograms, showing the changing vertical abundance of each species. The fauna is a remarkable mixture of diverse zoogeographical elements; its relations are with the Alpine area rather than with the Arctic. The ecological and climatic significance of the changes in the assemblages is discussed. During zone II, the assemblages increase in variety and certain relatively thermophilous species were able to spread widely, most notably the West European and Alpine snail Abida secale . The climate of zone III was probably more humid than that of zone I, and also less cold. In Sussex, due to the proximity of the open sea to the south-west, the climate of zone I may have been relatively milder than in Kent and Surrey; this is suggested by the appearance of thermophilous species perhaps 1000 years before their general expansion on the North Downs. Evidence is put forward from several sites for a minor climatic oscillation within zone I ; this is equated with the Bolling Oscillation (zone I b ) of north-west Europe. The Late-glacial Period is the last for which there is evidence of active erosion in the Chalk landscape.

SummaryThe site was first occupied in the Bronze Age by a small agricultural settlement, consisting of two circular timber houses with ancillary structures and ditches. One house was eventually replaced by a stone structure. A single radiocarbon determination suggests that the settlement is to be dated within the period 1700–1300 B.C. The Iron Age settlement of Trevisker Round was probably established in the second century B.C., if not earlier. An original inner enclosure, half an acre in area, housing a single defended farmstead, was later superseded by a larger defended enclosure, 3 acres in area, also with circular timber houses and occupation areas. This occupation was followed at the end of the first century A.D., by a Romano-British phase of occupation, which lasted until the middle of the second century.

archaeological work on historic (and some prehistoric) periods in India; David Mc-Cutchion discusses late Hindu architecture in Bengal. The final article by Janice Stargardt deals with protohistoric contacts between India and Malaya. As I noted earlier the book is essentially the first number of a journal, and the contents reflect this in terms of both diversity and usefulness. I have attempted to describe the former, but the latter must, in this case, be left to the individual reader. If there is a complaint to be made for this book as a whole, it is that $20.00 is an extraordinary price for a single issue of a journal, especially one as eclectic as this.