This volume publishes the proceedings of a conference held at the University of Durham in 1997 and includes 24 papers as well as abstracts and a list of papers not published here. The papers are divided into subject areas: Technology, materials analysis and provenance; Biochemical studies; Environmental studies; Geoarchaeology; Chronological studies. The papers focus on a wide range of topics, including studies of pot sherds, proteins, organic residues, faunal remains, mining, sea level change and astronomy, with case studies taken from the Near East and Egypt, from Japan, Britain, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe.