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The Cambridge Archaeological Journal

The year 1990 saw a major development in British archaeology with the foundation of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in the University of Cambridge. The new research institute, fruit of a generous donation by the well-known industrialist DrDM McDonald, will provide exciting opportunities for researchers working on all aspects of the early human past. A particular focus of the new institute will be the development of the human mind and its expression. Human cognition is one of the key areas of archaeological thinking at the present day, encapsulating a wide range of those activities which give the human species its unique character and separate us most clearly from our near relatives the non-human primates: art, symbolism, mensuration, religion and language. Important work on the scientific study of human cognition in prehistoric and early historic societies is already under way both in Britain and abroad, and is likely to be one of the growth areas of archaeology during the coming decades. It is the aim of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal to further that research by providing a forum for debate and a medium for the publication of important new studies and analyses. Each volume will also include an article based on the annual McDonald Lecture, usually devoted to an aspect of human cognitive or intellectual expression. The account of the Tai" plaque in the present issue is based on the First McDonald lecture, delivered at Cambridge by Alexander Marshack in 1989. Alongside these studies, the Cambridge Archaeological Journal will include a number of articles reflecting the fieldwork and scientific programmes of the new McDonald Institute. With this first issue of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal we invite contributions from archaeologists and anthropologists everywhere whose research interests cover aspects of early human cognitive behaviour. This will include work on the development of early humans, the early civilizations of the Old and New World, and the Classical civilizations of the Mediterranean. Though ranging widely in space and time we aim to publish articles which are based on the scientific study of particular periods or problems, rather than general theoretical statements. We also wish to encourage contributions from specialists in neighbouring fields, such as linguistics or artificial intelligence, which may stimulate new ideas about the functioning of cognitive systems in early societies. The result, we hope, will be a journal of broad scope, which will be read with interest and pleasure by all who are concerned about archaeology and the development of human society.