The exploitation of large mammals, particularly large herbivores, has dominated perceptions of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic subsistence behaviour in north‐western Europe. This paper critically reviews the evidence for the exploitation of a complementary resource which has received little attention within the archaeological literature — carnivores and other fur‐bearing mammals. Evidence for exploitation of individual species is described and discussed. A model is then developed to explain the apparent expansion of the subsistence base to include a wide range of fur‐bearing mammals during the Lateglacial and Mesolithic. This paper concludes by arguing that although the use of carnivore meat and pelts cannot be viewed as a dominant trend in European hunter‐gatherer subsistence practices, their contribution to hunter‐gatherer economies cannot be ignored.

The activities of hunter-gatherers are often captured in rockshelters, but here the authors present a study of a riverside settlement outside one, with a rich sequence from 1300 BC to AD 800. Thanks to frequent flooding, periods of occupation were sealed and could be examined in situ. The phytolith and faunal record, especially fish, chronicle changing climate and patterns of subsistence, emphasising that the story here is no predictable one-way journey from hunter-gatherer to farmer. Right up to the period of the famous nineteenth-century rock paintings in the surrounding Maloti-Drakensberg region, adaptation was dynamic and historically contingent.

Re-study of the fauna recovered in 1969 during excavations by John Campbell in front of the West Entrance to Robin Hood Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England, shows it to include components of different ages. Arctic hare is the only species certainly exploited by humans and it is suggested that the position and character of cut-marks preserved on bone surfaces documents the processing and possible consumption of uncooked meat. It has not been possible to identify the time(s) of year when these hares died. Radiocarbon results .for cut-marked bones are important for dating the Creswellian.

This paper critically examines the known radiocarbon evidence for the human recolonisation of a part of north-western Europe, the north-western Ardennes. Two sites in this region, the Trou de Blaireaux at Vaucelles and the Grotte de Sy Verlaine, have been suggested as two of the earliest human occupation sites after the Last Glacial Maximum in northern Europe. The dating evidence from these two sites, alongside other late Magdalenian sites in the immediate area, is reviewed and found to be highly problematic. More recent radiocarbon work using AMS is described and the results discussed. On this basis it is suggested that there is no direct evidence for human presence in this region prior to the start of the Böiling Interstadial phase of the Lateglacial, c. 13,000 BP.

Recent research at Gough's Cave, Somerset, England, has yielded a number of important finds. Amongst these are some small fragments of incised ivory, believed to be ' notations '. These are described in detail. A brief account of past and present research at the site also given.