ABSTRACT
In prehistoric times, as today, nothing lasts for ever. All things change through time, and human societies in particular continually adopt new forms and new patterns of organization. Reconstructing prehistory, and indeed past societies generally, is often likened to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. But a jigsaw puzzle represents altogether too static a view of prehistory. Communities came and went, the focus of action shifted from area to area, and success was periodically tempered by failure and tragedy. A more apt analogy would be piecing together lengths of a movie-film with various portions missing and many poorly-focused frames.
