The aims of palaeolithic (old Slone Age) research are to document the earliest societies in Europe and answer that basic archaeological question, ‘why do human cultures change?’. The first aim has led to refinements in the methods and techniques of analysis. The excavation of palaeolithic sites now involves micro-stratigraphic observations of both vertical sequences and horizontal occupation. The chipped stone assemblages that are recovered from these precisely defined and measured contexts are now described in a quantitative manner so that comparisons can be made between collections. The sediments from which they are excavated are analysed for a variety of environmental information about the climatic conditions that existed at the time of deposition. These observations can then be compared with other lines of environmental reconstruction such as the information now available from deep sea and polar ice cap cores and the analysis of pollen grains preserved in lake muds. The advent of absolute methods of time reckoning by measuring the decay of isotopes in volcanic rocks and organic material is beginning to provide a framework for establishing rates of change in human cultures. The second objective has made use of these

improved methods in order to understand the processes of physical, material and social evolution as applied to the genus Homo, While the recon­ struction of palaeolithic society at any one point in time is an important aim, we also want to understand why such long-term adaptations underwent change. The main interest of palaeolithic studies lies in tracing the relationship between biological and social evolution through the scarce remains of the human fossil record and the abundant remains of the tools and equipment that have survived.