I.—A La Tène III Burial at Welwyn Garden City

In South-eastern England, north of the River Thames, is a small but important group of rich La Tène III cremation burials (fig. 1). One of the characteristics of the group is the absence of a mound, or any other surface indication, and it follows from this that the discoveries are invariably by chance, as a result of some agricultural or commercial excavation. At best the archaeologist has had to make a hasty excavation under conditions far from ideal, and at worst he has been presented with a garbled account of the discovery and an incomplete collection of grave-goods.