This is the final report on the intensive survey at Kouphovouno, the prehistoric settlement just south of Sparta, in 1999–2000. As well as a total collection of the artefacts on the surface, there was a magnetometer survey of the site and a programme of environmental studies, for which a series of cores was taken. The site was first occupied in the 6th millennium and covered 4–5 ha in the Middle, Late/Final Neolithic and Early Helladic periods. Occupation continued in the Middle and Late Helladic periods and there is also evidence of Classical-Hellenistic and Roman activity. As well as pottery, the artefacts included chipped and polished stone tools. An analytical programme has investigated the source of the raw materials used for the latter.

The aim of this paper is to describe and assess the intramural burials from the Lefkandi Settlement (Xeropolis). In all 20 individuals were inhumed within the walls, comprising 3 adult males, 2 adult females, one possible adolescent female and 14 children. The last ranged in age from birth to 9 years. Routine matters such as child mortality, adult stature, pathology and oral hygiene are discussed, with special reference to both the Settlement burials and to the inhumed material scattered throughout the Cemeteries.

The excavation of the ‘House of the Frescoes’, discovered in 1923 by Sir Arthur Evans to the north-west of the Palace at Knossos, revealed a large deposit of fresco fragments from floral and faunal compositions in Room E on the ground floor. From the broken pieces Evans's Swiss draughtsman, E. Gilliéron fils, was able to reconstruct three ‘panels’: these show a blue monkey on a red backgroundin a rocky and floral setting (PM II, pl. x, opp. p. 447; here called ‘panel A’); a blue monkey on an unpainted white ground in a papyrus thicket (ibid. 451, fig. 264, here ‘panel B’); and a blue bird perched on a rocky outcrop surrounded by wild flowers (ibid., pl. xi, opp. p. 454, here ‘panel C’). Evans thought panels A and B in particular contained Nilotic elements, and he suggested that the monkeys might have been depicted as hunting for birds' eggs, possibly of waterfowl. In addition, Evans published designs for the restoration of pancratium lily, myrtle and ‘jet d'eau’ compositions, and illustrations of fragments showing the head of a third monkey and part of a second ‘jet d'eau’.

The ‘House of the Frescoes’ was constructed after the earthquake at the end of M.M. IIIB and was destroyed in L.M. IA, as shown by pottery of that period on the floors of the house. The paintings therefore belonged to a single period of occupation, and evidently formed in some way a unified system of decoration ‘in the same style, by the same hands and executed at the same time’.

This report is concerned with the excavation of an Early Minoan tholos tomb just south of Ayia Kyriaki in the Ayiofarango, one of the river systems which gives out on to the Libyan Sea, just west of Kaloi Limenes (fig. i). Details of the site location (plate ia) can be found in the report on the Ayiofarango survey, which, together with this report and one other already published, make up the complete report of work undertaken by the authors in the vicinity of Kaloi Limenes in the summers of 1971 and 1972. The excavation of the tholos, which was undertaken because there were surface indications that looting was incomplete but possibly to be resumed, took place in September 1972 in collaboration with Dr. C. Davaras of the Greek Archaeological Service. The excavation lasted for a period of three weeks, and was undertaken by a staff of three supervisors and ten workmen, directed by the authors.

The season's work is presented: this was directed to the complete excavation of Building 5, the possible source of the chryselephantine statuette. The latest additions to the statuette are described.

At the time of Schliemann's excavations in 1876 six tholos tombs were known at Mycenae, the Treasury of Atreus, the Tomb of Clytemnestra, the Lion Tomb, the Epano Phournos, the Cyclopean Tomb and the Kato Phournos. Most of these had been seen by earlier travellers, such as Leake and Dodwell. Lord Sligo and Lord Elgin had conducted explorations in the Treasury of Atreus: Veli Pasha had attacked the Tomb of Clytemnestra, and apparently was responsible for the destruction of its dome. Steffen marks all these six on his excellent map of Mycenae and its environs. Schliemann in 1873 and 1876 was the first to begin the excavation of the tholos tombs. He made some tests in the Treasury of Atreus, and Mrs. Schliemann superintended the operations intended to clear the Tomb of Clytemnestra, but she was unable to complete them. By 1879 Stamatakes had cleared the dromos and chambers of the Treasury of Atreus, which, till then, as shewn clearly in the Elgin drawings preserved in the British Museum, were blocked with a large accumulation of earth. In 1886 Tsountas commenced his long and fruitful series of excavations, and among other important finds was rewarded by the discovery of three more tholos tombs.

The excavation of the Royal Tombs at Vergina has led to discussion of problems posed by them. This paper discusses problems of chronology, and the difficulties of deducing date purely from consideration of the architectural features of the Macedonian tombs. It also considers the use of the vault to roof them, and argues that this was developed in Macedonia itself, through the enlargement of cist tombs to meet the particular needs posed by the larger tombs of the fourth century BC. Finally, it discusses the architectural embellishment of the façades.

On 7 Metageitnion of the Athenian year 322/1 B.C. a military engagement near Krannon, some 15 kilometres south-west of Larissa in Thessaly, marked the end of the so-called Lamian War in which a majority of the Greek mainland poleis, temporarily united under Athenian leadership, had attempted to terminate the Macedonian domination and to reassert their rights to individual autonomy. Although significant in that it heralded the final miscarriage of the Hellenic revolt, none the less the battle at Krannon was, in itself, a comparatively minor struggle in which the Greek forces, after an initial success, capitulated with surprising rapidity to the Macedonian commander-in-chief Antipater. That this war, in which the Hellenic armies had held the upper hand during the initial stages, should have concluded with such an insignificant clash of arms, is understandable only in the light of events at sea. The key battles which signalled the end of hopes for an overall Greek victory in their struggle for autonomy were naval ones—the most crucial being the naval confrontation determined near the island of Amorgos in the Sporades, some time prior to the battle of Krannon.

Millet has established that the Greek church-builders were in a large measure independent of their contemporaries in the imperial capital. The independent Greek School whose limits he sought to trace reached the peak of its achievement in the two centuries prior to the Latin occupation, and most of the Byzantine churches in Central Greece and the Peloponnesus belong to this period. Millet's approach to these Middle-Byzantine churches was retrospective, his starting-point being Mistra, capital of the restored imperial province. He was interested in the Greek tradition less for its own sake than for its contribution to the later architecture of the last Byzantine ‘Renaissance.’ While he has endeavoured to resolve the problems which the origins of certain of its characteristic features present, and to gauge its legacy to Arta and Mistra, he has treated more summarily the development within the limits of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Systematic excavation from 1986 to 1990 in the Skoteini cave indicated that it was heavily used during LN I–II (5300/5200–3300/3200 BC); Early Helladic, Mycenaean, and later finds were insignificant. The abundance of Neolithic pottery and the detailed study of the stratigraphy have elucidated the LN pottery sequence. A trial excavation was carried out in the immediate vicinity of the cave, where remains of a Neolithic settlement exist. In spite of the erosion of ground, parts of the Neolithic buildings and an amount of LN II pottery were found. The work was completed with the excavation of a Neolithic cemetery 300 m from the settlement. Thanks to a systematic survey in the surrounding area, the location of many Neolithic sites was made possible.

The use of the cave was multi-purpose (for brief residence, cult, and burial practices, and particularly for storage). The finds and the ethnoarchaeological research suggest that during the Neolithic period two different models of residence occurred in the area. The settlement was in seasonal use, from spring to autumn, while during the winter the local residents were living in south-facing sheltered sites. At the same time, a number of more or less specialized herdsmen from the Tharrounia or Aliveri area are likely to have driven their flocks up to the mountainous grazing lands of Delphi and Xerovouni.

Archaeobotanical material was collected from the Bronze Age fill and the Protogeometric phases underneath the Roman Villa Dionysus, Knossos, Crete. The Bronze Age assemblage was poor, representing only accidental intrusions to a tight fill of sherds and stones. The Protogeometric data were more plentiful, providing a rare glimpse into the everyday life of the period. Glume wheat, barley, legumes, fruits, nuts and several wild species were present across two Protogeometric floors. No significant differences were observed in their spatial and temporal distribution. The plant remains, along with other bio-archaeological classes of material, indicated a series of domestic activities, including cooking and consumption events, the remnants of which gradually accumulated in the habitation floors. The archaeobotanical evidence from Villa Dionysus was then compared with other Protogeometric Cretan and Greek mainland sites. An overview of these sites allowed some general trends to be observed, tentatively suggesting a picture more similar to Bronze Age than Iron Age archaeobotanical assemblages. It also highlighted differences, which would both dictate and be shaped by different socio-economic systems, and the need for more contextualised studies.

Mr. Ernest Gardner, summing up in 1889 the results of the excavations at Naukratis which Mr. Flinders Petrie had begun in 1884, was of opinion that something still remained to be done on the site. This opinion was shared by Mr. Petrie and has been expressed by him more than once, when Greek remains in Egypt were under discussion. A further campaign, therefore, has long been contemplated; and when I heard late in 1898 that very serious encroachments were being made upon the mounds of Gaif, it seemed that it was time to act. Paying a flying visit to the place in December, I found that, compared with Mr. Petrie's map of fourteen years before, the Mounds showed a greatly changed appearance. The “Great Temenos” at the south end had become a cornfield: the “Arab village” shown in the map on the north-east edge of the mound was now divided from the uncultivated land by a broad belt of green, which in the east centre had been pushed far out into the hollow heart of the site by an artificial embankment twelve to fifteen feet high.

The circumstances of the discovery of the vases and objects described below by Mr. Robertson were, briefly, as follows:—

1931. In trial pits dug in 1931 (Figs. 2, 4, 6) the foundations of a rough wall (6) resting on virgin soil were found, to the north of which sub-Mycenaean and Protogeometric sherds associated with stones and calcined earth appeared. South of this wall appeared two layers of dark earth, of which the lower (8a) rested on virgin soil and was about 0·5 m. thick. The upper (8b) was only a few cm. thick, and was separated from the lower by a kind of stone platform, above which was a layer of more or less sterile earth (Fig. 6). Both the upper and the lower dark-earth layers were thickly packed with sherds, all post-Protogeometric. The lower layer continued below a wall (7) the foundations of which rested in it, and below a second wall (11) the foundations of which were sunk in the upper dark-earth layer.

Most of the material published in this study is at present housed in the National Museum at Athens or in the museum at Eretria. It was excavated by the Greek Archaeological Service and under the direction of Kourouniotes over the period of years 1897–1917; annual reports were published in PAE. The vases which Kourouniotes published in AE 1903 and the black figure amphorae published by Laurent in AE 1901 were taken to Athens, together with all the complete subgeometric and orientalising grave amphorae and a number of other fragments now in an apotheke of the National Museum. The remainder, mainly sherds, was left in a small museum at Eretria. Unfortunately the pottery in Eretria has suffered in the course of time. No record of provenance has been kept and tomb groups are confused; complete profiles are hard to find as many plain fragments of body or foot had been thrown away or have since been lost. Much also had not been thoroughly cleaned, hence the hitherto unnoticed inscriptions on the archaic amphora (no. 17, p. 43 below).

The city of Rhodes, founded in 408/7 BC, took full advantage of the possibilities offered by a previously uninhabited site. In the acropolis area many of the main public structures were laid out in an open, natural landscape, but approaches to the summit from the city led past extensive, interconnecting artificial grottoes and ‘nymphaea’, decorated in flamboyant style. These were aligned with the city's grid-plan, and adjoined streets and stoas formalizing their ornamental aspects. The grottoes offered spatial distraction and visual interest, and served as cool, shady venues for displays of small votives to unknown deities; some apparently gave access to the underground aqueducts. The acropolis, as well as a monumental area, was a focus for private religious activity, seen in these dedications. The ornamental landscaping of the acropolis is to be understood, not in terms of a ‘pleasure park’, but as a fitting adornment for a primarily sacred area.

This is the fourth and final part of the series inspired by the rediscovery in 2003 of two skeletons excavated in 1877 in Shaft Grave VI in Circle A at Mycenae by Panayiotis Stamatakis. The contribution of Stamatakis to the excavations, the discrepancies between his unpublished reports to the Archaeological Society and Schliemann's account, and the reliability of that account, are discussed. This is followed by a survey of what can now be said about Grave Circle A, following the restudy of the surviving bones from Graves III–VI and the publication of various details of the arrangement in the graves reported by Stamatakis, and by a final somewhat speculative discussion of what the graves contribute to the study of the development of Mycenae at the time of its rapid rise to prominence and the accompanying major changes in the structure of society, at Mycenae and elsewhere on the Greek mainland.

Many vice-consuls of Britain's imperial past found archaeological work a welcome distraction from the tedium of their official duties in remote parts of the world. Some, indeed, like Charles Newton at Mytilene and George Dennis at Palermo, Benghazi, and Smyrna, regarded the excavation and study of the antiquities of the countries in which they were based as their prime duty. Thus, Frederick H. Crowe, a predecessor of Dennis at Benghazi, wrote the following letter to Lord John Russell, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs:

Bengazi 1 Sep. 1860.

My Lord,

I have the honour to report to your Lordship, that in the course of excavating at a place denominated by the Arabs ‘Soliman’, the site of the Ancient Greek Necropolis, situated four miles S.E. of the Town of Bengazi, I had the good fortune to discover at a distance of about 15 feet from the surface, a large vault built of solid masonry, and divided into 14 Compartments or rather Tombs.

The excavations at Praesos undertaken by the British School in 1901 were begun on May 7th and continued until July 3rd. The Cretan Exploration Fund contributed £200, the Society of Dilettanti £50, and the Prendergast Fund of Cambridge University £40, towards the cost of the campaign. With me were two members of the School, Mr. J. H. Marshall, of King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. R. Douglas Wells, architect. Mr. Wells made a survey of the city-plateau and the adjoining ravines (Plate VII) and a large number of plans and drawings, many of which accompany this article. Mr. Marshall rendered valuable help in the work of supervision, and undertook a systematic exploration of the surrounding district. I much regret that it has been impossible for him to contribute to this report more than the section on the Megalithic House, printed below (§ 4). Soon after the close of the season he was appointed Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and has necessarily been absorbed in the duties of that important post. I have had the use of his notes on some of the tombs.

The long dagger is the most common type of copper object found in the tombs of the Early Bronze Age in Crete, perhaps because each man was buried with his dagger beside him. One hundred and sixty-one long daggers of Minoan manufacture have been discovered in Early Minoan deposits. That is rather more than one-third of all the E.M. copper objects yet found. Two-thirds of these daggers were found in or around the Mesara plain of southern Crete, and five of the blades were found in Cyprus. Only seven of the daggers were found in settlement sites, the rest came from tombs. The long daggers may be divided into fourteen major types.

For a number of reasons the time seems ripe for a fresh appraisal of the jewellery of the Early Iron Age in Greece, between 1100 and 700 B.C.

It is perhaps worth recalling, as a preliminary, the superlative excellence of Mycenaean jewellery, in which the arts of filigree, granulation, inlay, enamelling, and repoussé-work were carried to perfection. When the Mycenaean world finally collapsed about 1100 B.C. after a century of turmoil, it left a very different legacy. There was little time now to spare for the luxuries of life; and jewellery, where it existed at all, was simple in the extreme.

I shall be concerned in this paper with the re-emergence of high-quality jewellery in the post-Mycenaean world. The investigation will be restricted to Attica and Crete, for these districts are by far the most fruitful sources for our period.