Hoards of metalwork are a common feature of the Bronze Age cultures of Europe and some of them have received a detailed treatment in recent years. Such hoards are relatively rare in the Aegean Early Bronze Age however, and in publishing the Kythnos hoard Dr. Renfrew could only point to three other hoards of third millennium date from the Aegean. Two of these indeed are still unpublished, so that the publication of the complete hoard from Kythnos is an invaluable addition to our previous knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to four groups of metal objects which the writer believes to represent metal hoards of this period, and to discuss the composition and nature of these and the four hoards which Renfrew described.

For absolute dates down to the early sixth century B.C. students of Hellenic archaeology look to countries further east where reliable chronologies have been established. So far very few useful contexts have been discovered, and all or almost all of them are open at one end or the other. What has not been made clear enough is that occasionally two such open-ended contexts can be bracketed to give a more precise fix.

One pair is the end of Period V at Samaria and grave 102 at Pithecusae (Ischia). The deposit of Period V at Samaria contained a few fragments of Attic Geometric pottery, and most Palestinian experts are confident that by comparison with other sites in their region it was closed little if any later than 750. Grave 102 at Pithecusae, which was used only for the burial of one child, contained three Corinthian pots and a scarab with the cartouche of the Egyptian king Bocchoris, who came to the throne in or very near to 718; this scarab had had some wear and anyhow ought not to be appreciably later in date than the pottery, since it is unlikely that only old pots were chosen to be buried with a child. So from their contexts the interval between the Attic sherds from Samaria and the Corinthian pots of Pithecusae should not be less than thirty years or more probably, if one allows five years for the wear of the Bocchoris scarab, thirty-five years. Now the development of the relevant phases of Attic and Corinthian pottery is known in fair detail, thanks most recently to J. N. Coldstream's Greek Geometric Pottery; and if one accepts his classification, which seems to me convincing, the latest of the Samaria sherds belong to the end of Attic Middle Geometric II and the latest of the Corinthian pots of Pithecusae is of the middle of the Early Protocorinthian phase, that is distinctly earlier than the end of Attic Late Geometric IIb. To judge by the stylistic character of Attic Late Geometric (which succeeds Middle Geometric II) and the sequence of its workshops, the two finds should be separated by not more than sixty years and, if thirty-five of these years are fixed absolutely as 750–715, then—again absolutely—there is a play of only twenty-five years in the archaeological chronology of this period.

The important mosaics in the north inner aisle of the Church of S. Demetrios were largely destroyed in the fire of 1917. They had been unrecorded until ten years previously when their covering of Turkish plaster was removed.

On 1 August 1907, the Turkish authorities set under way major repairs of the Casimir Çamii (Κασιμιὲ Τʒαμισί) in Thessaloniki, at that time a somewhat dilapidated building which had been last renovated in 1841. Operations were completed by June 1908. The name of the mosque did not conceal its original dedication as the Byzantine church of S. Demetrios, which had been one of the most famous centres of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians until its Muslim conversion in 1492–3. In the course of these repairs occurred the unexpected discovery of surviving Christian mosaics and wall-paintings under a coating of plaster. The first mosaics were revealed in December 1907, and comprised three bust figures within medallions, situated in the central part of the north inner aisle (Plates 1a, 15a). The discovery was greeted with excitement by P. N. Papageorgiou, who took photographs which he communicated to the Turkish Nomarch and the Oecumenical Patriarch. The news was published in ecclesiastical news-sheets in Thessaloniki (December 1907) and Istanbul (26 January 1908). Meanwhile further soundings and discoveries continued in the mosque.

A Survey carried out in 1964 revealed that this site, briefly reported by Payne as ‘a very small village doubtless inhabited by fishermen’, was more extensive than had been realized. It covers the flatter ground on the low ridge that separates lake from sea, for a length of 570 m. and a maximum width of 100 m. or so. The canal connecting the lake with the sea cuts through the middle of the site and gives a good cross-section of its stratification. There seems to have been some fluctuation in the lake level since prehistoric times, for sherds and traces of walling can be observed in the hardened limestone concretions beneath the present lake's surface.

In 1965 a trial trench 2 m. × 16 m. was opened, almost parallel to the canal and running inland from a point 39 m. to the west of the canal's entrance to the lake. This trench was not taken down to the earliest occupation levels. Four phases of occupation were revealed (Fig. 1), the last being of the seventh century B.C. The other three, all of the Early Helladic period, are designated ‘X’, ‘Y’, and ‘Z’, X being the earliest yet reached. There is absolutely no trace of subsequent occupation until the seventh century B.C., the remains of which occur directly above those of the latest E.H. level.

L.H. IIIB 2 has until recently been ill-served in archaeological publication, for two reasons. Firstly it does not seem to have been the custom in this period in mainland Greece to put much pottery in tombs. Secondly at settlement sites the period ended in a vast destruction which was preceded by either evacuation or plundering. This resulted in debris levels containing a mass of sherd material (often of earlier periods) but few restorable pot,s and thus of no interest to early excavators. Until 1966 practically the only L.H. IIIB 2 material of settlement type readily available for comparison was that from Schliemann's excavations at Mycenae illustrated in Mykenische Vasen, and the sherds from the same group in the British Museum Catalogue.

The discovery at Tiryns in 1957 of deep and extensive debris of this period (which has now been published in outline) concentrated attention on the period and has enabled some studies of historical importance to be made.

Statuettes of children crouching on the floor with one knee bent up or both legs folded have been found in many parts of Greece, in sanctuaries, graves, and living quarters. In the course of a study of the cult of the Greek Kourotrophos there arose the problem of their typology and interpretation, as such statuettes are common finds in the sanctuaries of deities concerned with child-care. Before one can come to any speculations about their meaning and use, the type must be examined; its origin, distribution, and variations.

The crouching posture is not uncommon in eastern, especially Egyptian art. Child-Horus, crouching on the lotus, appears in Egyptianizing Phoenician ivories from the early first millennium B.C. Faience pendants of a squatting child, dated c. 900 B.C., were excavated in tombs in Lachish. Most interesting for this study is the small faience statuette of a crouching boy from an Egyptian grave, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Plate 20, 1). It is exactly in the posture that the Greek examples appear in: one knee bent up, the other on the floor; it has its finger on its mouth and bears the side-curl of youth. A real child is represented. This is also the case with three statuettes in the British Museum, one in copper and two in ivory, the latter inscribed with the names and titles of the owners. They too come from graves. All are dated around the beginning of the second millennium B.C. by a statuette of the same type coming from the tomb of the Pharaoh Pepi II. It is interesting to know that this posture and the hand on the mouth, as well as the nudity, are significant of young age in Egypt, since the hieroglyph for youth is a naked figure in this posture.

In 1967 N. C. Flemming of the Institute of Oceanography discovered a submerged settlement, probably of the Bronze Age, off the south coast of Laconia opposite Elaphonisos Island. The following year the Cambridge Underwater Exploration Group formed an expedition to investigate the site. The main aims of the expedition were:

1. To survey the visible remains of the site in order to produce the plan of a prehistoric town on a larger scale than is possible on land, where the time and cost of excavation are normally prohibitive.

2. To investigate sea- and land-level changes in the area, in particular by seeking traces of old shore-lines or of harbour-works.

3. To experiment with methods of planning extensive remains underwater, and especially with photography from a balloon.

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.

In the first chapter of Perachora i, Humfry Payne gave a brief survey of the Perachora peninsula, and of his own excavations. There he distinguished between the area of the town, situated in the plain that lies between Lake Vouliagmeni and the tip of the promontory, and the ‘Heraion Valley’ whose buildings were almost wholly of a public nature. His description of the town envisaged further excavation; but his own activities were concentrated in the area of public buildings, the two sanctuaries of Hera Akraia by the harbour and of Hera Limenia in the Heraion valley itself.

The two volumes of Perachora are concerned with the discoveries Payne made in these two sanctuaries. Omitted from them are the other public buildings in or adjacent to the sanctuaries. These consist of the angled stoa, the so-called ‘agora’, the double-apsidal cistern, and the hestiatorion or dining-hall. Also omitted is the detailed study of the town which he promised. The stoa and ‘agora’ (which is now to be renamed ‘the west court’, since, whatever its actual function, it was certainly not an agora) have now been published separately by Dr. J. J. Coulton. The present account gathers together the remaining public buildings in the vicinity of the sanctuaries, the apsidal cistern and the hestiatorion, together with the ancient remains in the area of the town.

The following article by K. A. Wardle is the first of a series of studies on the finds from the excavation known as the Citadel House, a name given by Professor Wace to an area on the Mycenae acropolis to the south of Schliemann's grave circle. Its exact situation is between the South House and Tsountas's House and next to the Cyclopaean wall. In effect it is a continuation southwards of the so-called South House that Wace excavated in 1922. He recognized at that time that he had uncovered only a small part of a large building but circumstances did not permit him to proceed further with the excavation. Only in 1954 was work resumed on this site as part of a large programme that was mainly concerned with areas outside the citadel. To distinguish it from these other areas it was given the name of the ‘Citadel House’, a non-committal term but one that, in view of the later importance of the site, was liable to lead to misunderstanding, implying that it was the only house on the acropolis.

Professor Wace, had he lived, would no doubt have considered changing the designation but in deference to his memory the name has been retained and it has been used in all the short provisional reports that have appeared to date. Professor Mylonas, who understandably dislikes the present designation, refers to the site as ‘Wace's House’, but I think that Wace would not have favoured such a term. One cannot now say what other name he would have preferred to substitute, but I do not think he would have objected to the term ‘South House’, and unquestionably part of the ‘Citadel House’ is an extension of the South House; but one must bear in mind that the buildings that have been uncovered between the South House and Tsountas's House do not always have the same axis as the former.

This deposit is one of a series of stratified groups from the recent excavations at Mycenae' which should form the basis for a closer definition of the pottery sequence there than has been possible before; it should also help with the identification of the sequence elsewhere, particularly in the Argolid.

It was found in a room in the ‘House with the Idols’ (Citade lHouse) constructed at or very near the beginning of the period defined as L.H. IIIB 1, and seems to be household rubbish which accumulated during a span of some years; subsequently it was covered by an inserted wall before the conflagration during the period L.H. IIIB 2 which destroyed so many of the buildings at Mycenae. The deposit consists of a small but distinctive quantity of painted wares, largely open shapes, and a large group of unpainted pottery including many whole profiles. Its date is clearly within L.H. IIIB 1, with ‘Zygouries’ type kylikes, ‘open style’ deep bowls, and only slight evidence for the presence of deep bowls with monochrome interiors and none for ‘rosette’ bowls, two of the main criteria for the subsequent period. In my opinion it represents, when viewed as a whole, a slightly later stage of development than the group published in BSA lxi by Mrs. French, there seem to be fewer of the elements surviving from earlier, and a rather more limited range of patterns. The various stages of deposition cover an unknown period of time, ending perhaps as late as the beginning of L.H. IIIB 2. Despite the small number of pieces it may be that this is a more typical selection of L.H. IIIB 1 pottery than the group previously published.

While the development of the Mycenaean goblet and kylix has been studied in some detail, comparatively little work has been done on their Cretan equivalents. We are still, in the main, dependent on the remarks of Evans in Palace of Minos, who was mainly concerned with the L.M. II examples; on brief comparisons made by Furumark, who was basically considering Mycenaean pottery; and on some general observations by Mackeprang. Though in part this is due to neglect of L.M. III pottery as a whole, a main reason is no doubt the scarcity of intact decorated kylikes in Crete. Leaving aside the L.M. III goblet, only thirteen have been illustrated in publications and a similar number of other unpublished decorated kylikes are on display in the various museums of Crete. A list of the published vases and of others is given at the end of this article. Even allowing for unpublished kylikes not on display, this small number is unlikely to be an accident of excavation; it is evident that the decorated kylix was rare in Crete in L.M. III, though plain examples are much more common, particularly in central Crete. In the east of the Island, however, both kinds appear on present evidence to be exceptional.