This paper presents the results of a pilot project which combines, for the first time, biodistance and strontium isotope analyses in the study of human skeletal remains from Early Bronze Age Crete (third millennium bc). Information from these analyses offers, in a direct way, insights into the biological distance, and consequently the gene flow and mobility patterns, among human populations in eastern Crete. The results are synthesised with the evidence of funerary practices in order to explore the nature of interaction among communities in eastern Crete. The biodistance analysis supports a strong genetic affinity between the populations represented at the two Kephala Petras skeletal assemblages, while the results of the available strontium isotope analysis favour their local origin; thus the combined results suggest the lack of significant population influx. The biological distance of the two chronologically contemporary populations at Livari-Skiadi, also manifesting completely different patterns of mortuary disposal, is of particular interest since it contrasts with the Petras situation and raises issues of intra-community distinctions, cultural and biological.

This article examines the inception of writing on Crete in the second millennium bc from a fresh methodological perspective. It aims to develop a synoptic understanding of the origin, purpose, experience, and significance of the earliest attestations of writing on the island, to investigate the context of its creation, and to explore the cultural triggers that underlie the application of writing in the context of Middle Minoan Crete. Three key points are considered: the problematic definition of early writing on Crete, the possible identification of the subject matter of the Cretan hieroglyphic inscriptions on sealstones, and the script's level of indebtedness to pre-existing models. These paths of investigation are also crucial points of departure for understanding the phenomenon of early writing in more general terms, from a multidisciplinary perspective that seeks to advocate a synergic collaboration between anthropology, archaeology, epigraphy and sociolinguistics.

In this paper, we re-examine inscribed items of Minoan jewellery in the light of the increasing number of studies on ancient eastern Mediterranean jewellery and its meanings. We reach a fourfold conclusion. First: as these objects, with one exception, are clearly associated with adult females, while the exception (a ring) cannot be affiliated with a particular gender or age, inscribed Minoan jewellery seems so far to lie mostly outside the purview of men. Second: these objects were almost certainly used to construct and broadcast the elite identity (and perhaps authority) of the people who wore them. Third: the objects may also have served as apotropaic amulets and/or symbols of rites of passage for their wearers, thus expressing certain rituals associated with the lives of the people who wore them. Fourth: inscribed items of Minoan jewellery may have played an active role in linking elite Minoan (and particularly elite Minoan female) identity and authority to the divine.

The paper examines how the dromos emerged as an architectural feature in Mycenaean tombs and why it became the standard type of access device. It focuses on collective tombs with lateral entrances of LH I and transitional LH I/IIA date in mainland Greece, but considers also a number of MH tombs with side entrances. The first part discusses the architectural evidence. The second part examines permanent installations and evidence of possible ritual activities from dromoi. The third part explores the symbolic and performative aspects of dromoi. It is argued that the dromos was not an integral part of Mycenaean funerary architecture from the very beginning, but came about gradually out of a long process of experimentation, which originated in MH tumuli and was completed in late LH I or LH I/IIA tholoi and chamber tombs. This process merged different building traditions and combined practical considerations with new ritual needs arising at a period of intense social and cultural change.

The first substantial corpus of developed and complex stone vases emerged on the Greek mainland in the shaft graves of Mycenae (Middle Helladic III – Late Helladic I) and was certainly, in large part, of Minoan origin. However, a Mycenaean industry appeared in the Late Helladic III period, which suggests a link with Minoan technology. Indeed, there is an extremely strong possibility that expatriate craftsmen had gradually transmitted their knowledge to local Mycenaean apprentices. A technological study of a corpus of 24 stone vases from Mycenae, dated to the Late Helladic I/II–III, enables the identification and reconstruction of the manufacturing processes and techniques involved in mainland production. It appears to be the case that a great part of the Mycenaean know-how derives from contact with Minoan craftsmanship. However, if a large number of technical elements (use of tubular drilling for the hollowing process, production of the vessels in several parts) may come from a Minoan heritage, the Mycenaeans seem to have quickly developed their own approach – with their own technological emphases, serving purely Mycenaean forms. The vase, based on separately made elements, was a Minoan approach but became properly a mainland concept, which appeared far less commonly in other regions of the eastern Mediterranean. Similarly, the single-tool approach developed for the drilling process (for hollowing the interior of the vessels and for cutting the inlay decoration of the exterior), entirely based on the use of the tubular drill, is purely a native one and is uncommon among eastern Mediterranean vessel traditions. A technological study indicates also the possible coexistence of different types of organisation in the Mycenaean workshops. Thus, the manufacturing processes used, as well as the organisation of the production, are distinct from those of other eastern Mediterranean centres, including Crete.

This article focuses on a distinct type of clay vessel which formed part of both the Late Minoan and the Mycenaean repertoire: the amphoroid krater.

In contrast to the Mycenaean version of the shape, with its often elaborate decoration of chariots and other pictorial designs, the Minoan amphoroid krater has up to now not received much attention. The present paper intends to redress this imbalance by exploring the origin and development of the Minoan amphoroid krater, its function(s) and its relationship with its Mycenaean counterpart.

The building at Toumba, Lefkandi, stands unique in its time and place. The remains of this monument are significant in terms of size and elaboration, and also on account of the way it has been reconstructed and interpreted as the ancestor of the Greek peripteral temple. The primary concern of this article is the structural evaluation of the architectural remains. In part due to the scant nature of the archaeological evidence behind the widely accepted reconstruction, the latter can be seen to have several structural shortcomings. In reassessing the structure several factors are considered, including the state of technology at the time of construction, the characteristics of the building materials employed, and the way they respond to the strains of load and the forces of nature. The process of reconciling such factors with the documented remnants of the building directs us towards a different reconstruction. It thus emerges that the building at Toumba is an implausible ancestor of Greek peripteroi, and an alternative solution without the iconic pre-peristasis is proposed here.

Research conducted and published over the last 35 years has brought to light much new information concerning the so-called ‘SOS’ amphora, produced primarily in Attica and Euboea in the Archaic period. However, little focused work has been undertaken in the study of these vessels since Johnston and Jones' seminal work in 1978. This paper therefore provides a critical update on the production and distribution of SOS amphorae using the current data available. Included in this update is a discussion of recent research on Early Iron Age amphorae that may help situate the SOS amphora within a broader ceramic milieu. A new distribution of SOS amphorae also necessitates a reappraisal of some previously held ideas concerning their chronological patterns and the specific actors involved in their shipment. Taking into consideration the multiple spatial and temporal varieties of SOS amphorae, it can be shown that these vessels were relatively evenly deposited across the Mediterranean, from Iberia to the Levant, very early in the Archaic period. In combination with other factors, this widespread distribution may support the hypothesis that non-Greek seafarers were involved with transporting Athenian and Euboean SOS amphorae. Ultimately, it is hoped that a fresh look at this ceramic shape, however brief, might contribute to existing scholarly debates on cultural interactions and mobility within the Mediterranean basin during the Archaic period.

The British School excavations in Laconia from 1905 to 1910 unearthed terracotta masks from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, just east of Sparta, right on the Eurotas river. Buried in two pits adjacent to the archaic temple, the masks were made between c.615 and c.450 bce. Description and analysis of the material and technique of the masks reveal their diverse character and the impracticalities of their being worn. The masks’ function is related to the presence of linen or wood originals that the terracotta versions reproduced, though not uniformly. Difficulty in explaining the (original) masks’ use is predicated on vague approximations of the nature of Orthia's origins and cult. The linguistic clusters proposed by the excavators as early as 1906 as descriptors of the masks or their use are scrutinised for possible illumination of the (original) masks’ use; the burial of the masks some centuries before the descriptions of Pollux, Hesychius and Pausanias begs the question of their applicability to the excavated masks. On the basis of theories of masking from Classics as well as from Japanese Noh theatre and neuroscience, the ‘grotesques’ and ‘caricatures’ proposed by the excavators are recast as comic and satiric figures. Like Aristotle's pre-urban drama, the ‘Orthian drama’ does not correspond to a single theatrical genre, but contains risible figures whose facial expressions are naturalistic and often negative (pain, worry). Given Aristotle's firm assertion that the roots of Greek theatre are Dorian, and the uniqueness of the Orthia material, it is proposed that these masks point us towards the origins of theatre.

This article publishes a new decree from the storerooms of Liverpool's World Museum. We provide a text and translation of the document, and discuss difficulties in reading the text as well as restorations where the stone is illegible. We offer an approximate dating of the document to the mid-third century, and suggest, on prosopographical and formulaic grounds, that it derives from Erythrae. We offer an interpretation of the status of the transaction (which describes itself as a gnome), the officials mentioned in the document, and the activities and nature of the Phrikyladai.

The issue of the persistence of paganism is now quite well considered; however, it is only in recent times that the same concern approached from another perspective, the multifaceted nature of the Christianisation of the Peloponnese, has become the topic of detailed discussion. It is likely that Christianisation in Achaea took place incrementally and with a variety of effects according to the location. The processes of how this took place and under what circumstances remain to be discussed in detail. As a considered and active process, understanding methods of conversion should provide insights into the nature of society at the time, particularly in terms of communications. Church location reflects a range of choices made in terms of the conversion process and therefore is fundamental to analysing religious transformation. Such insights are important, particularly given the dearth of historical sources for, and difficulties of refining, church chronologies in the Peloponnese. In the case of the Late Antique Peloponnese, a great deal is known about many individual churches as a result of quite extensive excavation of a majority of them, particularly through the work of Pallas and Orlandos. This evidence, together with the results of a survey of all the known Late Antique churches in the Peloponnese undertaken in 2012, makes possible a synthetic interpretation of all the material within the surrounding landscape. While the precise chronologies may remain elusive, this present study shows how sociological theories of conversion processes can be applied to the topographic analysis of the Late Antique churches of the Peloponnese to help determine the nature of Christianisation across the diachronic range. In this work I will present some new theories regarding processes and phases of conversion, and the implications of these in terms of understanding networks and society in the Late Antique Peloponnese.

This article presents the methodology and results of archaeological fieldwork conducted at the small fifth to sixth century ad port settlement at Leukos on the island of Karpathos in the Dodecanese. Fieldwork, undertaken from 2008 to 2011, comprised topographic, architecture and artefact surveys of the visible remains.