This paper presents the results from the pilot analytical study of the Aegean Late–Final Neolithic/Anatolian Middle–Late Chalcolithic (c. 5500–3200/3000 BC) pottery from the Kastro-Tigani settlement, located in south-east Samos (east Aegean). In addition to Crete, the region of the insular eastern Aegean has produced the earliest evidence for Neolithic habitation. The archaeological traces at Kastro-Tigani are so far the earliest known on Samos, being partly contemporary with the recently discovered Middle–Late Chalcolithic layers at the Heraion, lying in close proximity to the former site, and at the Agriomernos cave (Megalo Seitani) in the north-west part of the island. The re-evaluation of the ceramic assemblage from Kastro-Tigani has led to the laboratory analysis of 34 samples, using a combination of thin-section petrography and Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, in order to determine provenance and establish reference groups for the earliest local production on Samos. This first compositional characterisation of the pottery contributes new data in a relatively under-studied region and provides grounds for comparison with analytical results from the Heraion, with the aim to investigate possible relations between the sites. Hence, the identification of different strategies in pottery production, reflected in the overall distinct fabric and chemical groups, further indicates the practice of several production units and the exploitation of various raw material sources at the Pythagoreion/Chora plain. Isolated examples of possible imported ceramic vessels, as well as exotica (e.g. obsidian, acrolithic and Kilia figurines, ring-shaped features, marble vessels, kratiriskoi) are highlighted as markers of macro-scale interaction in the context of Aegean early maritime connectivity.

Names on the Rhamnous base IG II2 3105 (with new fragments added by Petrakos, A.E. 1979 68–9) are conjoined with those on IG II2 2401. 2401 is identified as an ephebe list of Erechtheis for 333/2. The attribution of the names to the various demes is discussed. The base itself goes with the fragmentary herm, NM 313, which is thus the earliest securely dated ephebic dedication at Rhamnous. The relationship of this to other monuments is discussed. It is suggested from this, that the ephebes of 333/2 were competing in the Nemesia.

People who walk in mountains grow accustomed to finding their movements facilitated from time to time by what the mountaineering books call ‘corridors’ or ‘high-level routes,’ in places where one might have expected nothing but large stones. There is a famous one from Zermatt to Arolla. There is a little one between Stye Head and Sea Fell, running from Skew Ghyll to the Ling Mell col above Hollow Stones. There is another—improved but not created by man—along the north face of Pillar Mountain. Of the same nature, and equally unexpected at first, are the ‘rakes’ and ledges which sometimes run right across a rock face, and assist, as one might say, the tactics of the mountaineer, just as the major high-level routes assist him in his strategy. They may even assist the faint-hearted to get off a face altogether. Or, of course, such a ledge may be upside down, and then it is not so good.

Recent research on a helmet of Illyrian type, found in the River Alpheios and purchased by the British Museum in 1914, has yielded interesting historical, epigraphical, and technological information. The helmet was made between about 550 and 525 BC, and it was probably dedicated to Olympian Zeus in the latter years of the century; it was embellished with various types of silver decoration, notably appliqués of horsemen on the cheek-pieces. The inscription, incised in unusual herring-bone fashion, indicates that the helmet was dedicated by the Koroneans, and the event commemorated by the dedication is here considered.

The object of the following articles is to set forth as briefly as possible the epigraphical evidence at our disposal for determining the numerical systems employed in the various cities of Greece, and to state afresh some of the conclusions which we are entitled to draw from it. I am not sanguine enough to believe that I have overlooked none of the available materials, but I hope that my essay may contribute something towards a fuller understanding, at least in this country, of a department of Greek epigraphy which has, as it seems to me, been unduly neglected by recent scholars.

The recording of two unpublished moulds in the storeroom of the Prehistoric Collections of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, presented here, provide the stimulus for a re-examination of the construction method of the bezeled/signet rings of Mycenaean times. The moulds, one of semi-cylindrical shape and the other rectangular, belong to a limited class of items from Crete, Mainland Greece, and Enkomi, Cyprus.

It is possible that such moulds have served for the construction of the wax model of the artefacts, in the lost wax technique and not directly for the cast of gold, since the very construction of them, which is time-consuming and necessitates the skills of specialized craftsmen, indicates that they did not serve for a single use but rather for several uses. On the other hand, even steatite, the stone mostly used for such moulds, cannot adhere to continuous pressure to high temperatures, necessary for casting gold.

Στην παρούσα μελετη καταγράφονται δύο αδημοσίευτες μήτρες από την αποθήκη της Προϊστορικής Συλλογής του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου στην Αθήνα, προσφέροντας το ερέθισμα για μία επανεξέταση της τεχνικής κατασκευής των δακτυλιδιών με σφενδόνη της Μυκηναϊκής εποχής. Οι μήτρες, από τις οποίες η μία είναι ημικυλινδρική και η άλλη ορθογώνια, ανήκουν σε μία περιορισμένη τάξη ευρημάτων, που προέρχονται από την Κρήτη, την Ηπειρωτική Ελλάδα και την Έγκωμη της Κύπρου.

Είναι πιθανό ότι αυτές οι μήτρες να χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την κατασκευή των κέρινων εκμαγείων των δακτυλιδιών κατά την τεχνική του «χαμένου κεριού» και όχι για την απευθείας χύτευση χρυσού. Η ίδια η κατασκευή τους, που προϋποθέτει πολύ χρόνο και ειδικευμένους τεχνίτες, υποδεικνύει ότι δεν χρησιμοποιήθηκαν μόνο για μία φορά. Από την άλλη πλευρά, ακόμη και ο στεατίτης, ο λίθος που κατεξοχήν χρησιμοποιήθηκε για την κατασκευή αυτών των αντικειμένων, δεν θα μπορούσε να αντέξει τις υψηλές θερμοκρασίες, που απαιτούντοα για την χύτευση του χρυσού σε διαδοχικές χρήσεις.

This ancient instrument, which is, for the student of Greek music, one of the most significant finds of recent years, came to light during excavations at Brauron, on the east coast of Attica, in August 1961. These excavations, under the direction of Dr. I. Papadimitriou (Director-General of the Greek Archaeological Service), are still in progress, and a full report has not yet been published: so far as this item is concerned, it was found in a sacred spring near the north-west corner of the ancient temple, along with a number of objects which are dated by Dr. Papadimitriou to the late sixth or early fifth century B.C. They were perhaps in situ, buried or hidden, when the Persians sacked the site during the Salamis campaign.

The find (item 1059 in the catalogue) comprises the two lower sections of an aulos: there is no apparent reason to doubt that they belong together. The central joint is of the usual type—spigot and socket—and at one end (A in the diagram) there is another socket for the attachment of the next section. At the other end (C in the diagram) there is no spigot or socket: as Hole V is manifestly a vent-hole (see below) this must have been the lower end of the instrument.

The upland areas of Greece have long been outside the main focus of archaeological interest. With regard to prehistoric research, mountains were never seen as potential habitation areas, and recovery techniques had to address unusual environmental and geomorphological situations. Research in the Rhodopi mountains initiated by Komotini Museum attempts to illustrate some aspects of this upland archaeology. This article presents the results of excavation at an early iron age site which appears to give an insight into the habitation behaviour of the Thracian mountain population at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. It is proposed for the first time that a number of the so-called Thracian places found scattered all over the Rhodopi mountains are not, as at first thought, fortified acropoleis but sites with special functions, serving an agricultural and pastoral economy. It is further suggested that ethnoarchaeological observations can serve as valuable explanatory hypotheses which can be tested against the available excavation data.

The study attempts a reconstruction of the fresco, based on a detailed study of the preserved plaster fragments, of which new drawings and photos are provided. Minoan miniature frescoes with architectural façades appear to be the closest iconographically. Representations like those in the Grandstand and Sacred Grove frescoes from the palace of Knossos are examined, both for their possible thematic association with bull-leaping and for their possible role as models for the Ramp House fresco.

During excavations in Euboea from 1906 to 1911, the late G. Papavasileiou opened twenty Late Helladic tombs near Khalkis, the contents of which are in the museum at Khalkis. He published the finds from two of these, Trypa I and II, in his Περὶ τῶν ἐν Εὐβοία̣ ἀρχαίων τάφων (1910), 21 ff., but the contents of the remaining eighteen were not published owing to the excavator's death in 1917. At the suggestion of Professor A. J. B. Wace I applied for, and in 1939 was given, permission to photograph and publish them. To Professor Wace, who has very kindly read the catalogue and made valuable corrections in dating some of the pots, I owe my grateful thanks for inspiration and encouragement, and I thank the Greek Ministry of Education (particularly Professor Marinatos) for assistance in giving me access to the material. I have not been able to check the catalogue at Khalkis.

In two recent articles in this periodical the author has considered Late Minoan IIIB and IIIC pottery from Crete. In both these studies, material surviving from Evans' excavation of the Little Palace at Knossos has been mentioned and in part illustrated. It is the main purpose of this article to describe this pottery in greater detail and, at the same time, to take some account of two comparable but small deposits from recent excavations at Knossos. Since only a few vases could be restored from these deposits, use will be made of other material to illustrate whole vases and to give a more complete picture.

The pottery from the Little Palace, which we shall be considering, was excavated by Evans in 1908 and derives mainly from two regions: the rooms south of the Shrine (and adjacent to the main staircase) and the courtyard between this building and the Unexplored Mansion. Neither are closed deposits, for they contain a considerable admixture of L.M. IIIA sherds. It has, therefore, been necessary to select the IIIB pottery on stylistic and not stratigraphical grounds. But knowledge of similar material from better-stratified deposits elsewhere has made this selection less arbitrary than it would otherwise have been. The Little Palace pottery (Plates 47a–f; 48a, b, d; 50b; 51a–f) consists almost entirely of decorated sherds and, clearly, most of the plain fragments were thrown away.

Of the bronzes found during the recent excavations, one, the naked woman, No. 6, is an important contribution to the history of Spartan art, while many of the others present points of special interest. Two statuettes, Nos. 4 and 6, are almost certainly local work; two others, Nos. 1 and 9, are probably so. The protomai, Nos. 24–28, have every claim to be Spartan products; so too have many of the minor objects. Two figures appear to be imported from the North-East Peloponnese, Nos. 2 and 3. In the following account, a complete description is given of the more important unpublished bronzes, and a short supplementary description is included of some of the bronzes published in Vol. XXVI of this Annual. A number of small and apparently insignificant finds are also mentioned, since it is desirable to have a complete record of the bronzes associated with a given site.

The site was discovered by Andreas Lekatsas, then proprietor of the Stavros Hotel, in his vineyard, and excavated for the British School, at his generous invitation, in two campaigns in 1937 and 1938. It lies on a steeply sloping hillside just above the path leading up from the cave side of Polis Bay, and commands a splendid view down the Ithaca channel towards Same in Kephallenia (plate 1a). Its main area (christened TL), presumably a sizeable house, consisted of a ramp leading up to a heap of large roughly dressed stones, with one large loose rock in the middle; this suggested that the house had been destroyed by a fall of rock caused by an earthquake. On a terrace leading eastwards from the house were the remains of three small curvilinear huts, impinging upon one another, built of small stones; this area, L, was dug and planned by F. H. Stubbings. On a higher terrace beyond L we found some walls of a rectangular house with more regular stonework; this, House T, was dug and planned by H. Thomas.

This is the second of three articles presenting the settlement pottery of post-Minoan Knossos, found during the British School's excavations of 1951–61 mostly under the direction of Mr. Sinclair Hood. The Protogeometric and Geometric deposits were published in BSA lxvii (1972) 63–98; the final article in the series, to appear in a future volume of BSA, will be devoted to the Classical and Hellenistic material.

Seventy years after its first investigation, Karphi (Karfi) on Crete was the subject of a new pilot excavation in 2008. The main aim was to provide the first up-to-date detailed contextual records for the site across a representative area, thus filling in interpretative gaps left by the original extensive excavation. This paper presents and analyses these records with the aim of investigating the likely complexity of social systems at one of the largest new communities founded in Crete after the collapse of Bronze Age states c.1200 bc. Recent research has tended to focus on small villages, or on sites which later developed into poleis, meaning that crisis-period remains are poorly preserved. Occupied only between the crisis horizon of c.1200 bc and an important nucleation of Cretan communities at large ‘proto-polis’ settlements occurring in the early tenth century, the large Karphi site offers insight into the special challenges of creating large, potentially diverse new communities in crisis circumstances. It has one of the most dramatic of the new settlement locations, on steep-sided peaks 1100 m above sea level in an area which had never previously been settled. The social and economic adjustments needed here were particularly sharp and urgent, and the paper examines the structures which enabled them, using preliminary analyses of bioarchaeological data from the new project to assist reconstruction of the economy. The site has had other, highly specialised uses in its history, on which the new excavation has thrown light. The results highlight not only the resonance of this landscape in ancient consciousness, but also the ways in which such resonance could be exploited, both in the socially volatile post-collapse period and in the context of enhanced social and economic complexity as polis states started to come into being. Finally, a first set of radiocarbon dates from the new excavation is presented and assessed with regard to the dating of the Cretan Bronze to Iron Age transition and its wider ramifications.

A fragmentary inscription found at Thebes casts new light on the abortive invasion of Athens in 506 by Kleomenes, the Boiotians, and the Chalkidians. On the one hand, it provides valuable confirmation, soon after the event, of the general drift of Herodotos' account of events; on the other, even in its incomplete state, it adds one important detail lacking in Herodotos. And, of course, it tells the story from the Boiotian point of view.

The excavation took place in the winter of the year 2001–2 in the property of Evanghelia Madhis at Thebes following her application for the construction of a new house. The plot is situated in the suburb of Pyri, in the north-west periphery of Thebes, about 800 m from the city centre of Thebes, and just beyond the Athens–Thessaloniki railway line (FIG. 1). In it was unearthed a well-built tomb-like cist, made of three rows of large conglomerate stone blocks in regular masonry; similar blocks form its pavement. No traces of covering stones or other relevant materials have so far been discovered. However, since the contents of the cist—including objects such as the bronze inscribed sheets found at the bottom—were probably thrown there when it was abandoned, it may never have been properly covered: no trace of a superstructure or roofing system is preserved on the upper surface of the walls of the cist.

This article argues that, by concentrating on a reading of the depictions of deities on the Athenian document reliefs as symbolic representations of states rather than as divinities, previous scholarly approaches to them have failed to explore the role they ascribe to the gods in collective decision-making and the exercise of public authority. This article resituates the interpretation of these monuments in the context of other monuments depicting the gods and recent approaches to them, and the other ways in which public inscriptions, both at Athens and elsewhere, make reference to divine actors, through their erection in sacred spaces and the use of the theoi heading. It then examines the range of possible readings of the relationship between divine agency and political decision-making which these monuments privilege and argues that they reflect a conventional understanding that, in general, Athenian decision-making was underpinned by the gods.

The villages of lower and upper Boularioi lie on the hill-side above the modern port of Gerolimena. Above the upper village stands the church of Hagios Strategos (Pls. XI, XII). It is in three parts, the church proper, the narthex, and a small domed porch. The church belongs to the two-columned type of the later Byzantine school, in which the central dome rests upon two columns to the west and upon the dividing walls of the eastern chapels to the east. Internally it is not very accurately or squarely built, but widens rather to the east: it measures about 16 ft. in breadth by 18 ft. long, with walls of about 2 ft. 9 in. in thickness, and terminates in the usual three eastern apses, semicircular both inside and out.

The excavation of M. S. F. Hood in the area of the Minoan Royal Road at Knossos produced stratified deposits of Greek pottery ranging in date from Protogeometric to Hellenistic. This article, the last in a series of three, concentrates on the local and imported pottery of the Classical and Hellenistic periods. For the Classical sequence, a late-fourth century house deposit is supplemented by three earlier well fills from the area of the Vcnizeleion Hospital. There follows five stratified groups of Hellenistic pottery, the last two being from second-century floor deposits. Also included here are many pieces from less well stratified contexts, but of intrinsic interest.

Although some of the black-figure vases presented here were studied by Beazley and others, many are published for the first time. This article provides a summary of the collection followed by a catalogue of the objects by fabric and shape, and an illustration of each piece. The fabrics include Athenian, Corinthian, Boeotian and Euboean. A wide range of shapes, styles and iconographic themes are represented. An appendix of largely unpublished Athenian black-figure from the site of Kynosarges, excavated by the BSA (1896–7), appears at the end.