The place known as Chauchitsa lies some sixty kilometres to the north of Salonika (Fig. 1). It was identified first as an ancient site at the end of the year 1917, during military operations. During the digging of trenches and other works antiquities were discovered which were recognised as belonging to the various stages of culture of a period extending from Neolithic to Roman times. The majority of the objects so discovered I published in the Annual of the British School for 1918–1919.

On April 15th this year I paid a preliminary visit to the site. While considerable damage had been done by the cutting of trenches, I felt satisfied that sufficient of the original ground remained undisturbed to justify excavation. I therefore commenced excavation on the 28th of April, 1921. As the isolation of the site made the conditions of a small test excavation of this nature somewhat difficult I decided to continue only, for such time as would enable me to ascertain the general nature of the site.

Dr. Covel was chaplain to the Embassy at Constantinople from 1669 to 1677. Of his copious and interesting Journals, a portion, relating chiefly to his voyage and to political affairs at Constantinople, has been edited, with a portrait and biographical notice, by J. T. Bent, and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1893. The Journals were, in part at least, intended for publication, for Grelot refers to an expected work of Covel's on the walls of Constantinople; the notes on Galata are more detailed than those of most contemporary writers, and, though they are in Covel's handwriting, are possibly borrowed; it is not his habit to write in Latin, and the reference to the tomb of the Comte d'Artois as still in possession of the monks, perhaps points to a slightly earlier original.

The present population of Melos is collected into six or seven villages in the north-western district, all within a mile or so of the citadel of Kastro. But the whole island is dotted with small churches, some in the existing villages, some on the sites of villages which have disappeared, and others in isolated positions, used only once or twice a year as places of pilgrimage. These churches are interesting in many ways, both as showing the almost Oriental conservatism with which the Greek Church clings to its ancient methods of church-building, and because, although simple in the extreme, they yet possess certain marked differences of structure from the better-known churches of Attica and the mainland, to which, in point of design, they are often superior.

The following is an account of some expeditions made from Knossos by members of the British School. It is hoped in time to make a complete register of all ancient sites on the island (more than six hundred are already known). How much is still to be done is shewn by the fact that over thirty-five new sites were found during the course of the journeys here described.

The names of the sites here given must be taken with reserve. Pronunciation varies so much from one district to another that accuracy is exceedingly difficult. Moreover, the Turkish names are hard to reproduce, since the Turkish č is written and pronounced ts by the educated, and written ki, while pronounced as English ch by the peasants. The n is liable to be dropped in Crete: thus Alexadros for Alexandros.

In an article on the difficulty of identifying marbles from the Aegean area Mr. Colin Renfrew and Dr. J. Springer Peacey rightly criticize the careless use by later scholars of the results obtained in 1890 by G. R. Lepsius, who, by cutting thin sections of various marbles and examining them under transmitted light, claimed to be able to identify Pentelic, Hymettan, Parian, Naxian, and, less specifically, ‘Island’ marbles.

It seems, however, that even when applied with care the method is useless, and Renfrew and Peacey will have none of it. ‘The use’, they say, ‘of the terms “Pentelic”, “Hymettan”, “Parian”, “Naxian”, and so forth, applied to ancient sculptures on the basis of simple visual inspection or of microscopic examination of thin specimens, is not justified…. No single characteristic or combination of characteristics is sufficient to identify with certainty the source of a single given specimen…. No reliance can be placed on Lepsius' marble identifications, and even less [sic] on those authors who have ascribed marble to supposed sources on the basis of colour and grainsize…. Those who make them or follow them are perpetuating a myth which is just eighty years old…’

In i.1–21 Thucydides gives a brief interpretation of early Greek history. This is important not only for the critical standard of its author, but also because in ten instances he says what his evidence is. Twice his evidence is archaeological. The two passages deserve careful study.

Mycenae had been destroyed by the Argives in the 460's and was deserted till the third century B.C. Thanks to modern archaeologists and Pausanias we can form some idea of what was to be seen in the time of Thucydides. Much of the Bronze Age wall, including the Lion Gate, should have been above ground; it was anyhow visible to Pausanias, and before him the Hellenistic fortifiers had made use of it. Some of the tholos tombs were open, to judge by finds made in their excavation and by Pausanias's mention of ‘underground treasuries of Atreus and his sons’. Of the Bronze Age palace and houses nothing was left above ground, so the stratification suggests. But the ruins of the city demolished in the 460's must still have survived, and its sanctuaries may have been intact; it would have been natural enough for the Argives to spare them, and there is some positive evidence that the temple on the summit of Mycenae and the sanctuary near the fountain house outside the Lion Gate were both kept in repair and that the Agamemnoneion over half a mile to the south was still visited.

Shells from the excavation of the West Court House at Knossos are analysed and compared with those from other Neolithic and Early Minoan sites.

In the following paper an attempt has been made to bring together scattered notices from printed sources regarding the geographical distribution of the Bektashi sect, as indicated by the position of existing or formerly existing convents of the order. I have further included such information on this subject as I have been able to obtain from my own journeys and enquiries (1913–15) among the Bektashi: nearly all this information is gathered from Bektashi sources, and much from more than one such source. I hope to have made a fairly complete record of Bektashi establishments in Albania, now the most important sphere of their activities, and a substantial basis for further enquiry in the other countries where the sect is to be found, with the exception of Asia Minor, for which my sources are at present inadequate.

From the evidence at our disposal the Bektashi establishments in Asia Minor would seem to be grouped most thickly in the ‘Kyzylbash’ or Shia Mahommedan districts, especially in (1) the vilayets of Angora and Sivas, and (2) in the south-west corner (Lycia) of that of Konia, where the Shia tribes are known from their occupation as Tachtadji (‘wood-cutters’). For the third great stronghold of Anatolian Shias, the Kurdish vilayets of Kharput and Erzeroum, no information as to Bektashi tekkes is available.

This article is the fourth in a series designed to chart the diffusion of Hellenistic motifs, not only from province to province but also across craft boundaries. We are seldom able to measure these processes with any degree of chronological precision, but when we can the evidence indicates the astonishing speed with which even the most complex decorative innovations could become common property over wide areas. The Medusa Rondanini and a closely related body of derivative material provide one of the few easily documented cases for such rapid diffusion. Though we cannot expect to understand completely the mechanics of the process, the isolation and examination of its visible proofs provide some valuable controls for a much wider group of objects.

The tripod-lebes is characterized by two round vertical handles cast with a plate behind and a strap in front, both of which are riveted to the cauldron, and by three legs, each cast with a plate, also riveted to the cauldron and supported by struts. Schwendemann asserts that it is properly a cooking-pot, for in Homer a mixing-bowl is a krater, but a big tripod is put on the fire to provide bath-water, and a hog could be seethed in a lebes. The monuments support this view, for the tripod-lebes is not used as a mixing-bowl in a komos scene or the like, even long after it had lost its function—to be set on the fire and then taken off again.

A third season of excavations at Palaikastro was concentrated on the central area of the new site where four main structures have been identified; Buildings 1, 3, 4 and 5. This report highlights the more interesting finds, including the head of the ivory statuette, the torso and arms of which were found last year, and the first evidence for the LM II reoccupation of east Crete in the form of a Palace Style sherd and part of a central Cretan Ephyraean goblet.

Two cult structures from Mycenae and from a sanctuary recently discovered at Phylakopi, on the island of Melos, shed a new light on the sacred architecture of the Aegean at the close of the Bronze Age. This paper suggests that the edifices of both these sites should be classified as popular places of worship. This suggestion is based on their location, layout and size as well as on their foreign architectural affinities. The Phylakopi sanctuary, located against the fortification wall of the town, consists of a major temple to which a subsidiary shrine is attached. The pair of adjacent structures located on the lower terrace of the acropolis of Mycenae, are of approximately the same size, presumably possessing the same religious status. The three edifices bear several asymmetrical features, such as indirect entrances and corner platforms that have no parallels elsewhere in the Aegean. These features are diagnostic to a special type of Canaanite temples that prevailed in maritime posts and harbour sites. There are indications, however, that in spite of the foreign architectural affinities, the cult practised in the Mycenae structures and in the major temple of Phylakopi was distinctively Aegean. On the other hand, architectural and contextual data seem to support the assumption that the subsidiary shrine of Phylakopi was reserved for foreign cult, practised by Canaanite traders.

So little is known concerning the site of the famous Hierapolis of Syria, that even a hurried visit is worthy of record. I passed through the place twice in the spring of 1908, in the company of Mr. Richard Norton, stopping on each occasion a night and part of two days. It was inadvisable, in view of the main purpose of my journey, to delay long enough to make a plan, or do anything else likely to excite the ready suspicion of the local authorities and the Circassian colonists. We contented ourselves, therefore, with making a general survey and photographing, with copying all inscriptions which the promise of a reward could induce the Circassians to show us, and with buying small antiquities.

Two major works have been published that consider in detail Minoan relief-carved stone vessels, Peter Warren's Minoan Stone Vases (1969) and Bernd Kaiser's Untersuchungen zum minoischen Relief (1976). However, while both these texts provide useful catalogues of the vessels that had been discovered up to the time of their writing, neither provides an analysis of these vessels that considers the body of artefacts as a whole, rather than as a series of individual pieces. This trend has continued until the present day, with numerous articles appearing on the more famous pieces, such as the Harvester Vase and the Boxer Rhyton, but nothing examining the entire corpus of material. In this paper it is argued that when these vessels are considered together they produce an important indication of the sources of power that were used by the elite of Minoan society, specifically the male members of the elite, to justify and reinforce their elevated position in society, and furthermore, that the message of these vessels was aimed at other members of elite society as well as the non-elite.

In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

This paper presents evidence for the later (mostly Geometric) use of the Μycenaean cemetery at Agios Vasileios, Chalandritsa, at the eastern side of the Pharai plain, 20 km south-east of Patras. This evidence comprises surface material and a burial in the dromos of Tomb 17 (with a preliminary analysis of the human skeletal remains), plus finds from the tomb chamber, and finds from the chamber of Tomb 24.

The excavations at Tell el-Dabca/Avaris have produced exciting finds for the past 30 years, but none more riveting than the so-called ‘Minoan’ frescoes of the past half-decade. The publication of these fragmentary wall paintings has been commendably fast, but has also involved dramatic changes in the hypotheses put forth by the excavators. The present article attempts to summarize the situation by charting the discoveries announced between 1992 and 1996, and relating these to the changes in opinion of the excavators over that same period of time. Given the bombshell dropped most recently by Bietak, namely that the wall paintings may not be associated with the Hyksos period at all, but rather with the early 18th Dynasty Egyptian reoccupation of the site, it is here suggested that the spate of literature published by secondary authors (i.e. those not immediately involved in the excavation and interpretation of the site) be brought to a temporary halt, until Bietak and his team have completed their exploration of the relevant areas of Tell el-Dabca and have published all of the pertinent data, to both their satisfaction and ours.

Remains discovered in excavations at Naxos in 1981–3, underlying structures belonging to the settlement which has been recognized as the mansio mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, have now been firmly identified as the dockyard of the Greek city, the first Greek colony in Sicily and a Chalcidian foundation; an ally of Athens in the fifth century, it was therefore destroyed by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 403 BC. One rock-cut shipshed has been excavated for its surviving length (the lower end is lost under modern buildings); there is pottery evidence for the construction of its north wall in the mid-fifth century BC.

As with the installation of the democracy after the return of the Chalcidian exiles from Leontinoi, the work may have been inspired and encouraged by Athens. Installations of an earlier phase are also starting to appear. A selection of pottery evidence and of the remains of roof components (tiles and antefixes) is published.

The side walls of at least four shipsheds have been found just inside the city wall, and these respect the orientation of the fifth-century urban plan. The clear width of the shipshed excavated (5.45 m) confirms the evidence of other recent excavations: the previously held view that trireme shipsheds had a clear width of 5.75–6 m will have to be revised. The back 5–6 m of the shipshed do not seem to have been part of the slipway proper; possible explanations are suggested.

This article presents a preliminary report on the excavation campaigns of 1999 to 2001 conducted in the Sanctuary of Apollo Phanaios at Kato Phana on Chios by the 20th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in collaboration with the British School at Athens. An account of the stratigraphy and architectural remains encountered is first presented, followed by a selected catalogue of the ceramic and small finds. The report concludes with a discussion of the chronological development of the site. While prior to the resumption of excavation work at Kato Phana in 1999 it was commonly held that the sanctuary had been established in the Late Geometric period, the new finds suggest that the history of cult worship here may extend back to the Late Mycenaean and the subsequent Protogeometric, Early Geometric and Middle Geometric periods. Excavation results now also reveal that by the seventh century BC the sanctuary had been architecturally embellished with permanent stone structures, with further architectural remodelling taking place on at least two subsequent occasions during the Archaic period. Though the paucity of Classical, Hellenistic and Roman finds from the site is puzzling, the Early Christian period provides a wealth of ceramic and small finds and architectural remains.

Red-figure pottery of Laconian manufacture was found in the excavations of the British School at Sparta in 1906–10 (Artemis Orthia, Acropolis) and 1924–8 (Acropolis), in particular the Roman theatre. This is entirely fragmentary, and is here published with full catalogue. Stratigraphical information is slight. Most fragments are from the Acropolis, particularly the area between the south wall of the shrine of Athena Chalkioikos and the retaining wall from the cavea of the Roman theatre. The most common shape is the large one-handled mug, which had a brief vogue in the last quarter of the fifth and first quarter of the fourth century. Other open shapes are craters, cups, plates. Closed shapes are far fewer, and exact forms not easy to determine: possibly pelikai and hydriai. There is a general stylistic connection with Attic red-figure of the last fifteen years of the fifth century and the first decade of the fourth.