In 1901 excavations were conducted under the auspices of the Cretan Exploration Fund at Praisos and Kato Zakro in eastern Crete. One of the members of the party was John Hubert Marshall, formerly of King's College, Cambridge. During his journey to and from the excavations, and described in the correspondence of Robert Carr Bosanquet, Marshall seems to have acquired antiquities from a number of sites which were purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge later in the year. This material included antiquities from Palaikastro which was to be become the scene of major excavations by the British School at Athens. Marshall was awarded a Craven Studentship at the British School at Athens in 1901, but in February 1902 was appointed Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. It was Marshall's experience of excavation on Crete which was to influence the development of archaeological fieldwork in India.

Viewed from the promontory of Perachora—and especially by night—there is a great contrast between the southern shores of the Gulf of Corinth and the northern shore of the Halcyonic gulf. To the south an almost continuous line of habitation is clearly visible—to the north, only the darkness of a coast where the mountains appear to drop directly into the sea. These mountains constitute a considerable barrier, beginning with the greatest of them, Helicon, to the west, set a little inland: next, on the very edge of the sea, Korombili; and then, further over to the east, the outliers of Cithaeron, which leave only the notoriously difficult route round the coast to Aegosthena by which a Spartan army precariously escaped. It is not surprising that the cities of the Boeotian hinterland largely turned their backs on the sea: except for certain events, to be considered below, this coast played little part in Boeotian history.

There are three significant harbours, or usable beaches, along this Boeotian coast (Fig. 1a). To the east, at the end of the bay between Cithaeron and Korombili is the beach of Livadhostro, the ancient Creusis. It is not a good beach, being open and exposed to the wind. Communication with the hinterland is not easy, and there is no modern road. The Thebans, in the year of Leuctra, kept a small fleet there, perhaps through compulsion rather than choice. At the extreme western end of this section of coast is the harbour of Sarandi. Between these two harbours, and to the west of Korombili, is the great landlocked bay of Domvraina. Even within this bay much of the coast is mountainous and abrupt, but there are two small harbours at the western end, and a reasonably large, very well-sheltered beach and harbour at the eastern end.

In accordance with the plan to explore a representative mound in each area of Central Macedonia, the Toumba of Saratsé was selected as occupying a key position in the group of mounds that lies in the region of Lakes Lankadás and Beshik. Prehistoric finds in this district have so far been represented by the neolithic pottery from above the village of Aïváte (now Léte), which lies at the foot of the hills, by the entrance to the Dervéni Pass, and by surface finds from mounds at Drymínklava (now Drymós), and elsewhere. It was hoped that a deposit might possibly be found at Saratsé which would throw some light on certain obscure points of the Macedonian Neolithic Age. No such deposit was found, and only some half-dozen neolithic sherds (all except one, unstratified), but a sequence of pottery from the Early Bronze Age onwards was obtained, which makes it possible to place the site, and by inference the area, in relation to the rest of Central Macedonia and to Chalcidice.

Professor Bosanquet's text was already in galley-proof more than fifteen years ago; but as it had to be re-set, I have made a few corrections and additions, and added the inventory numbers which the objects now bear in the Candia Museum (quoted under CM) and references to works published since 1926.

A full discussion of the seals from Palaikastro should take account of the numerous examples obtained in the province of Sitia by Sir Arthur Evans, who travelled there in the days of Turkish rule, and other collectors. Owing to the migratory character of the Christian population, many of whom passed the winter in the villages of the Palaikastro plain and the summer in villages in the hills, and to frequent intermarriages with more distant settlements, gems found here have been widely scattered. In the list which follows have been included some stones from Palaikastro and neighbouring sites which were bought for the Candia Museum during the excavation. It is probable that most of them come from interments disturbed in agricultural work.

The bronzes from the Orthia site are both individually and collectively of sufficient interest to bèar frequent discussion, and additional notes on some of the more important items cannot come amiss. Their appearance here facilitates direct comparison with the series from the Acropolis: this is particularly useful when applied to bronzes which, like Acropolis Nos. 4 and 6, and Orthia Nos. 13–16, are presumed to be of Spartan manufacture; it is also illuminating in the case of minor objects, some of which, like the votive fruits and the miniature vases, are common to both sites, while others, like the Geometric animals, are associated with one site only.

The last comprehensive study of Laconian, by E. A. Lane, was published in 1936, and to this all subsequent work in the field, including the present article, is greatly indebted. What follows is intended to develop one particular aspect of Lane's study, the identification of individual painters and their work. The need for exploration along such lines will hardly be disputed nowadays. Nevertheless, it may be worth referring to the succinct appraisal of such investigation by Dunbabin and Robertson.

The attributions here published comprise almost all Laconian vases with figure decoration found outside Laconia, in so far as they have been made known, and a number of the pieces discovered at Sparta itself. They show that a total of three painters, two of them pupils of one, were with their workshop followers responsible for the output of practically all the more ambitious Laconian vases. It remains to be seen how far this conclusion is borne out by the finds from Samos, the one considerable body of Laconian material still unpublished.

The paper describes the continuation in 1993–4 of the investigation into the Canal of Xerxes in the Chalkidiki, N. Greece. Effort was concentrated in the central sector of the isthmus, where geophysical survey using seismic methods revealed a channel-like structure some 14–15 m below the present ground level. Encouraging support for the hypothesis that this structure is a canal came from the analysis of cores from two boreholes in the central sector: there was a marked discontinuity in the sediments at a depth of c.14.6 m. Radiocarbon dates of some sediments from these boreholes provided useful ancillary information.

The village of Senirdje is situated some 15 km. to the N.N.W. of Isbarta (Baris), in northern Pisidia, in a gap in the hills dividing the plain of Isbarta from the plain of Ketchiborlu, through which the line of the railway-extension from Ketchiborlu to Egerdir now passes. Close to the village is a low, flat mound, in marshy ground, which, when I visited it in 1911, was entirely flooded owing to the severity of the previous winter. The mound, the northern part of which is traversed by the railway-cutting, rises to a height of 13 feet above the level of the plain, and 11 ft. 6 in. above the rail, at a point 150 feet to the right of the centre-line. The top of the northern bank of the cutting is about five feet above the rail, the southern bank about 9 feet. Some 18 inches down to the level of the plain remain unexcavated.

An important tomb group was discovered during the 1992 excavations of the Late Cypriot II town at Kalavasos–Ayios Dhimitrios. The tomb contained large quantities of Mycenaean ceramics, ranging in date between LH III A 2 and III B. Of particular importance was a chariot krater with the representation on both sides of a shrine, surmounted by horns of consecration, housing a seated female figure. As yet the iconography is unmatched among the known corpus of Mycenaean pictorial vases, though it appears to be related to Minoan–Mycenaean iconography known from other media.

Two ‘twin’ type B black-glaze skyphoi with an unusual profile to the base are described. Other examples of Type B skyphoi are listed, and the problem of origins discussed.

Our information as to Damophon's work at Lycosura is derived partly from Pausanias, and partly from the actual remains of the group. All the existing fragments have now been collected together in the newly-erected museum at Lycosura, and the gratitude of archaeologists is due to the Greek Archaeological Society, and to Dr. Kavvadias, the Ephor-General of Antiquities, for the opportunity thus afforded of seeing all the fragments together under one roof. During the last summer M. Kaloudes has added to his many services in the cause of Greek archaeology the partial restoration of two of the colossal members of the group, under the direction of Dr. Kourouniotis, Ephor of Antiquities for the Western Peloponnese. I am personally indebted to the Greek authorities for the opportunity of studying the fragments before, during, and since this restoration, and of publishing the results of my observations.

The L.H. IIIB deposits from Mycenae fall into two distinguishable groups. The earlier, called L.H. IIIB 1, is represented by the pottery from the destruction level in the houses east of the modern road and south of the tomb of Clytemnestra. The destruction to which we owe these deposits appears to have occurred late in the L.H. IIIB 1 phase, and probably also affected the houses on the Atreus ridge. The later group, classified as L.H. IIIB 2, has been found in buildings within the Citadel and also in isolated contexts outside the walls. The deposits from within the Citadel come from the debris of a second, more widespread, destruction which affected other centres as well as Mycenae. The differentiation of the two periods was confirmed in the Citadel House area by the finding of deposits of L.H. IIIB 2 stratified above others of L.H. IIIB 1 character. The pottery of both these phases from the Citadel House will be published in the general account of the excavations which have taken place in that area since 1959. The detailed publication of the whole vases from the L.H. IIIB 1 destruction level of the houses outside the walls is planned for the next article in this series.

This addendum presents the tables of the chemical compositions of Late Bronze Age pottery that were omitted from the authors' paper with the same title, published in 1991 in the Proceedings of the Conference on Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean (Oxford 1989). In addition, a short description and bibliography is provided for those sites in Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily from which the pottery was analysed.

The fragments of an early Mycenaean pictorial krater decorated with fish from Maroni in Cyprus are discussed and illustrated. The piece is considered within the broader context of contemporary representations, and it is suggested that Minoan representations of bird and fish motifs provided the inspiration for the use of these two themes in the early stages of Mycenaean vase-painting.

An ivory warrior head, discovered at the end of the last century in Enkomi Tomb 16, has often been mentioned and illustrated in the literature but it has never been the subject of a detailed study. Most interest has centred on whether the head represents a genuine Mycenaean carving or the survival of an Aegean motif in the Cypriote repertoire. Here form, function, material, carving technique and style are assessed, and comparisons are drawn with other warrior heads from Crete and mainland Greece. All evidence points conclusively to an Aegean origin for the Enkomi head.

In June and July of 1954 a team often divers spent just over four weeks exploring the east coast of Chios. The team was based on Emporio in the south-east, where the British School was excavating under the direction of M. S. F. Hood and J. Boardman, and was thus able to rely on the archaeologists there for expert guidance. Most of the underwater work took place in this area, but the team was also able to spend some time exploring the north-east coasts of the island, thanks to Mr. Tom Dupree, who put his yacht Kerynia at their disposal.

The main diving equipment consisted of three twin-cylinder aqualungs with three spare twin-cylinder air-tanks, and a compressor to recharge them with air, belonging to the British School at Athens. The purchase of this expensive equipment had been made possible by the great generosity of Lord Kelmsley and the Sunday Times newspaper. Miss Dilys Powell, as representative of the Sunday Times, joined the expedition for two weeks and took an active part in the work.

In January 1974 traces of a built tomb were found in the angle between the Knossos and Fortetsa roads, close to the Venizeleion Hospital (Fig. 1). A bulldozer had been cutting out a driveway on the south side of the Tzatzadakis house, between it and the adjacent olive grove (plan, Fig. 1) when the discovery was made. At the request of Dr. St. Alexiou, Ephor of Antiquities for Crete, a rescue excavation was carried out from 11 to 15 February 1974 by H. W. Catling, for the British School. The trenches were refilled immediately after the excavation.

‘It is a singular fact regarding the eparkhia of Agios Vasiles, that throughout its whole extent not any ancient city has been discovered; and yet there can be no doubt that in one or two of the most populous of these valleys there must have been a town of more or less importance. To all my inquiries, however, in my two journeys through the greater part of the province, I could learn of no ruins or traditional site of any Hellenic city. … Notwithstanding this denial, I am induced to call the attention of any future traveller to this absence of any recognized ancient site in so large a district …’ So Captain Spratt at the end of the second volume of his Travels and Researches in Crete, published in 1865.

In 1913 an essay of mine appeared in the JHS (XXXIII 27 ff.) entitled ‘Three Greek Numeral Systems.’ Shortly afterwards I published in this Annual (XVIII 98 ff.) an article on ‘The Greek Numeral Notation,’ in which I collected and summarised the available evidence for all the numeral systems of the acrophonic type used among the Greeks and set forth the main conclusions to which that evidence pointed. In a later volume (XXVIII 141 ff.) I added some ‘Further Notes on the Greek Acrophonic Numerals,’ recording the examples which had accumulated since the publication of my previous article and giving a new and fuller edition of an important text from a site near Andania in Messenia (IG V 1. 1532). No further discussion of the subject has appeared and scholars have repeatedly cited my articles as giving the fullest and most recent treatment of it.

During a rescue excavation in the village of Magoula near Sparta, a pit was revealed which contained a heap of fragments of large and small vessels, the products of an unglazed ware pottery workshop. This paper presents the distinctive features of the workshop; the characteristic incised decoration on the strap-handle is considered its ‘trade mark’. The operation of the workshop is dated to the first half or the middle of the 12th cent., and its production is identified in large closed vessels (stamnia) and small jugs for everyday use.