In 1961 Miss Sandars published her important paper on the ancestry of the Aegean long-sword. She argued that the long-sword was an Aegean invention under Syrian influence, and traced some of the features of the long-sword back to the Early Bronze Age weapons of Crete. The present writer has recently published a comprehensive survey of these Early Bronze Age weapons and demonstrated that in E.M. III and M.M. IA several Syrian features were adopted for the Minoan long daggers. It has also proved possible to illustrate an influx of actual Syrian daggers, probably in M.M. IB–M.M. II, and to suggest the place they should occupy in the development of Minoan metallurgy. Despite these various inquiries, however, the vital transitional period of Minoan metalworking—M.M. IB–M.M. II—remains obscure. Apart from one or two exceptional pieces like the Mallia swords and the decorated dagger from Lasithi the products of this period have gone unstudied and their importance to the emergence of the long-sword and broad dagger has gone unrecognized. It is this situation which the writer seeks to remedy. This paper attempts to trace the development of the four main weapons of M.M. III–L.M. II (the long-sword, short-sword, broad dagger, and ‘winged’ dagger) from the end of the Early Bronze Age. A catalogue gives details of thirty-two weapons which the writer considers to belong to this transitional phase. Many of these were found in association with material of M.M. IB–M.M. II date, but some are not closely datable and others are probably to be dated to M.M. IA or possibly even E.M. III. This is because the qualification for entry into the catalogue has been that a weapon is of a transitional character, rather than of a certain date. In fact the transitional phase would seem to overlap to some extent with the end of the distinct and quite individual Early Bronze Age phase of metallurgy.

Last year's report contained an account of the excavation of the building on the hills to the east of the Eurotas, which has been identified with the Menelaion, the shrine of Menelaos and Helen mentioned by Herodotus and Pausanias. Besides the numerous archaic objects which were then published, this work produced a few sherds of Mycenaean pottery and fragments of Mycenaean terracottas, always at a lower level than the deposits of Laconian and Geometric ware. A further clue was afforded by a Mycenaean house, which was found by a trial-pit on the eastern peak of the hill, and Tsountas' report that Mycenaean sherds were to be found on the surface in the neighbouring fields was also verified.

Several rock-cut features, exposed on the surface of a trackway in the Tholos area of Kastri, Kythera, were excavated in July–August 2000 as a synergasia between Kythera Island Project and 2nd Ephoria of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. Although the surviving deposits were extremely shallow, they produced large quantities of conical cups and other pottery of Late Minoan I date. Further comparative analysis of the features themselves and their finds suggests that these are the remains of tomb chambers similar to those excavated in the area in the 1960s. These tombs and their assemblages show extremely strong cultural connections with Crete, but also idiosyncrasies that probably reflect the particular mortuary customs of the island.

The necropolis of the city of Tharros in Sardinia has been extremely prolific in tomb furniture, and many lamps have been found there. Over forty lamps from this site are in the collections of the British Museum. All were acquired at the same time, and most of them were said to be from tomb groups. The groups containing lamps are Tombs 1–10, 12, 16, 18–19, 22, 26, 30–31, 33, 60–63, 65–71 (the tomb numbers for the whole collection run from 1–33, 50–57, 60–63, and 65–71; there are thus several gaps in the sequence).

The great majority of the British Museum lamps from Tharros are of Athenian manufacture and with the recent publication of Howland's book on lamps from the Agora these can be dated very accurately. But unfortunately such is the indeterminate nature of the tomb groups themselves that these lamps cannot be used to date the objects said to have been found with them. As will be seen in the brief descriptions given below in the Catalogue, many of the objects found in a given tomb are in almost impossibe chronological juxtaposition to one another, and few tomb groups, if any, can be regarded as homogeneous (except perhaps the Roman tombs 50–57 with glass cinerary urns and brittleware pottery, which, being lampless, do not concern us here). But looking at the objects from the tomb groups with lamps as a whole, one might put forward the following remarks.

This study examines the relationships between birds and liquids in the Minoan, Cycladic and Mycenaean cultures. Objects under investigation are bird-shaped vessels, bird figurines attached to vessels, and some special pouring vessels decorated with painted bird motifs, which are listed in an accompanying catalogue. Analysis of this material demonstrates that images of both doves and waterbirds were consistently linked to liquid-containing vessels, but there are significant chronological and regional variations regarding the preference for bird species. Another aspect fluctuating with period and place is the type of contact created between liquid and bird motif. Three categories dividable into three or two subtypes can be recognised, which mainly differ from each other by the degree of proximity that is established between the fluid and bird motif. It is argued that these differences reflect variations in the perception of birds regarding their relationship to liquids. While a direct and active participation of birds in the flow of liquids such as water and milk is observable in many Cretan and Cycladic objects, the artefacts from the Greek Mainland show a different pattern, whereby less direct contact combined with a stylised rendering suggests that the bird motif was accorded a more passive role by symbolising the positive effect of the flow of water. These findings contribute to recent scholarly debates on human–animal relationships and ontologies in the Aegean Bronze Age.

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.

The stratigraphy and the Mycenaean III C pottery of Enkomi Level III B (Dikaios's excavations) is examined on the basis of a new study of the pottery in the Larnaka and Nicosia Museum storerooms. The assignation of the Pleonastic Style (Dikaios's ‘Close Style’) and the Wavy Line Style to different phases of Level III B is clarified. The presence of pottery of Proto-White Painted Ware amongst the Level III B material allows correlations to be drawn with the French excavations at Enkomi (Sols III–I).

Following the destruction of Minoan palaces in LM I B, a new social reality emerged in Crete. Important economic and administrative changes occurred over a period of 250 years (LM II–III). Originally, a strictly centralized system was imposed by Knossos with the aim of securing authority over part of the island in LM II–III A 1. Later, in LMIII A 2 the economic and administrative system appears to have changed. This new system was decentralized and based on regional centres. Knossos was at the summit, a few powerful regional centres were subjects to the palace. In the LM III B period, after the final destruction of the palace of Knossos, the scene changes again. The economic system rested on independent regional centres of greater or smaller economic impact, which were scattered all over the island. The most important of these centres was undoubtedly Chania.

The four seasons of excavation conducted by D. M. Robinson at Olynthos between 1928 and 1938 produced a large quantity of red-figure pottery from settlement and cemetery. This material was published in volumes 5 and 13 of the final report. Robinson recognized that many of the red-figure fragments were of local Chalcidic fabric, and he tried to distinguish a few hands, but he made no detailed study. In ARV 1507–9 J. D. Beazley attributed a number of vases to a Painter of Olynthos 5.156 and a Group of Olynthos 5.141, and noted that they ‘might be local Olynthian’ but he ‘did not see that they differed from Attic in clay or technique’. More recently a few local red-figure vases, from private collections and rescue excavations, have been published, and others, still unpublished, are on display in the museums of Salonica and Polygiros. The excavations at Torone, still in progress, have also produced some fragments of non-Attic red-figure. On the basis of this material I have tried to distinguish more clearly some of the red-figure painters active in the Chalcidice in the fourth century; but I ought to emphasize that there are many vases and fragments not included here.

The floruit of the Cretan jewellery workshop in the Iron Age is attested by many finds. To these are now added two gold finger-rings, each decorated with two attached embossed heads, recently acquired by the Metaxas Collection in Heraklion (Plate 23, a). They not only enrich our knowledge of this important branch of the art of Crete, but also prove Cretan priority in the adoption of a decorative technique widely used in the islands and in Ionia. I am greatly indebted to Mr. N. Metaxas for permission to publish these important works.

Minos Kalokairinos is renowned for his discovery of the Minoan palace of Knossos. However, his pioneering investigations of the topography and monuments of Greek and Roman Knossos, as laid out especially in his Cretan Archaeological Journal, have largely been overlooked. In the Journal, Kalokairinos offers invaluable information on the changing archaeological landscape of Knossos in the second half of the nineteenth century. This enables the identification of several unknown or lost monuments, including major structures, inscriptions and sculptures, and allows the location of the context of discovery to be assigned to specific parts of the ancient city. Additionally, the Journal offers glimpses into the collection of Knossian antiquities and their export beyond the island. Antiquities from the site ended up in Athens, and as far afield as Egypt and western Europe, and have hitherto been considered as unprovenanced. They are here identified as Knossian and are traced to their specific context of discovery, with considerable implications for our understanding of the topography, the monuments and the epigraphic record of the ancient city.

The Ashmolean Museum, with the help of the Sir Arthur Evans Fund, has recently acquired three sets of material, vases and bronzes, said to have been found in Crete. Such a provenance is confirmed by the nature of the objects themselves. The three sets were acquired at different times on the London market, but the first (sixteen painted vases) and the second (eleven bronze weapons and tools) were said to have come from one and the same site, reputed to be somewhere in the region of Siteia. The remaining set of objects (eleven painted vases) has no more precise provenance than ‘Crete’.

The material appears all to be of Late Minoan III date; the twenty-seven painted vases include examples of Late Minoan IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC date, and there is probably a similar chronological spread among the bronzes. As comparatively little material of the same categories has been published in detail, the opportunity is taken to illustrate and describe these Oxford acquisitions as a contribution to Late Minoan III studies.

In recent articles the present writer has used the evidence of brickstamps in proposing new dates for the walls of Thessaloniki, for the mosaics of the second phase of the Rotunda (now dedicated to St. George), and for the Byzantine palace. In each case, reference was made to only two or three examples, and it is with a view to reinforcing and developing the arguments already expressed that all the published fifth-century brickstamps recognizable as such are assembled here (with the addition of some unpublished examples).

This article focuses on a recent find from the archaeological site of Vergina, which is identified as the old capital of the Macedonian kingdom, Aegae. In the surroundings of a sanctuary three burials were discovered with outstanding components. One of them, a gold oak wreath, constitutes the object of investigation. At the outset of the study the excavation site and the data of the discovery of the burials are outlined. Then the wreath is analytically presented in terms of typology, technology, craftsmanship and style. In order to incorporate it in a network of precious artefacts, the other four oak wreaths found in Macedonia and dated to the fourth century bc are described and all of them are compared in the search for similarities or differences. Through this procedure three of them, all from Vergina, emerge as belonging to the same artistic tradition and possibly the same place of production.

Then the issue of different contexts is addressed. First of all, the burial in question and the particularities of the other two burials with oak wreaths from Vergina are examined, resulting in the articulation of a pattern. The next step comprises a general sketch of the meaning of wreaths in antiquity both in life and in death, while a subsequent brief consideration of funerary assemblages from the same period and region lays emphasis on the symbolic significance of these head ornaments in their contexts. Attention is also drawn to the plant that the wreath imitates, which is connected to Zeus. In this framework the oldest known oak wreath, that of ‘Philip II’, is evaluated mainly by examining politics as reflected on coinage. The power of such symbols as applied to other members of the same family is put forward. Another level of approach, the evaluation of the wider territorial context, offers insights into the decision to deposit the burial in the area of an intra muros sanctuary in the old and venerated capital of the kingdom.

When the results of the study are combined, a working hypothesis emerges that would consider the burial containing the gold wreath as connected to a member of the ruling family. Research turns to the literary evidence and from this it appears that there is a possibility that the burial is that of the illegitimate murdered son of Alexander the Great.

The concluding section refers briefly to episodes in the cultural biography of the wreath. In the meantime, until further and holistic study of the three burials and the construction where they were discovered is carried out, the gold oak wreath forms part of exhibitions on various themes as a representative of the assemblages.

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.

The archaeological evidence for the sack of Smyrna is considered, together with later material. It is argued that this confirms a date for the sack around 600 BC, early in Alyattes' reign.

This paper examines the nature and extent of changes in landscapes, societies, and economies in the numerous city-states of the Peloponnese under Macedonian domination (338–196 BC). Emigration and warfare may have had limited and short-term impacts. While Macedonian rule may have been oppressive before and after the Chremonidean war, it did not necessarily disrupt local economies and politics. The Antigonids did not run the Peloponnese as a province, and were concerned mainly with security. Though the building of towns and forts declined, and some cities were abandoned or lost freedom at times, others enjoyed new amenities and religious architecture. Epigraphic output was maintained, and a sharp increase in the centralization of inscriptions in central places post-dates 200. The traditionally oligarchic culture of most city-states was probably unchanged; and while the élite domination of land and politics may have intensified, archaeological survey reveals no trends that can conclusively be attributed to Macedonian rule.

In the context of our ongoing work on the new corpus of Theban inscriptions (IG VII2, 4), we had the opportunity to study the famous inscription that records the contributions for the refoundation of Thebes after 315 bc. The inscription consists of two fragments, the first of which has been known since the nineteenth century, whereas the second was published very recently by Professor Buraselis. Following Buraselis’ publication, the two fragments were physically joined in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, where the inscription is currently on display. Our article provides the first ever full epigraphic edition of both fragments after autopsy. It is accompanied by detailed epigraphic notes, new supplements, apparatus criticus and a full historical analysis. By combining the study of abundant literary and epigraphic sources, we have attempted to place the inscription in its historical context, correcting certain earlier scholarly assumptions, making new suggestions about the motivations of the numerous contributors, and examining the modalities of the refoundation of Thebes.

The outstanding feature of the excavations of 1925 was the discovery, in the circumstances above described, of substantial portions of a marble statue, of more than life size, representing a helmeted warrior. These comprise (1) the head and armless torso down to the waist; (2) two portions of the marble crest, which join each other, and fit on to the helmet; (3) the left leg, from knee to ankle; (4) part of the right foot, lacking heel and toes (material, scale, and style as far as can be seen in its damaged condition, make the attribution practically certain); (5) a small piece from the rim of the marble shield, which we must restore the figure as holding.

There are two cuttings for the crest on the top of the helmet, of which that nearer the front is ·085 m. long, the other ·10 m.; a plain surface lies between them, ·026 m. long; the cuttings are nearly straight-sided, but vary in width between ·028 and ·035 m. A part of the tenon of the crest was found broken off short in the rearward cutting, and has since been rejoined to the fragment to which it belongs.

Damage: both arms are missing, being broken away at the shoulders, and in addition the surface has been flaked off from the back of the right shoulder and the chest close to the arm-pit.

The Acropolis Basilica, Sparta, was first excavated by G. Guttle, under the auspices of the British School at Athens, in the 1920s. Two further campaigns were carried out by members of the Athens Archaeological Society, who were not privy to the unpublished excavation daybooks of the British campaign. As a result, 80 years on, the church is still poorly understood; its date and chronological development have been the subject of much scholarly debate, as has its attribution to Osios Nikon. The first phase of a new study of the basilica is now well underway. This consists of non-intrusive study and recording to reach a better understanding of the monument and the previous investigations before new excavations are carried out. The aims of the first phase of the project are to undertake archaeological cleaning of the basilica and its associated buildings to facilitate the production of an accurate ground plan of monuments, the creation of stone by stone elevations of the exterior walls of all the buildings, and the detailed photography of every aspect of the entire basilica complex. Detailed recording of the features exposed in the basilica has been carried out in order to assess chronological phasing (both through context and architecture), use of space within the basilica and potential reconstructions of the edifices. Following the first season of the project, we have a number of preliminary ideas regarding the phasing of the basilica and use of architectural space. In this article we present these ideas, our methodology, a new plan of the monument and its associated buildings and, for the first time, a resume of Cuttle's excavations.