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.

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.

The South Stoa at the Argive Heraion is the best-preserved Peloponnesian stoa of the fifth century B.C., and one of the earliest anywhere with substantial remains of a stone entablature; it shows definite evidence of features which are rarely found elsewhere. The publication of it by Tilton at the beginning of this century certainly does not do justice either to the interest of its design or to the quality of its workmanship, and a complete republication of the existing remains would be well worth while. The present paper does not attempt to fulfil this need, however; it is directed instead to two interrelated features of the stoa which, it appears, were not fully understood by Tilton, the roof structure and the outer colonnade, and to a brief consideration of their significance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Permit was granted for the School to carry out a trial excavation at Haliartos in Boeotia with the object of establishing the plan of the ancient walls of the city and testing the future possibilities of the site.

Digging was begun on March 30th on the west wall of the Acropolis—Mr. Woodward being present to direct operations for the first two days. Five men were employed at first, but after the opening week the number was raised to six.

For about a fortnight the workmen were employed in determining the lines of the walls of the Acropolis. It was found impossible in the limited time available for the excavation to include the outer town walls in the investigation. For the second fortnight the men were chiefly engaged in excavating a sanctuary and adjacent buildings which were discovered within the Acropolis. Work was continued until April 28th.

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.

This paper presents a new edition of a boundary stone between Capua (on Crete) and Knossos. I identify the post of Publius Messius Campanus as procurator Campaniae rather than procurator Caesaris. The appearance of the procurator Campaniae on Crete is linked to a dispute between the colony of Capua and a private citizen called Plotius Plebeius. This new reading has several important historical consequences: first, it is the earliest attestation of a procurator Campaniae (and the first outside Italy); second, it offers a new interpretation of the juridical category of Knossian lands as part of the ager vectigalis of the Italian colony of Capua in the form of a praefectura Campana or Capuensis; third, it proposes a reinterpretation of the process of arbitration between a public entity (Capua) and a private owner.

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 difficulties that hedged round the Garden of the Hesperides in the Greek seem still destined to make the Cyrenaica, a country to which the eyes of archæologists have so wistfully turned, almost as inaccessible to the modern traveller as to the heroes of ancient fable. The classic maidens have vanished, the Garden is somewhat run to seed, but the dragon of early legend is there, in the person of the native official who guards the historical treasures that lie strewn over the rich sites of the Pentapolis, stately tombs that worthless Arabs kennel in or plunder for statues and vases, to be peddled to Maltese or Greeks for (literally) home consumption or foreign export.

A scheme of exploration in the central and eastern parts of Asia Minor was inaugurated last year by a series of journeys in Phrygia, the main results of which have been published in the Journal of Hellenic Studies (for 1897 and 1898). During the present season I had the good fortune to be accompanied by Mr. J. W. Crowfoot, to whom the opportunity was afforded by the liberality of the supporters of the Asia Minor Exploration Fund, and our energies were devoted chiefly to the exploration of Galatia, a country which has received but scant attention from archaeological or other travellers. But on our way thither, we did a piece of preliminary work in the shape of re-examining two difficult inscriptions which I had copied last year and visiting an unknown corner of Phrygia on the north of Mt. Dindymos (Murad Dagh). In the following paper we propose to give a full account of this preliminary excursion, and a brief sketch of our work in Galatia which will indicate in detail the routes we followed, and so impart a good deal of information that will be of use to future travellers, but cannot be conveniently repeated in our detailed discussion of the district.

The following notes deal partly with some results of our first season in Melos, partly with Ægean objects in English collections. Mr. Cecil Smith and Mr. Edgar have given me help which I gratefully acknowledge. Incidentally some progress has been made with the task, which Dümmler deemed hopeless, of identifying the scattered contents of the tombs at Phylakopi. Much remains to be done by the comparative study of objects on museum shelves. Still more necessary is the systematic excavation of cemeteries, a branch of research which Greek archæologists have too often left to peasants in the pay of dealers.

§ 1. There follow two transliterations, in the first of which I have put down only those letters which seem to me now absolutely certain (from the photograph, the impression, and Mr. Bosanquet's notes); the letters underlined are slightly injured but still clear. In the second I have indicated all the readings which seem to me to be reasonably probable from the indications of the impression, corrected by Mr. Bosanquet's reading of the stone wherever he felt it was certain. Where his repeated examination left him still in some doubt, it seems wisest to leave the text suggested by the impression, as giving at least possible alternatives. In the second transcription only those letters are underlined which appear to me open to some degree of doubt.

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.

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.

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.

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.