Two inscriptions commemorating the battle of Marathon and set up soon after 490 have come down to us. Both are epigrams and both have profited by recent discovery and research. The one, IG I2 763, has had its left-hand portion added by a fortunate find in the Agora, giving the beginnings of four hexameters: the other, IG I2 609, an inscribed column formerly carrying a statue, has now, as a result of recent study, been reunited with the dedication it once bore, a winged woman, a Nike, it is thought. The group is one of the more spectacular fruits of the long-sustained and still continuing attempt to reunite the scattered pieces of the ‘Perserschutt’. The reasons for dealing again with this latter dedication are new readings offered as a result of an examination of the inscription in the Epigraphical Museum in Athens.

There are fragments of eight to ten tripods from Palaikastro now in the Candia Museum. Some of these were found outside and in front of the temple precincts. The excavator mentions fourteen, but he may not have noticed that certain fragments belong to the same tripod. Part of a tripod-leg in the British Museum catalogued (1907, 1–19–233) as being from Palaikastro and published BSA XXXV, 96, 97, fig. 10, pl. 23, 5, is illustrated in Bosanquet's notes, but I have not been able to determine the exact provenience of individual tripods at Palaikastro. Compare the position of tripods found in front of the sanctuary of Polis in Ithaca, BSA XXXV, 51, and in front of the Idaean Cave, Halbherr and Orsi, Museo Italiano, II, p. 5. It certainly comes from the same workshop as Candia Museum No. 86 from the Idaean Cave and carries a similar figurine.

This paper presents the results of the second and main period of excavation. The limits of the site were defined: a monumental building with four covered slipways or shipsheds, flanking another major public building, quite possibly the agora. Preliminary conclusions based on the 2001 excavation of the northernmost shipshed (BSA 2003) can be supplemented and modified.

The surprising discovery was ramps of sand, resurfaced several times during the second half of the fifth century. Shipsheds 3–4 produced evidence of two architectural phases, with the back- and side-walls moved upslope, and the ramps now ending in an upswinging curve.

The existence of an early phase in the dockyard, already indicated in 2001, was confirmed. The later roof of Corinthian type, without decoration (second half of fifth century), was preceded by a roof of the late sixth–early fifth century BC, attested in particular by a remarkable series of antefixes, both Sileni and Gorgoneia, found in every shed, with some concentration in sheds 2 and 3, and with a number of other architectural terracottas (all described in the catalogue). The excavation context shows that this material comes from the same roof, indicating the very unusual combination of Silenus mask and Gorgon mask antefixes.

Other finds are more briefly discussed. Remains of red and blue pigment show that ships were painted in the shipsheds. Pottery finds provide considerable evidence of drinking; so do some graffiti, while others may be ostraka for a selection procedure (possibly ostracism). A scatter of arrow-heads and a few spear-heads have been found in the working levels of the ramps.

The case is put for shipsheds as monumental architecture, with some specifically Sicilian features. Comparative material for use of wooden posts and post-pits is discussed, and also the use of mudbrick.

A three-dimensional computer reconstruction of the shipshed complex is illustrated, and some particular aspects discussed (lighting and drainage of water from the roof). The reconstruction preferred has a separate stepped ridged roof over shipsheds 1–2 and 3–4.

Η παρούσα ανακοίνωση παρουσιάζει τα αποτελέσματα της δεύτερης και κύριας ανασκαφικής περιόδου. Τα όρια που καθορίστηκαν στον ανασκαφικό χώρο ήταν: ένα κτίριο μνημειακής αρχιτεκτονικής με τέσσερα στεγαζόμενα νεώρια ή νεωσοίκους, το οποίο βρισκεται πλευρικά σε ένα άλλο μεγάλο δημόσιο κτίριο, κατά πάσα πιθανότητα την αγορά. Τα αρχικά συμπεράσματα που βασίζονται στις ανασκαφές του 2001 στο βορειότερο νεώσοικο (BSA 2003) μπορούν να συμπληρωθούν και να τροποποιηθούν.

Η απροσδόκητη ανακάλυψη ήταν τα κεκλιμμένα επίπεδα (ράμπες) από άμμο, τα οποία επιστρώθηκαν ξανά αρκετές φορές κατά τη διάρκεια του δεύτερου μισού του 5ου αιώνα. Οι νεώσοικοι 3–4 παρείσχαν ενδείξεις δύο αρχιτεκτονικών φάσεων, με τους οπίσθιους και πλαϊνούς τοίχους μετακινημένους προς την πλαγιά του λόφου και τα κεκλιμμένα επίπεδα να καταλήγουν τώρα σε μία ανωφερική καμπύλη.

Η ύπαρξη μίας πρωιμότερης φάσης στο νεώριο, που είχε ήδη επισημανθεί το 2001, επιβεβαιώθηκε. Της ύστερης στέγης κορινθιακού τύπου χωρίς διακόσμηση (δεύτερο μισό του 5ου αιώνα) προηγήθηκε μία στέγη του ύστερου 6ου-πρώιμου 5ου αιώνα π.Χ., η οποία πιστοποιήθηκε ειδικότερα από μία εντυπωσιακή σειρά από ακροκέραμα, με μορφές Σειληνών και Гοργόνεια, τα οποία βρέθηκαν σε κάθε νεώσοικο, με μια ιδιαίτερη συγκέντρωση στους νεωσοίκους 2 και 3, όπως επίσης και από έναν αριθμό άλλων πήλινων αρχιτεκτονικών μελών (περιγράφονται στον κατάλογο). Το ανασκαφικό περιβάλλον (context) δείχνει ότι αυτό το υλικό προέρχεται από την ίδια στέγη, υποδεικνύοντας τον πολύ ασυνήθιστο συνδυασμό ακροκεράμων με προσωπίδες Σειληνών και Гοργόνεια.

Τα υπόλοιπα ευρήματα συζητώνται με μεγαλύτερη συντομία. Υπολείμματα ερυθράς και κυανής χρωστικής δείχνουν ότι η βαφή των πλοίων γινόταν στους νεωσοίκους. Ευρήματα κεραμεικής παρέχουν αξιόλογες ενδείξεις κατανάλωσης ποτού- το ίδιο υποδηλώνουν και ορισμένα ακκιδογραφήματα (graffiti), ενώ άλλα, είναι ίσως όσιρακα προς χρήσιν σε κάποια εκλογική διαδικασία (ενδεχομένως οστρακισμό). Ένας αριθμός διεσπαρμένων αιχμών βελών και λίγες αιχμές ακοντίων έχουν βρεθεί στους χώρους εργασίας των κεκλιμμένων επιπέδων.

Η θεωρία που διατυπώνεται αφορά στους νεωσοίκους ως μνημειακή αρχιτεκτονική με ορισμένα ιδιαίτερα σικελικά χαρακτηριστικά. Εξετάζεται και συγκριτικό υλικό για την χρήση ξύλινων πασσάλων και πασσαλο-οπών, όπως επίσης και η χρήση ωμοπλίνθων.

Απεικονίζεται, ακόμη, μία τρισδιάστατη ηλεκτρονική αναπαράσταση του συγκροτήματος των νεωσοίκων και εξετάζονται ορισμένα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά (ο φωτισμός και η απορροή του νερού από τη στέγη). Η αναπαράσταση που προτιμήθηκε παρουσιάζει μία ξεχωριστή, βαθμιδωτή, δίρριχτη στέγη πάνω από τους νεωσοίκους 1–2 και 3–4.

Four letters written in 1879, 1880, and 1884, by Thomas B. Sandwith, the British Consul in Crete, to the British Museum throw light on the early history of the site of the Bronze Age palace at Knossos. The first of these letters (1879) contains a brief eyewitness account of the excavations of Minos Kalokairinos there in the winter of 1878–9 and urges the British Museum to continue his work. The two later letters (1884) deal with his gift of a pithos from the palace excavations to the Museum. The letters also refer to clandestine excavations in the Sanctuary of Demeter at Knossos.

I discuss four Linear A axe-head inscriptions. Two of them have not previously been published, one is discussed (though without a photograph) in AE 1953–4 (ii), 64 by N. K. Boufides, and one, though published by Evans in his first article on Cretan script before his excavations at Knossos (JHS xiv (1894), 280), is referred to neither in S.M. i nor by Carratelli. Its attribution to Linear A is probable but not certain.

Samples of seventeen painted Geometric vases from Veii in southern Etruria were subjected to Mössbauer analysis, a technique that has recently achieved the notoriously elusive distinction between LG made at and imported to Pithekoussai. The two main groups (A, B) and three subgroups (B-i, B-ii, B-iii) established analytically at Veii are compared with the identifications proposed on stylistic grounds for the same pieces by J.-P. Descœudres and R. Kearsley in BSA 78 (1983) 9–53. Only the five non-calcareous samples in group A appear to qualify for imported Euboean status; of the calcareous subgroups, B-i (four samples) is tentatively equated with Veii itself and B-ii (four samples) with mainland Campania; no provenance can as yet be assigned to B-iii (two samples); there are two ‘rogues’. Agreement with Descœudres and Kearsley is possible on six samples, and partially so on three more; disagreement is total in the six cases where the origin is defined stylistically as Greek and analytically as Italian (or vice versa). In view of the current shortage of comparable Mössbauer analyses, the authors stress the need for caution in interpreting the present results, and refer briefly to the circumstances in which some ‘Euboean Geometric’ from western sites might have been made by immigrant potters.

During the archaeological survey research project ‘Island Cultures in a Diachronic Perspective: the case of Therasia’, large amounts of pottery were recorded throughout the island of Therasia, ranging in date from the Bronze Age to modern times. Focusing on the prehistoric period, pottery of the Early Cycladic and late Middle Cycladic periods was recovered at Panaghia Koimisis, which is situated on the southern part of the island. This paper presents the petrographic data and results of the analysis carried out on pottery samples which are representative of variable surface treatments and different macro-fabrics of these two prehistoric periods. Tackling issues of provenance and technology, the current scientific analysis attests the coexistence of Theran and off-Theran pottery fabrics already at Panaghia Koimisis in the Early Cycladic period. The majority of the pottery fabrics at Panaghia Koimisis were identified as Theran and the analysis demonstrates intensive contacts between the southern parts of Thera and Therasia throughout the Early and late Middle Cycladic phases. Moreover, adding support to previous studies, this research indicates a wide Cycladic pottery network, in which the site participated as a consumer. During the late Middle Cycladic period major changes in the Theran production are documented, including the disappearance of the earlier pottery recipe, which had been prevalent at Panaghia Koimisis.

The valley is 12 km in length and is divided by a watershed at 550 m. from basins draining northwards to the Mesara Plain. The study area forms the southernmost part of the catchment, draining south, by the A. Kyriaki River, to the Libyan Sea. The river and several of its tributaries are ephemeral (Fig. 2).

It is evident that the geology of the area dictates the shape of the land, and in the past, as now, controlled the quantity of flat land available for settlement and cultivation.

The epigraphic record of Miletus records an eminent family using the names Iphicrates, Menestheus, and Zopyros. The name Iphicrates is not common: it is suggested that it passed into the family after a member of it served under the Athenian general Iphicrates, whose second son was called Menestheus. Apollonios son of Menestheus, strategos of Koile Syria and Phoenicia under Seleucus IV, is probably a descendant of this Milesian family.

Under the same title M. M. Vasić published an article forty years ago, which was then the first step towards a systematic study of the connections between the Aegean area and the Serbian and North Balkan spheres. M. Vasić's article was the first result of the first systematic researches at Vinča, the most important site of the Northern Balkans. From this time on many excavations have been made at Vinč and other prehistoric sites, and the material has piled up too rapidly for scientific evaluation to cope with. As the past forty years, ending with World War II and the subsequent events in Yugoslavia, must no doubt be reckoned an entire phase in the history of this study, it seems appropriate now to attempt to give a summary of the results so far gained.

In the summer of 1975 the owner of a small estate on the eastern slopes of Lower Gypsadhes decided to build a private road upslope to a belvedere overlooking the palace area. In the course of grading, several archaeological features were damaged before work was halted by the intervention of the Antiquities Guard. The Ephor of Antiquities at Herakleion then asked the British School to undertake rescue excavations in the area, and the Director of the School requested that I investigate the most important of the damaged constructions, an Iron Age chamber tomb.

About half-way along the course of the new road was a large area covered with the shattered remains of Geometric and Orientalizing vessels, but no sign of a tomb remained above ground. Preliminary excavation revealed the cause of this pattern.

In 1987 the Manchester team made casts of the skulls of the priest and priestess discovered at Anemospilia (Archanes) by J. A. and E. Sakellarakis, and after careful medical study—which showed that the priestess suffered from anaemia as well as halitosis—reconstructed their faces, according to the technique used on the skull from tomb II at Vergina (Philip II).

This deposit is one of a series of stratified groups from the recent excavations at Mycenae' which should form the basis for a closer definition of the pottery sequence there than has been possible before; it should also help with the identification of the sequence elsewhere, particularly in the Argolid.

It was found in a room in the ‘House with the Idols’ (Citade lHouse) constructed at or very near the beginning of the period defined as L.H. IIIB 1, and seems to be household rubbish which accumulated during a span of some years; subsequently it was covered by an inserted wall before the conflagration during the period L.H. IIIB 2 which destroyed so many of the buildings at Mycenae. The deposit consists of a small but distinctive quantity of painted wares, largely open shapes, and a large group of unpainted pottery including many whole profiles. Its date is clearly within L.H. IIIB 1, with ‘Zygouries’ type kylikes, ‘open style’ deep bowls, and only slight evidence for the presence of deep bowls with monochrome interiors and none for ‘rosette’ bowls, two of the main criteria for the subsequent period. In my opinion it represents, when viewed as a whole, a slightly later stage of development than the group published in BSA lxi by Mrs. French, there seem to be fewer of the elements surviving from earlier, and a rather more limited range of patterns. The various stages of deposition cover an unknown period of time, ending perhaps as late as the beginning of L.H. IIIB 2. Despite the small number of pieces it may be that this is a more typical selection of L.H. IIIB 1 pottery than the group previously published.

The main epigraphic evidence for the water-supply of Aphrodisias in Roman times is to be found in the fragmentary inscriptions published by Doublet and Deschamps in BCH XIV (1890), 611–13, nos. 7–10, and CIG 2782, ll. 40–2. From the former group of texts it has been assumed that two water-systems were installed, one in the time of Vespasian and the other in the time of Domitian; I hope to show that these texts refer to one water-system only, that built in the time of Domitian. From the latter passage it has sometimes been thought that M. Ulpius Carminius Claudianus paid for the laying-on of the waters of the river Timeles to the city in the age of the Antonines. This assumption rested on the false reading ὲλ[ειο]δ[ι]ὰκτο[υ]ς introduced by Boeckh. The word ὲλειοδὶὰκτος is taken to mean a ‘conduit for draining marshes’ (LS9, s.v.). Sherard's copy preserves the true reading ἒλ <α> ια δρακτοῖς πολλὰκις τεθεικὸτα. All that can be proved by the inscription is that Carminius Claudianus made several distributions of oil ὲν τῶ̣ καιρῶ̣ τῆς τοῦ Τε<ι>μὲλου ποταμοῦ εἰσαγωγῆς (l. 41); there is no proof that he paid for the construction of the aqueduct.

The epigraphic evidence for the earlier water-system rests on the reconstruction of the text of which BCH XIV (1890), 611–13, nos. 7 (cf. REG XIX (1906), 223–4, no. 126), 8 and 9 are fragments; no. 10 seems to be part of another copy of this, or a similar, inscription. Of these fragments the only one found by the expedition led by Professor Calder in 1934 was no. 7; the improved readings in this inscription are from a photograph.

Evidence of the local use of bronze or copper appeared amongst the deposits in H 5 1 in the shape of several pieces of small clay crucibles. None of them were complete, but the two best examples, shewn on Plate VII give the shape. They were spoon-shaped vessels about ·24 m. long by ·16 m. wide, made of coarse dark clay with a spout at one end; this is seen in the left-hand example on the plate. They stood on three short legs so arranged that the crucible could be tilted forward and cause the molten metal to flow out of the spout into the mould. That they had seen some service was proved by the remains of metal which clung to their inner surface. A fragment of such a crucible was found in the old excavation and two broken stone moulds, one for a Double Axe. Such a Double Axe, shewn on Pl. XIV, 59, was found this year together with a bronze spear-head, in a cleft between two stones almost immediately above the rock underneath a floor-level in H 4 15. They had the appearance of being in a sort of cache and probably belonged to a later period than that of the First City, to which their actual level would assign them. The only other bronzes found were the arrowhead and knife shewn on Pl. XIV (Nos. 58 and 60).

The following is an account of several excavations that I undertook on behalf of Professor Wace during the seasons of 1952 and 1953 at Mycenae. These were roughly confined to the area between the so-called Tombs of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, but also included an extension to the east of the Perseia Fountain House, excavated in 1952. The excavations are dealt with under four sections which are as follows:

1. Area Z (the extension east of the Perseia Fountain House).

2. The East–West Wall (south of the Perseia Fountain House).

3. The area round the Tomb of Aegisthus.

4. The Great Poros Wall (on the east flank of the Tomb of Clytemnestra).