This article presents a stylistic assessment of the pottery from early tests (1900–1905) at Knossos that may be assigned to EM I. There follows a discussion of the problems of ceramic phasing of EM I Knossos and the relative chronology of Central Crete with the South Aegean in EB I. Finally, the social context of ceramic consumption at EM I Knossos and North-Central Crete is explored, and the possible evidence this may provide for ritualised social practice at Knossos and emergent social differentiation and power.

The territorial possessions of Miletus were acquired piecemeal over a number of centuries. They amounted to six or seven distinct pieces of land on the Asiatic mainland (apart from the adjacent islands, which again seem to have presented differences of status). A triple division of the Milesian territory on the mainland is already made by Herodotus. In the first place, in i. 18 he records that the Milesians suffered defeats at the hands of Sadyattes ἔν τε Λιμενηίῳ χώρης τῆς σφετέρης καὶ ἐν Μαιάνδρου πεδίῳ It might at first sight appear that the Maeander plain here referred to was not Milesian territory. But Strabo (xiv. 647) seems to indicate that Magnesia, which lay far up the plain, suffered Milesian occupation after its destruction by the Treres in the seventh century; and there are various testimonies to Milesian possession of the lower Maeander plain in later times. Again, in vi. 20, Herodotus tells us that after the fall of Miletus (c. 494 B.C.) the captive citizens were removed by the Persians: The distinction between the part round the city and that in the plain evidently corresponds to that already observed in i. 18; and it is matched by the distinction drawn in an inscription of Miletus (of the first half of the second century B.C.) between the ‘Milesia’ proper and the Μιλησίων χώρα lying across the Latmic Gulf. Herodotus' triple division is thus clear: the ‘home territory’ around Miletus itself, the Milesian land in the plain, and third the mountain land, which is evidently Grion.

Field-work in 1984 and 1985 centred on the Klithi rockshelter has combined excavation and analysis of finds with palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical studies of the wider regional setting. Radiocarbon dates show that the deposits so far excavated extend from 10,000 BP to 17,000 BP. Excavations have concentrated on the uppermost levels (10,000 BP to 12,500 BP) immediately accessible below the surface, in order to develop methods for investigating spatial variation in the distribution of materials in the deposit. They have revealed a large hearth area in the back of the shelter as a major focus of activity. New details of the flint industry and faunal remains are presented, along with preliminary indications of spatial patterning. There is evidence for the performance of a wide range of subsistence activities based on locally available resources as well as evidence, in the form of exotic flint and marine shells, for contacts over a wide area. Palaeogeographical methods of analysis based on field mapping of geology, relief and terrain have been developed to define the distribution and density of the main herbivores under Pleniglacial conditions. Both the evidence from excavation and from these wider palaeogeographical studies emphasize the small scale of human activities, the small size of residential groups, and the likelihood of seasonal movements and social contacts over very extensive territories during the Upper Palaeolithic period.

The single ceramic phase of the Aegean Early Bronze Age known as the ‘Kastri group’ has been dated by scholars either to an early phase of EB 3 or to the late phase of EB 2. However, careful examination of the contextual associations of the characteristic pottery of this group in the Cycladic islands and the mainland, and detailed analysis of the ceramic forms and features first appearing in this phase, show the ‘Kastri group’ pottery to occur, as a rule, with forms of EB 2. It is also shown that either this pottery itself, or certain forms with which it occurs, present features heralding EB 3. It is thus proposed that the ‘Kastri group’ constitutes a transitional phase of apparently short duration, intermediate between EB 2 and 3, overlapping in date with both the last stages of the former and the early stages of the latter and ‘bridging’ these two periods.

Seven bun type, one slab type, and 44 oxhide type Late Bronze Age ingots found in the Aegean region, Crete and Mainland Greece have been analysed for their chemical content (twelve elements) by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results show that the ingots contain variable amounts of oxygen as copper(I) oxide. The oxhide ingots are made of purer copper, the bun type are of relatively pure copper and bronze, while the slab type is bronze. The oxhide ingots from Crete may have a different origin from those found in the Aegean and in Mainland Greece because they have a different chemical composition. The metallographic examination of twenty ingots, three of bun and seventeen of oxhide type, revealed that they have been cast in open moulds, followed by slow cooling. Microanalyses of inclusions in fifteen ingots revealed the presence of copper(I) sulphide, copper(I) oxide, copper-iron and copper-iron-sulphur and their origin is discussed. Hardness measurements on fourteen ingots of various types revealed that they are somewhat harder for a cast object than control alloys and likely explanations are given.

When operations opened at Knossos, on February 23, 1903, it seemed to me at first sight probable that a comparatively short Campaign would exhaust the resources of the Palace Site, although the work entailed by the search for the tombs might itself be of gradual execution and uncertain quantity. But the site itself proved still inexhaustible, especially in its lower strata. The region of which the exploration had still to be completed on the South-East was supplemented by an unexpected extension of the site on the North-West, including the Theatral Area. Annexes, like a neighbouring building in the same quarter, proved of interminable extent and rich in contents, including a hoard of magnificent bronze vessels. What is practically an important dépendance of the Palace, described in this Report as the ‘Royal Villa,’ opened out to the North-East, and in addition to this, lower floor-levels, comprising deposits of extra-ordinary interest, were struck at a great number of points within the already excavated area of the Later Palace.

The important mosaics in the north inner aisle of the Church of S. Demetrios were largely destroyed in the fire of 1917. They had been unrecorded until ten years previously when their covering of Turkish plaster was removed.

On 1 August 1907, the Turkish authorities set under way major repairs of the Casimir Çamii (Κασιμιὲ Τʒαμισί) in Thessaloniki, at that time a somewhat dilapidated building which had been last renovated in 1841. Operations were completed by June 1908. The name of the mosque did not conceal its original dedication as the Byzantine church of S. Demetrios, which had been one of the most famous centres of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians until its Muslim conversion in 1492–3. In the course of these repairs occurred the unexpected discovery of surviving Christian mosaics and wall-paintings under a coating of plaster. The first mosaics were revealed in December 1907, and comprised three bust figures within medallions, situated in the central part of the north inner aisle (Plates 1a, 15a). The discovery was greeted with excitement by P. N. Papageorgiou, who took photographs which he communicated to the Turkish Nomarch and the Oecumenical Patriarch. The news was published in ecclesiastical news-sheets in Thessaloniki (December 1907) and Istanbul (26 January 1908). Meanwhile further soundings and discoveries continued in the mosque.

This paper summarizes some results of palaeoethnobotanical study at Akrotiri, Thera, and evaluates the importance of studying plant remains at such a site. (As this is the first stage of a long programme, it does not pretend to be exhaustive.) The data from the West House provides the most detailed and complete information from Bronze Age Greece concerning bioarchaeological remains, because it comes from a single architectural unit (a completely excavated house). The results offer evidence for the crops grown, weeds of cultivation (segetal), and ruderal plants, as well as crop processing and storage. The data is important for its high taphonomic potential, thanks to the high degree of preservation of charred, mineralized, and silicified plant remains.

Bells of fairly small size were known across ancient Greece from the Archaic period onwards, both in bronze and terracotta. They are found in sanctuaries, graves and, more rarely, in houses, and served a variety of purposes, both practical and more abstract, in daily life and ritual, and in both male and female contexts. Archaeological, iconographical and literary sources attest to their use as votive offerings in ritual and funerary contexts, as signalling instruments for town-guards, as amulets for children and women as well as, in South Italy, in a Dionysiac context. A use as animal (notably horse) bells, however, was not widespread before the later Roman period. The bells' origins lie in the ancient Near East and Caucasian area, from where they found their way especially to Archaic Samos and Cyprus and later to mainland Greece. Here, the largest known find complex of bronze and terracotta bells, mostly of Classical date, comes from the old British excavations in the sanctuary of Athena on the Spartan acropolis and is published here for the first time. Spartan bells are distinctive in shape yet related particularly to other Lakonian and Boiotian bells as well as earlier bells from Samos. At Sparta, as elsewhere, the connotation of the bells' bronze sound as magical, protective, purificatory and apotropaic was central to their use, although specific functions varied according to place, time, and occasion.

In 1973, after an interval of many years, the British School at Athens returned to Sparta to resume work in an area with which it had been associated since early in the present century. The site chosen was the Mycenaean settlement at the Menelaion, briefly investigated by R. M. Dawkins in 1910. Full seasons of excavation were completed in each of the years 1973–6, and 1980. A cleaning season was undertaken in 1977, while supplementary excavations were made in the autumns of 1977 and 1978. Several brief preliminary accounts of this work have appeared, while one or two objects of particular intrinsic interest have been published in detail.

For the time being, at least, the excavation of the prehistoric site at the Menelaion is at an end. Though work on the preparation of the final report is well advanced, it will be some time before this can be published, and the many classes of pottery and other objects can be made generally available.

The excavations of the Cambridge Keros Project at early bronze age Dhaskalio and Dhaskalio Kavos on the Cycladic Island of Keros during the 2006 and 2007 seasons are described. They were directed by Colin Renfrew with Olga Philaniotou as Associate Director and Neil Brodie and Giorgos Gavalas as Assistant Directors. The site of Dhaskalio Kavos is well-known for the extensive looting which took place there during the 1950's. Rescue excavations by Christos Doumas in 1963 and by Photeini Zapheiropoulou in 1967, and a project in 1987, directed by Renfrew, Doumas and Lila Marangou, defined the extent of the looted ‘special deposit’, assigned to the early bronze age Keros-Syros culture (Early Bronze II). At the beginning of the 2006 field season a separate and unlooted special deposit was located at the southern end of the Kavos site (the ‘Special Deposit South’). Its excavation yielded thousands of fragments of marble vessels and potsherds, and hundreds of broken marble figurines. These had been deliberately broken elsewhere, brought to the site and deposited there in what appears to be a ritual context. Work on the Special Deposit South continued in 2007, and excavations on the extensive Early Cycladic settlement on the small (200 metre) but precipitous island of Dhaskalio were initiated. Well preserved building remains were uncovered with abundant Early Cycladic domestic materials.

Dhaskalio island may now be recognised as a major settlement of the Keros-Syros culture (c. 2800 to 2300 BC). Kavos, immediately opposite on Keros itself, is confirmed as the locus for two separate areas of structured deposition of high status materials, brought from a wide range of sources in the Cyclades and possibly beyond, apparently already in fragmentary condition, and placed there in a series of prestations for which a ritual context may safely be inferred. Dhaskalio Kavos may now be claimed as the first major symbolic centre of the early Aegean.

The purpose of this paper is to make available the full osteological record of the human bones found in a small room of a late Minoan Ib house at Knossos (Stratigraphical Museum site), of which about a third bear knife marks suggesting that flesh had been cut from them. It presents the physical situation, finds, and their contexts. Part I describes in detail the stratigraphy and distribution of the finds, II sets out the osteological record, III analyses in more detail the skulls and mandibles and their evidence for age, IV summarizes reasons for the treatment of the bodies and bones, and considers the condition of the human individuals at death, and V concludes with some comparative evidence.

Part 1 (Driessen) discusses the evidence in the Linear B tablets for a military organization and the use of mercenaries at Mycenaean Knossos. First, the Pylian evidence for foreign troops is discussed. At Knossos, there is also evidence for relatively large groups of men who may be of non-Cretan origin in the Linear B tablets. It is asked whether these may be foreigners, as in the Pylian tablets, who rendered military service in return for fiefs of land. It is suggested that eqeta were military commanders responsible for groups of men and specific geographical areas. Keseno are identified as ‘foreign warriors’ who were of lower rank than eqeta, namely mercenaries in the service of the Mycenaean wanaka of Knossos.

Part 2 (Macdonald) reviews the latest evidence for warrior burials in LM II–IIIA2. The term is confined to burials with swords, since they are more likely to have had a purely military function as well as being the weapon of prestige. The evidence for a major Knossian workshop which produced the finest ‘horned’ and ‘cruciform’ swords and one-piece spearheads is discussed. An examination of the different Knossian cemeteries leads to the possible identification of traditional Minoan burial grounds on Upper Gypsadhes and at Mavro Spelio, while the Zapher Papoura and Sellopoulo cemeteries may be those of the LM IIIA Mycenaean community. The concept of a military aristocracy is reviewed, and rejected in favour of an interpretation which sees the Knossian warrior burials as representing ‘officers’ of different ranks in the Palace military organization drawn from different levels of society. Finally, it is proposed that the lack of uniformity of sword-types and the absence of warrior burials in the Knossos area after LM IIIA2, represent the demise of the Knossian workshop and the end of the military organization.

In memoriam Vivien Swan

An exhaustive presentation of one of the most important Chian amphora workshops that manufactured amphorae of Dressel 24 similis type, as well as ampullae, unguentaria, basins and funnels (vessels and equipment related to the olive oil industry), is followed by an analysis of the origin and evolution of this type since the Hellenistic period in the Chios–Erythrai–Kyme area. These discoveries bring to light the organisation of the amphorae workshops in this region, the same type of kiln being in use until the present day. Petrological and chemical analysis of the Chian and Erythraian fabrics, together with the identification of some Chian Dressel 24 similis amphora stamps on the lower Danube and Pontic market, also sheds new light on the flourishing olive oil industry of the central Aegean area during the Early Roman period.

Contexts recently excavated by the BSA in the Roman stoa at Sparta contain pottery dating from the 12th to early 14th centuries. The bulk of the material dates to the first half of the 13th cent., and demonstrates that certain styles of pottery decoration, once considered to be mainly 12th-cent. in date, continue in currency much longer. These contexts show that Champlevé (Morgan's ‘Incised ware’) decorated with animal motives in the tondo are companion pieces of Glaze Painted (Morgan's ‘Green and Brown Painted group V’) and late Slip Painted wares. The descriptively (but confusingly) named ‘Protogeometric’ style of plainware decoration is also one that remains in currency. Cooking-vessels are almost exclusively handmade, in a very coarse fabric evocative of so-called ‘Slavic’ pottery of the 7th cent., with which it may well be confused. Table amphoras (stamnia) and small pithoi are often decorated with a distinctive incised decoration, making handles and body sherds of this usually nondescript and conservative shape particularly identifiable and diagnostic.

This article deals with the inscriptional and literary evidence for the ethne of Epirus and Upper Macedonia. It is argued that the term ethnos was used not of a rural settlement but of both nomadic and settled groups of persons, each of which believed itself to be of common racial descent. Both areas were exceptionally well suited in terrain and in climate to the practice of transhumant pastoralism by small nomadic or semi-nomadic ‘companies’.

This paper covers the remaining districts of Laconia which have not been described in the last Annual, as well as the islands of Kythera and Antikythera. We include a Chronological Table, Distribution Maps, and a short summary. Abbreviations used are the same as for Part I.

Gythion and Cranae:

So far no prehistoric remains have been discovered on the acropolis at Gythion, although the south and east terraces are covered with classical and Roman pottery. On the island of Cranae, however (Plate 18a), obsidian is plentiful, and recently a considerable quantity of L.H. III sherds (of rather poor quality) has been found. The island measures about 300 metres east to west and 100 metres north to south, and the prehistoric settlement seems to have occupied about half of this area. There is now very little depth of soil, except in the vicinity of the small Turkish fort in the centre (Plate 18a). The amount of Mycenaean pottery indicates a fairly important site, such as the Homeric story of the flight of Paris and Helen from here might lead us to expect (Il. iii. 443–6). It is likely that there was also some E.H. occupation, since some of the coarse ware appears to be handmade.

A pilot project was carried out to assess the frequency of surviving fingerprints on Early Minoan pottery and to assess the quality of the prints. Two pottery assemblages, from the Ayia Kyriaki tholos and Myrtos Fournou Korifi settlement, were examined. Almost fifty sherds/vessels (out of nearly 20,000) were found to carry a total of 154 prints, but the majority were of poor quality. Of the thirty clear prints, however, fourteen had five or more ridge characteristics, including one example with as many as twelve. It is suggested that kiln assemblages might yield both more and better preserved prints.

The date of the first contact of the Greeks with the Western Mediterranean is very difficult to determine from literary sources. It is as old as the Theogony and probably as old as the Odyssey; but there is, as yet, no general agreement as to the date of either of these sources. Many historians still assume that it began, if not with the foundation of the Greek colonies in Sicily, at least with that of Cumae. These colonies, they maintain, were planted solely as a means of solving the problem of over-population in old Greece, in areas suitable for the production of corn, and without commercial intent. Whence came the necessary geographical knowledge and how the sites were chosen is seldom clearly stated, if it is stated at all. We are left with vague suggestions such as a preliminary expedition of exploration or ‘Traditional Survival’ of geographical knowledge based on Minoan, Mycenaean and Nostoi voyages, any explanation, in fact, that will save the historian from the natural assumption that the western colonies were planted in areas previously reached by Greek commercial enterprise.

Macroscopic Fabric Analysis, the systematic study and description of ceramic fabrics with the aid of a handlens and other simple equipment, has grown in importance along with systematic archaeological survey. Microscopic Fabric Analysis, or ceramic petrology, is better known, but more expensive and time-consuming. Using examples drawn from Sphakia Survey material, the authors show that Macroscopic Fabric Analysis of large pottery collections with a high proportion of coarse ware sherds, when combined with targeted microscopic analysis, provides detailed, reliable information on crucial topics such as chronology, in this case from FN/EM I–Turkish; function (cooking, transport, storage, and beehives); and regional interaction. The authors also discuss issues connected with publication, including the use of electronic publications such as the Sphakia Survey website, and the rigorous comparison of individual fabrics, and they make a case for adopting standard ceramic terminology.