This is a study of surface ceramic evidence (c. 5,000 sherds) from an Early Cycladic acropolis on Amorgos. A fairly diversified group of domestic ware has been identified, including ‘Amorgos’ and rare types, possibly a tankard and a marble beaker or cup. Compared to stratified evidence from the Cyclades and elsewhere, the chronological range of types falls within EC I/II-EC III A, EC II being the period most heavily represented. In discussing the material with reference to the Cycladic, Helladic and Aegean contexts, attention is drawn to the role of mainland Greece in shaping the local repertory. Noteworthy are the similarities and differences between Tsountas's excavation results and the surface collection of finds retrieved from the same site. Mandres seems to have been sparsely used from the Archaic to the Byzantine periods. Panagitsa, the alluvial formation at its foothills, has yielded traces dating mainly to late antiquity.

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.

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 period from the late Middle Bronze Age to the start of the Late Bronze Age in the Levant, largely coeval with the Canaanite, ‘Hyksos“, 15th Dynasty of Egypt, is characterized by the appearance of Late Cypriot I A ceramics at a number of key sites in the east Mediterranean. The exact absolute dates to apply to this period have been the subject of controversy, in part inter-linked with debate over the date of the eruption of Thera, but scholarship recognises that this visible horizon of international trade must have been of considerable significance, especially on Cyprus itself. Here a dramatic shift in settlement to the coastal areas of the island at the beginning of the Late Cypriot period has long been recognized; this is also the time period of the formation of larger complex socio-political entities at the sites on Cyprus which go on to comprise the Late Cypriot ‘urban“ civilisation. Tombs of the relevant Middle Cypriot III–Late Cypriot I period are well known on Cyprus, but stratified settlement contexts on Cyprus, yet alone contexts directly related to such international trade, are scarce to non-existent. We report finds of just such direct relevance from a (currently) unique deposit as a result of an initial investigation of the seabed off the Late Cypriot site of Maroni Tsaroukkas on the south coast of Cyprus (MTSB Site 1). Consideration of these finds provides important new evidence for the Late Cypriot I A period; they also indicate routes to more sophisticated analyses of Cypriot–east Mediterranean interaction and the resolution of current problems in chronology. In particular, a review of Late Cypriot I A connections highlights the need to emphasise the central importance of the Canaanite pre-18th Dynasty (late Middle Bronze Age) world to the formative development of both Late Bronze Age Cyprus, and the Late Bronze Age Aegean.

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.

This article is concerned with the recognition and dating of Holocene relative sea-level changes along the coast of west Crete (an island located in the active Hellenic subduction arc of the southern Aegean) and in particular in Sphakia. Radiocarbon data for changes in sea levels collected and analysed previously must (a) be recorrected to take into account isotopic fractionation, and (b) recalibrated by using the new marine reservoir value. These new radiocarbon dates are analysed using Bayesian statistics. The resulting calendar dates for changes in sea level are younger than previously assumed. In particular the Great Uplift in western Crete in late antiquity must be dated to the fifth or sixth century AD, not to AD 365. Moreover, recent work on tectonics suggests that the Great Uplift need not have been accompanied by a catastrophic earthquake. Finally, we consider the consequences of the Great Uplift for some coastal sites in Sphakia.

The six ‘Geometric’ tombs excavated by D. G. Hogarth at Knossos in April 1900 are hitherto known only from his brief report in BSA 6 (1899–1900), 82–5, with massed photographs of pottery from two rich tombs. This article offers a full publication of the fifty vases from these tombs, stored in the reserves of the Herakleion Museum. Although excavation records do not survive, all the extant pottery can be assigned with reasonable certainty to individual tombs by collating various sources, including Hogarth's own personal diary. By today's terminology, only tomb 3 contains truly Geometric material, all the others date from the Subminoan and Protogeometric periods. The tombs lie along a well-known ‘Via Appia’ of Minoan times, where Early Greek families, of at least moderate wealth, made much reuse of Minoan chamber tombs. With some evidence of continuity from the latest Minoan burials in this cemetery area, Hogarth's tombs seem to form a small nucleus with origins quite independent of the main North Cemetery under the Medical Faculty site.

While accepting A. J. Graham's interpretation of the ‘stèle du port de Thasos’ (SEG 42. 785) as presenting regulations aimed at checking prostitution and associated soliciting in late Archaic Thasos, this article seeks to clarify some specific issues in the text. It urges (i) that the correct reading at l. 31 is κατοικιῶν, with the meaning ‘dwelling’; (ii) that θῆς ἓνεκεν (l. 32) should bear a passive sense, ‘for the sake of being seen’, and, likewise, θήσθω (l. 33), which necessarily picks up θῆς ἓνεκεν, should be regarded as conveying not only the idea of looking out but also of being seen by prospective clients; thus ll. 30–3 are to be rendered ‘no one shall go up onto the roof of maisons publiques in order to be seen, nor shall any woman either show herself from the windows’; and (iii) that προïστάσθω (l. 45) is not to be taken in conjunction with ἐσβαλλέτω (ll. 44–5) as governing the object κόπρον, nor as intransitive in the sense ‘solicit as a prostitute’, but rather as transitive middle, with the subject ὁ ἐνοικέων (l. 34), in the sense ‘exhibit women for sale’.

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.

The kalpis published here was found in 1961 in Piraeus Street. The scene depicted on the body of the vase comprises four young women. The principal person, around whom the representation is organised, is a woman seated on a chair. She wears a chiton and a himation, has a diadem on her head and her two hands hold a larnax on her knees. The other three women are standing. They are dressed in pepla and the two on the right also wear diadems. The one standing in front of her holds an exaleiptron. High up in the background above the head of the seated woman hangs a wreath. The artistic style recalls Polygnotos and a comparison with his other works dates our kalpis to the decade 450–440 BC, in his early period. The graffito on the mouth of the vase, ON…I, is a known trade mark and probably concerns its price. The scene, which is set in a gynaeceum, is interpreted as the adornment of a bride, and is one of the earliest such representations known. It was probably inspired by wall painting. The Piraeus Street kalpis has now answered the question of the origin of this type of gynaeceum scene, which must be ascribed to Polygnotos himself and not to one of the artists of his Group.

In 1999, fieldwork was resumed by the British team at Adzhiyska Vodenitsa, Vetren, the site of an inland emporion which has been identified with ancient Pistiros (SEG 43. 486, 46. 872*). Excavations were conducted on the terrace with architectural remains in two sectors, north and south of the main east-west road. In the northern sector, 22 pits were investigated. The faunal material from these pits reveals specific butchering methods and the re-articulation of complete body parts following butchery. Among the finds are graffiti on pottery, including a votive inscription to Zeus. In the southern sector, there are traces of residential use. The report includes an account of geophysical prospection to determine the nature of land use beyond the terrace, with evidence suggesting that the settlement was directly adjacent to the River Maritsa (ancient Hebros).

This article presents the first ever full edition of the fragments of one of the most important documents of ancient Greek religion, the sacrificial calendar of Athens as it was inscribed on stone as part of the revision of Athenian Law in 410/9–405/4 and 403/2–400/399 BC. All these fragments, where they survive, are in Athens (the Agora and Epigraphical Museums). The edition contains many new readings, restorations and interpretative points (in particular the identification of festivals). In addition to a line-by-line commentary, a translation is included and there are explanatory notes on linguistic features, animal and non-animal items listed in the calendar and payments to priests and other officials.

The Amphipolis regulation (Amphipolis Museum, L 905 and L 908) reveals numerous clauses ruling the life of the Macedonian army, in the camp and in the field, at the time of the last Antigonids. The second paragraph of first column of fragment B (L 908) is devoted particularly to the management of booty. Study of literary sources (mainly Polybius) permits greater precision of the historical context and a new epigraphical interpretation. All the booty collected by the troops was to be returned to the King. The troops were under strict orders to deliver the whole booty to him under threat of heavy fines for their hegemones.

This article argues for a revision of the theories and assumed production methods used in Hellenistic and Roman mosaic glass. Knowing how glass behaved in different circumstances under differing heat processes allowed for the possibility of experimenting and demonstrating the inconsistencies in many of the accepted explanations of mosaic production. Experiments were run to test new production ideas, contrasting the findings with previously suggested production methods. The findings bring into question many of the accepted hypotheses for mosaic production. The evidence and hypotheses formed from the experiments challenge many of the traditionally held ideas for the production of this glass and reinforce the need for experimental and practice-based approaches to this type of work.

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.

In Tairia, at a distance of about 10 km from Monemvasia, is a small complex of two Byzantine churches, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin and Ag. Anna. Each has a simple one-aisled plan covered by a barrel vault with an intermediate arch. Wall paintings exist in both churches dating from the twelfth, the thirteenth century, and later. The church of the Assumption, or Theotokos, is older and could be dated to the tenth century and thus identified with the church mentioned in a contemporary source, the Life of St. Theodore of Kythira. Ag. Anna imitates the plan of the older church and seems to have occupied the place of earlier service buildings. Built in, on the top of the altar table in the church of the Assumption, is a marble slab with a completely preserved Greek inscription of the Roman period, consisting of five lines which cover the whole surface of the slab and commemorate the dedication to the deities of the Imperial cult (Θεοί Σεστοί) and to a πόλις, the name of which is not known, of a makellon by three Roman citizens out of their own funds. The most probable date for the inscription seems to be the second century AD, but, even though makella existed in few Peloponnesian cities, neither the polis where the establishment was erected is known, nor can the dedicators be safely identified.

From the opening of the British School at Athens in 1886 to the outbreak of the First World War, women were regularly admitted as Students. British women were actively engaged in research in Greece, although they were not permitted to join official School excavations until the 1911 campaign at Phylakopi on the island of Melos. This contrasts with the active field research of American women like Harriet Boyd Hawes. Most of the British women had been educated at either Girton College or Newnham College, Cambridge, where they had been influenced by Katharine Jex-Blake and Jane Harrison. For several, notably Hilda Lorimer, Gisela Richter and Eugenie Strong, their residence in Athens was to make a significant contribution to their careers and subsequent study of antiquity.