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.

Introduction

Peat has been used as a fuel and as an additive to arable fields to aid fertility since prehistoric times in many parts of northern Europe (e.g. Fenton 1986; Whittle et al. 1986). The cutting of deep peat and the construction of peat stacks as part of the drying process has been documented from Medieval times, but the antiquity of such activities is unknown. Peat stacks are ephemeral structures whose purpose is to aid the drying of hard-won, wet peat in areas where other fuels such as wood and coal are expensive or unobtainable. They are typically cleared within a few months of construction and leave no traces of their former presence. Here we report the unprecedented discovery of a ‘fossil’ pyramidal peat stack dating to the 2nd millennium BC, from the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Individual turves contained finger and thumb impressions and pollen analysis reveals environmental conditions at around the time of cutting. The method of extracting and stacking the peat used some 3500 years ago may be similar to that used today.

The paper presents the results of an intensive survey of two upland basins in eastern Crete. Following a description of the geology and topography of the area, the methods of survey, data manipulation, and pottery analysis are described. There follow catalogues of ceramic type fabrics and other finds. The results of the survey are then presented in three chronological phases (Neolithic, Bronze Age, Graeco-Roman), interpretations are suggested, and a final section provides an overview of the development of human settlement in the region. It is suggested that initial colonisation took place in the Final Neolithic but was short-lived. The basins were only reoccupied during the Protopalatial period, when both nucleated and dispersed settlements were occupied. There is no certain evidence for continued occupation after LM IIIA and the third phase of occupation did not begin until the fourth century BC. Hellenistic and Roman occupation in both nucleated settlements and farmsteads seems to have prospered over a period of eight or nine centuries.

Most commentators have acknowledged a significant role for coal in Roman Britain (e.g. Collingwood 1937, 37; Collingwood and Myres 1937, 231-2; Richmond 1955, 125-6 and particularly Frere 1987, 288). Forty years ago Graham Webster reviewed the archaeological evidence for its use, and his account (Webster 1955) superseded earlier national and regional accounts (e.g. Cunnington 1932, 173; cf. Webster 1955, 199 n. 2). Since 1955, however, a considerable expansion in both excavation and publication, coupled with developments in recovery, recording and identification procedures, has resulted in a commensurate increase in the quantity and quality of the available evidence, which makes a detailed re-assessment of coal's significance overdue.

This paper reviews the chronology and purpose of the ‘Early Keep’ N of the Central Court at Knossos. Examination of all the surviving pottery in the Stratigraphic Museum suggests that the Keep was constructed no earlier than MM I B and was not therefore a monumental contemporary of either the Hypogeum or the North-West Platform. Its function remains uncertain, but the deep ‘cells’ must have served a specific purpose, and it is suggested that the Keep may have served as a secure granary for the palace. It was probably decommissioned and built over at the beginning of MM III.

Most recent discussions of Minoan colonies have referred to bases, trading posts, or settlements without attempting to define these terms, or to define the term ‘colony’ itself. Welcome exceptions are the papers by Renfrew and Shaw in the publication of the Second Thera Congress, which have sought to put the discussion on a more clearly defined basis. Warren's list of criteria by which to identify a Minoan settlement abroad is also a useful move in the direction of establishing a framework within which the problem can be discussed. This short paper is a preliminary attempt to take recent progress a stage further. It begins with a summary of the development of Minoan trade until the end of LM I, thus placing the ‘colonies’ in a historical perspective. Attention is then given to the problem of defining what is meant by the term ‘colony’, and to suggesting how the different types of colony can be recognized in the archaeological record. Next the settlements at Ayia Irini on Keos, Phylakopi on Melos, and Akrotiri on Thera are briefly examined in the light of their recent excavations in an attempt to match them to one of the ‘models’ of a colony which has been established. These three sites are selected for discussion since all have been excavated or re-excavated within the last fifteen years. Finally, a concluding section briefly considers the evidence from the site of Kastri on Kythera, and summarises the conclusions reached.