Acknowledgements. This article is a revised version of an appendix of my Ph.D. dissertation, submitted in 1987 at the University of London. I wish to thank my supervisor, Professor J.N. Coldstream, for his valuable suggestions concerning this particular section of my thesis. I have bencfitted from friendly discussions or communications by Dr W. Coulson, Dr K. Kilian and Prof. W. Schiering. I am also grateful to the Greek Archaeological Society and its former secretary general the late Prof. G. Mylonas, for permission to consult J. Threpsiades' excavation notebook of Aulis (1959) and to publish the plan of the elliptical structure there. Lastly, I owe sincere thanks to the ‘A.S. Onassis’ Benefit Foundation which has partly supported financially the research for my Ph.D.

¹ Concerning Neolithic, EH and MH curvilinear buildings see in general Sinos, S., Die vorklassischen Hausformen in der Ägäis, Mainz (1971) 21, 36f., 56f., 81–83Google Scholar; Sakellariou, M., Les Proto-Grecs, Athens (1980) 118–126Google Scholar; Overback, J.C. III, A Study of Early Helladic Architecture, Ph.D. dissertation, Ann Arbor (1963) pl. II, IX–XII1, XXVII–XXXGoogle Scholar; Thompson, H.O., ‘Apsidal Construction in the Ancient Near East’, PEQ 101 (1969) 69–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Konsola, D., Πϱομυϰηναϊϰή θήβα, Athens (1981) 52–54, 106–109, 145–151Google Scholar;Η πρώϊμη αστιϰοποίηση στους Πρωτοελλαδιϰούς οιϰισμούς, Athens (1984) 61–68, 81–88; Dickinson, O.T.P.K., The Origins of Mycenaean Civilization, SIMA 49 (1977) 32fGoogle Scholar; Best, J.G.P., The Arrival of the Greeks, Amsterdam (1973) 15–17, 20Google Scholar; ‘The Foreign Relations of the Apsis-House Culture in the Palestin’, Pulpudeva 2 (1976) 205—209; Warner, J., ‘The Megaron and Apsidal House in Early Bronze Western Anatolia; New Evidence from Karatas’, AJA 83 (1979) 133–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

² McDonald, W.A./Howell, R.J., ADelt 29 (1973/1974) Chronika, 323, 325Google Scholar; Simpson, R. Hope, Hesperia 44 (1975) 80fGoogle Scholar; Rapp, J. Jr/Aschenbrenner, S.E. (ed.), Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece I: Environs and Techniques, Minneapolis (1978) 118, 121f.Google Scholar

³ Hesperia 41 (1972) 243, fig. 6; Rapp/Aschenbrenner (supra n. 2) 118, fig. 8:2.

⁴ Valmin, N., The Swedish Messenia Expedition, Lund (1938) 175.Google Scholar

⁵ Personal communication by Dr K. Kilian. See also Catling, H.W., AR (1983/1984) 24Google Scholar and Touchais, G., BCH 108 (1984) 760.Google Scholar

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⁸ Robertson, D.S., Greek and Roman Architecture, Cambridge (1945)³51–53Google Scholar; Dinsmoor, W.B., The Architecture of Ancient Greece, London (1950)¹6, 42, 47fGoogle Scholar; Sinos (supra n. 1) 89f; Wardle, K.A., The Greek Bronze Age West of the Pindus, Ph.D. dissertation, London (1972) 52–92Google Scholar; Rossi, R.F., Studi sull Etolia I, Trieste (1970) 19–34.Google Scholar

⁹ Furumark, A., The Chronology of Mycenaean Pottery, Stockholm (1941) 49.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Wardle, K.A., ‘Cultural Groups of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in North-West Greece’, Godišnjak 15 (1977) 168–172Google Scholar, fig. 5–7.

¹¹ Benton, S., BSA 32 (1932) 239Google Scholar; Simpson, R. Hope/Dickinson, O.T.P.K., A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the Bronze Age I, SIMA 52 (1979) 104.Google Scholar

¹² Wardle (supra n. 10) 164.

¹³ PAE (1906) 136f;Τα ελλειψοειδή ϰτίσματα του Θέρμου, Athens (1909) 10f.

¹⁴ Wardle (supra n. 10) 164 where it is noted that an EIA sherd was discovered in House α4.

¹⁵ Rhomaios, K., ADelt 1 (1915) 227–229.Google Scholar

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¹⁷ Pouilloux, J., Topographie et Architecture. La région nord du sanctuaire, FdD II (1960) plan 24.Google Scholar

¹⁸ The following details derive from the study of the plan in Threpsiades' note book. See also PAE (1959) 32 where the excavator mentions the discovery of these walls, which he identifies as peribolos walls.

¹⁹ Theocharis, D., PAE (1961) 47–491Google ScholarErgon (1961) 52f.

²⁰ Hansel, B., ‘Ergebnisse der Grabungen bei Kastanas in Zentral Makedonien, 1975–1978’, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 26 (1979) 167–202, esp. 174f., 182–186.Google Scholar

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²⁴ Korkuti, M., ‘Die Siedlungen der späten Bronze-und der Frühen Eisenzeit in Sudwest Albanien’, in Sudosteuropa zwischen 1600 und 1000 v. Chr., ed. Hänsel, B., Berlin (1982) 235–253, esp. 243–248, fig. 8 at p. 242.Google Scholar See also Andrea, Z., AR (1983/1984) 116.Google Scholar

²⁵ Pentazos, E., PAE (1971) 92Google Scholar; (1972) 86–89. The majority of the houses seem to be circular.

²⁶ Schiering, W., IstMitt 9/10 (1959/1960) 7–8Google Scholar, Beilage 3. For a general plan of the LBA settlement see Voigtländer, W., ‘Zur Topographie Milets’, AA (1985) 87, fig. 10.Google Scholar

²⁷ As Professor Schiering kindly informed me, the pottery which may be connected with these walls seems to be of the kind shown in IstMitt 9/10 (1959/60) pl. 8,2 & 9,1.

²⁸ Kontis, J.D., PAE (1959) 195Google Scholar; Ergon (1959) 133f.; Simpson, R. Hope, Mycenaean Greece, Park Ridge (1981) 200.Google Scholar

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³⁰ The excavator's note book does not contain further information than that in PAE, except that the edifice appears to have been oriented approximately N–S.

³¹ Warren, P., AR (1982/1983) 70f., 78.Google Scholar

³² Sakellarakis, J., PAE (1982) 468–480Google Scholar; Ergon (1982) 55f.; Winter, N.A., AJA 88 (1984) 52f.Google Scholar

³³ Quagliati, Q., NSc (1900) 411–464Google Scholar; Taylour, Lord W., Mycenaean Pottery in Italy and Adjacent Areas, Cambridge (1958) 81–126, 134.Google Scholar

³⁴ See also a curious oval-like building of LM IA date at Phtellos in Thera [Doumas, Ch., AE (1973) 161–6Google Scholar, fig. 1 at p. 162; Building Δ].

³⁵ Lauter, H., Lathuresa. Beitrage zur Architektur und Siedlungsgeschichte in spätgeometrischer Zeit, Mainz (1985) 33.Google Scholar

³⁶ Such as the monumental apsidal building at Toumba (Lefkandi), Unit IV–I at Nichoria, or the apsidal edifice in the Karmaniola area at Asine. For references see Ainian, A. Mazarakis, ‘Early Greek Temples: Their Origin and Function’, in Early Greek Cult Practice (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen XXXVIII) 106, 116.Google Scholar

³⁷ Koukounara: Marinatos, S., PAE (1959) 175Google Scholar; Ergon (1959) 117f; Tiryns: Kilian, K., AA (1981) 155Google Scholar, fig. 5; (1982) 410, fig. 23.

³⁸ See also the LM IA building at Phtellos: Doumas (supra n. 34).

³⁹ Wardle (supra n. 10) 159, 164; BICS 22 (1975) 206, 208.

⁴⁰ RA 11/12 (1938) 205.

⁴¹ (supra n. 10) 176–187, esp. 177.

⁴² Concerning Kastanas see C. Podzuweit, in Hänsel (supra n. 20) 203–223.

⁴³ Shelmerdine, C.W., AJA 85 (1981) 319–325CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McDonald, W.A., Hesperia 44 (1975) 137–140CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chadwick, J., The Mycnaean World, Cambridge (1976) 47f.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Hope Simpson/Dickinson (supra n. 11) 273.

⁴⁵ For a list of such building models see Mavriyiannaki, K., ‘Modellini fittili di costruzioni circolari della Creta minoica’, SMEA 15 (1972) 161–170.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Sakellariou, M. [ASAtene 59 (1981) 343–347 & (supra n. 1) 118–126]Google Scholar, Lorimer, H.L. [Homer and the Monuments, London (1950) 438f.]Google Scholar, Syriopoulous, K. [Οι Μεταβατιϰοί Χϱόνοι, Athens (1984) 1060, 1066]Google Scholar are among those who maintain this theory.

⁴⁷ 47 See for instance Howell, R.J., in Bronze Age Migrations the Aegean, ed. Crossland, R.A./Birchall, A., Park Ridge (1974) 82Google Scholar: ‘The apsidal house does not occur in EH II’; Best, J.G.P., The Arrival of the Greeks I, Amsterdam (1973) 15f.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Konsola, D., Πϱομνϰηναϊϰη θήβα, Athens (1981) 149–151Google Scholar and Sakellariou (supra n. 1) 119f with references.

⁴⁹ It is with such criteria thai one should examine for instance the discovery of the late SMyc house at Tiryns or the reappearance of free-standing curvilinear houses at Old Smyrna around 750 B.C. and especially during the last quarter of the 8th c., alter a long period during which buildings were rectangular. The problem of Old Smyrna was discussed during the congress at the Italian School in Athens in 1979 [ASAtene 59 ( 1981) 344] but the participants failed to suggest a suitable explanation. R.V. Nicholls (letter ol March 23, 1986) suggests that these may indicate an influx of refugees from the country; this assumption is based on the postulate that it is easier to build an apsidal or oval edifice than a rectangular one. For this and other reasons R.V. Nicholls would be willing to lower the traditional dating of the capture of Smyrna by the Ionians of Colophon [Herodotus I, 143, 3 and I, 150; Huxley, G.L., The Early Ionians, New York (1966 24. 36, 47Google Scholar; Boardman, J., The Greeks Overseas, London (1980)³29Google Scholar: Coldstream, J.N., Geometric Greece, London (1977) 268CrossRefGoogle Scholar and n. 90 at p. 270; Akurgal, E., Alt-Smyrna I, Ankara (1983) 27Google Scholar and Cook, J.M., BSA 53/54 (1958/1959) 13f.]Google Scholar in the period which immediately-preceded the earthquake of c. 700 B.C. The question naturally remains open.

⁵⁰ Griechische Baukunst in geometrischer Zeit, Archaeologia Homerica II. O, Göttingen (1969) 79f. and 85–87.

⁵¹ Parthenon and the Mycenaean Gity on the Heights, Copenhagen (1976) 151.

⁵² An interesting discussion of the problems related to the apsidal and oval plans can be found in ASAtene 59 (1981) 343–347.

⁵³ Aristotle, Pol., 1252 b15–26.

⁵⁴ Coldstream (supra n. 49) 304; ASAtene 59 (1981) 344.

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⁵⁶ This reasoning is also present in Chadwick, J., ‘Who were the Dorians?’, PdP 166 (1976) 103–117Google Scholar and ‘The Mycenaean Dorians’, BICS 23 (1976) 115f. who assumes that the return of the Heraclids could apply to families which by moving south re-occupied lands that belonged to their ancestors in MH times. This is however debatable, for one should first prove that people of M H descent were driven away from their homes by the Mycenaeans, a fact which has not been demonstrated by excavations yet. For a roughly comparable opinion to Chadwicka's see Deshayes, J., Argos. Les fouilles de la Deiras, Paris (1966) 241–251.Google Scholar