¹ Aside from those people mentioned in the text, we should like to express our warmest thanks to Dr Elizabeth Frenen for her help in Nauplia, and for her advice, encouragement, and occasionally criticism (always constructive) on many aspects of this project: she saved us from many errors, both practical and archaeological, and those that remain must be laid entirely at our own doors; to Mrs P. Pachygianni-Kaloudi and Mrs E. Palaiologou, Ephor and Acting Ephor of Antiquities in Nauplia respectively, for making the material available to us, giving us working space, and providing financial help in making the boxes to contain the skulls; to the technicians in the Nauplia Museum for their practical help, especially Mr Kostas Piteros; to the late Dr J. L. Angel, Dr K. Demakopoulou, Prof. G. Kopcke, and Dr. L. Morgan for advice and encouragement; to Mrs Diana Wardle for advice on hairstyles and for making the drawings for Figs. 11 a b; to Miss Louise Adkins for drawing Figs, 1, 12 and 13; and to Dr H. W. Catling and the staff of the British School for arranging our permits. The work was funded by grants from the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, the Society of Antiquaries, and the University of Manchester Staff Travel Fund and Delta Travel Awards: that we are grateful to them goes without saying. The bulk of this article was written while AJNWP held the Visiting Fellowship at the School during 1994: warm thanks to the Managing Committee for making it possible. A further account of these reconstructions will appear in Prag, J. and Neave, R., Making Faces (London: British Museum Press, forthcoming).Google Scholar

The following special abbreviations are used:

Dickinson, Origins = Dickinson, O. T. P. K., The Origins of Mycenaean Civilisation (SIMA 4; Göteborg, 1977)Google Scholar

Mylonas, Grave Circle B = Mylonas, G. E., Ὁ Ταφιϰὸς Κύϰλος Β τῶν Μυϰηνῶν (Grave Circle B at Mycenae) (Athens, 1973)Google Scholar

Mylonas, MRG = id., Mycenae Rich in Gold (Athens, 1983)

The finding of the ‘mummy’ is described by Schliemann, in Mycenae (London, 1878), 296–7Google Scholar, quoted in Calder, W. M. III and Traill, D. A. (eds), Myth, Scandal and History (Detroit, 1986), 254Google Scholar; the arguments against the Egyptian connection are put forward by Dickinson, , Origins, 57–58.Google Scholar That it is not a true mummy at all will be explained in Making Faces.

² e.g. Dickinson, , Origins, 50–1Google Scholar, argues for the single family group in Grave Circle A; for the view that this circle still represents more than one family see e.g. French, Elizabeth, ‘“Dynamis” in the archaeological record at Mycenae’, in Mackenzie, M. M. and Roueché, C. (eds), Images of Authority: Papers Presented to Joyce Reynolds (PCPS supp. 16; 1989), 123.Google Scholar The argument for a social structure based on the quality of the grave goods is put forward in detail by Kilian-Dirlmeier, I., ‘Beobachtungen zu den Schachtgräbern von Mykenai und zu den Schmuckbeigaben mykenischer Männergräber’, Jahrbuch des römisch-germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, 33 (1986), 159–98.Google Scholar Since these authors wrote, a wooden bowl from shaft grave V has been dated to 1619 ± 37 BC by dendrochronology, but because the bowl is a carved piece and does not have the bark layer we do not know when the tree was cut, nor how long it had been in use before being put into the grave, so the date cannot be regarded as absolute yet: Kuniholm, P. I., ‘A date-list for bronze age and iron age monuments based on combined dendro-chronological and radiocarbon evidence’, Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and its Neighbours. Studies in Honor of Nimet Ozğuç (Ankara, 1993), 2Google Scholar (our warm thanks to Prof. Kuniholm for this reference). Angel's comments are in Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 379–97Google Scholar, esp. 389–90 with pls 244–9.

³ The arguments for and against the ‘portraiture’ theory are conveniently collected by Kopcke, G., ‘Zum Stil der Schachtgräbermasken’, AM 91 (1976), 1–13.Google Scholar The comments of Angel, who sees the problem from an anthropologist's point of view, are interesting: Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 390.Google Scholar We shall discuss it more fully in Making Faces.

⁴ On the ‘Agamemnon’ mask, e.g. Dickinson, O. T. P. K., ‘Schliemann and the shaft graves’, G&R 23 (1976), 164 with nn. 19–20Google Scholar; Calder and Traill (n. 1), 234 no. 14. The five masks from Crave Circle A are conveniently illustrated together by Mylonas, , MRG 35Google Scholar, fig. 20.

⁵ Mylonas, G. E., Arch. Eph. 1969, 125–42Google Scholar; also in MRG 59; against the Egyptian connection, Dickinson, Origins, 57–8; cf. also, e.g., his pp. 36–7 and 101–6, or Vermeule, E. T., The Art of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae (Cincinnati, 1975)Google Scholar, on the paucity of Mycenaean contact with the world beyond the Aegean at this time: at pp. 8–9, fig. 7, she reproduces the highly imaginative ‘Egyptian’ reconstruction proposed by Meurer, M., ‘Der Goldschmuck der mykenischen Schachtgräber’, JdI 27 (1912), 208–27, pl. 12.Google Scholar

⁶ Traill's unconvincing argument that this mask is a forgery rests largely on the grounds that it is different from the others: Calder and Traill (n. 1), 134–5.

⁷ e.g. O. Brendel, , Etruscan Art (Pelican History of Art; Harmondsworth, 1978), 387 ff, esp. 392–5.Google Scholar

⁸ In Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 389–90.Google Scholar For a further analysis, see Dickinson, , Origins, 40–6.Google Scholar The burials have been reanalysed by Dietz, S., The Argolid at the Transition to the Mycenaean Age (Copenhagen, 1991), 106–32.Google Scholar

⁹ See further Angel in Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 382.Google Scholar

¹⁰ This does not correspond exactly with Angel's list: he also studied Δ60 (‘unmeasurable fragments of an adult of about 40’), but does not mention the skull A64 (?) or 67.

¹¹ e.g. JHS 104 (1984), 65–8, and AJA 94 (1990), 37–8, where further references are given.

¹² In Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 226, 383, pls 203 a, 247, 249.Google Scholar See also appendix 1 below on the accuracy of dental ageing.

¹³ These three were first presented at an Upper House Seminar at the BSA in 1991: the discussion that followed was most useful in correcting some of our ideas.

¹⁴ In Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 381–2, 387, pls 245, 249Google Scholar; the finds are illustrated on pls 89–90.

¹⁵ Although Mylonas only recorded four skeletons in the grave, Dietz (11. 8), 110, 112 and fig. 32, identifies some of the remains as being from a fifth body; so also Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 2), 171–4.

¹⁶ Poverty of grave goods possibly the result of superstition: e.g. Dickinson, , Origins, 46Google Scholar; analysis of grave-goods in all the burials, Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 2), 184–5, tables 5–6.

¹⁷ Angel's description (and illustration of the trephination roundel): Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 380, pls 244, 249Google Scholar; the grave: ibid., 43–79, pls 29–39 with the finds illustrated on the following plates; also Dickinson, , Origins, 46.Google Scholar For a recent discussion of trephination in the ancient world, Grmek, M. D., Diseases in the Ancient World (Baltimore and London, 1989), 63–5.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Ibid. 379, pl. 245; the grave described at pp. 36–43, pls 23 b–28; also Dickinson, , Origins, 40–2, 43.Google Scholar

¹⁹ The grave: Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 21–34, pls 12–22Google Scholar, with Angel's comments on pp. 379, 387, and pls 244, 249, where the skull is shown as it was when found.

²⁰ The mask as found: ibid. pl. 35; for the account of the burial, pp. 43–79, pls 32–61; Angel's comments are on pp. 379–80, 389–90; pl. 244 shows the skull as found.

²¹ It is perhaps revealing that Angel commented that ‘the electrum mask … with its wide forehead, tapering face outline, and notably deep chin could fit Gamma 51 (except for his wide jowls) if one assumes that it was done freehand and not as an actual cast’ (in Mylonas, , Grave Circle B 381Google Scholar).

²² Ibid. 384–5, pl. 247.

²³ Ibid. 380–1, 389, pl. 244; also Dickinson, , Origins, 45.Google Scholar On the effects of osteoporosis, Grmek (n. 17), 60; for further refs. see Prag, A. J. N. W.et al., ‘The priest and priestess from Archanes-Anemospilia: reconstructing Minoan faces’, BSA 89 (1994), at 91 nn. 3–4.Google Scholar

²⁴ AM 91 (1976), 1–13.

²⁵ Marinatos, S., ‘Minoische Porträts’, in Ahrens, D. (ed.), Festschrift Max Wegner (Münster, 1962), 9–12Google Scholar, with further references.

²⁶ Illustrated e.g. by Mylonas, MRG figs. 18, 29, 30, 32, 114, 124, 181. Niello plaques: Marinatos, S. and Hirmer, M., Crete and Mycenae (London, 1960), pl. 204Google Scholar; also Hood, M. S. F., The Arts in Prehistoric Greece (Harmondsworth, 1968)Google Scholar, figs. 115, 118, 121, 164 b.

²⁷ The case of the Great Harwood murder victim shows how the structure of the skull is much more important than superficial detail in our recognition of a familiar face: BSA 89 (1994), 90–1, fig. 1.

²⁸ Plaques: Karo, G., Die Schachtgräber von Mykenai (Munich, 1930–1933), nos. 27–8, 36, pl. 27Google Scholar; also in Marinatos and Hirmer (n. 26), pl. 205; Hood (n. 26), fig. 199. Earrings: cf. Mylonas, , MRG 37Google Scholar, fig. 22 or Marinatos and Hirmer, op. cit., pl. 201, with Doumas, C., The Wall-paintings of Thera (Athens, 1992), 142, 154–5Google Scholar etc., Pins in the hair: cf. Mylonas, , MRG 38 fig. 26Google Scholar (pendant only; complete pin: Karo, Schachtgräber, no. 75, pl. 30 or Marinatos and Hirmer, op. cit., pl. 200), with Doumas, op. cit. 142–3. Stylized lilies on bracelets: cf. Karo no. 79, pl. 27 with Doumas, op. cit. 162; the dragonflies on the necklace in this painting recall the gold plaques shaped like bees and butterflies from Shaft Grave III: Karo, op. cit., nos. 45, 49, pls 26–7. (We owe grateful thanks for these references, and especially for the suggestions of hairstyles that derive from them, to Mrs Diana Wardle.) Other fresco-paintings of women's hair: e.g. the women in the Procession Fresco from Tiryns: Marinatos and Hirmer (n. 26), pls 40 and 226. ‘Stephane’ headdress: e.g. the priestess from the Shrine at Mycenae, Mylonas, MRG fig. 113. Terracotta ‘idols’:Moore, A. D., The Cult Rooms from the ‘Citadel House’ Excavations at Mycenae (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Manchester, 1988), nos. 68–1221, 68–1611, 69–61, 69–62, pls 3. 4, 3. 15–17Google Scholar; Mylonas, MRG fig. 110; Renfrew, C. et al. , The Archaeology of Cult (BSA supp. vol. 18; 1985), 214–15Google Scholar, nos. SF 2660, 2691, fig. 6. 4, pls 31–33 a; Sakellarakis, J. A., The Mycenaean Collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Athens (Athens, 1971), 84 no. 36.Google Scholar The fashion with the single pony-tail is also clearly illustrated on a 13th-cent. ivory box lid from Minet el Beida in Syria, which though probably local work shows strong Mycenaean influence: Mylonas, MRG fig. 208. The Theran fashions: Doumas, op. cit., passim, esp. pp. 154–63

²⁹ In Mylonas, , Grave Circle B, 389–90, pls 245–6.Google Scholar

³⁰ Ibid. 390.

³¹ Warrior vase: e.g. Mylonas, MRG fig. 117; for references to the idols see n. 28. Portrait gems: Marinatos (n. 25), 9–12; Biesantz, H., ‘Die minoischen Bildnissgemmen’, Marburger Winckelmann-Programm, 1958, 9 ff., pl. 10. 1–4.Google Scholar

³² Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 2), 159–86.

³³ BSA 89 (1994), 89–100.