This article examines the methods of surface treatment of the Neolithic vessels from northern Greece. The work is based on the study of a large sample of ceramics, covering the whole span of the Neolithic, from Macedonia and Thrace. Macroscopic study of the material was complemented by microscopic examination (SEM and petrographic analysis) and retiring tests. The results are compared with data from other technological analyses of Neolithic vessels from northern Greece. Apart from identifying, in some cases for the first time, methods of surface treatment and materials used by the potters of these regions, the present study considers the changes in surface treatment and firing techniques through time.

All ground cereal and pulse plant material from the site of Akrotiri, Thera was studied through a binocular stereoscope microscope in order to detect its nature and its processing stage. The presence of various processed crops was detected, such as barley, wheat and probably legume flour. The very rare occurrence of these finds from archaeological sites forces us to define them and prepare an appropriate methodology of research.

This article presents a new built chamber tomb from Argos. The tomb was found intact, allowing for detailed observations on its architecture and construction. It contained the remains of at least fifteen burials, together with abundant Mycenaean pottery, bronzes, ivory items, a sealstone and other small finds, dating from LH I to LH III B1 (although most are LH I–II B/III A1). Another two tombs of the same type have been found on the site, dating to LH I and LH II A. Comparison with other Early Mycenaean graves from Argos suggests that built chamber tombs were the largest and wealthiest, apparently belonging to local élite groups.

This article concerns the House of Kadmos or ‘old palace’ in Boeotian Thebes, which was excavated by Keramopoullos between 1906 and 1929. It entails the study of the architecture within the Theban landscape and the context of other Mycenaean structures later unearthed in its vicinity, as well as a preliminary stratigraphic and chronological reexamination of available data. It is concluded that the House of Kadmos would have been a free-standing palatial building, but the reconstruction of a ‘typical’ tripartite megaron with a columned porch is questioned. A LH II construction date is not deemed impossible, but the basis on which it has been put forward is considered to be inadequate. On the other hand, an early LH III B1 destruction date seems very plausible on the basis of decorated pottery securely assigned to the destruction fill. Some groups of previously unpublished decorated pottery from the site do not suffice to clarify the destruction date, but seem to be in accord with this conclusion. Hopefully, the ongoing study of the ceramic assemblage will eventually cast more light on Theban chronology.

LH IIIB pottery from Qantir-Piramesse is presented. Although fragmentary, the material is an important addition to the corpus, as pottery dating to this phase is not common in Egypt. NAA chemical analysis suggests that most of it is imported from the Argolid, but that there are some imports from Cyprus and Palestine. Some local production in Egypt is also indicated.

From the southern Balkans to the region of Middle Donau, so-called ‘Thracian’ pottery is dominant during the historical period. Its co-existence with wheel-made pottery also has a long history in Aegean Thrace. In the city of Mesembria-Zone, barrel-shaped urns and one-handled cups represent the ‘classical period’ of this tradition. Until now, there was no example of a site in northern Greece with pottery exclusively of this type. This ‘missing link’ has been discovered during excavations at Agios Ioannis in south-cast Thasos. The pottery from the site is completely handmade and can be attributed to a Later Iron Age phase.

The absence of interest in this pottery tradition was due to difficulties concerning its identification and dating, but also to the fact that archaeologists were more interested in the definition of the nature of Greek colonies and the clarification of the relationships between settlers and natives. The survival of ‘Thracian’ pottery has been explained up to now through the idea of identifying an artefact type as an indicative element of the ‘culture’ of its producers. In fact, the intra-communal distribution of this pottery does not reveal any special differentiation, and does not appear to be related to only one group of the population, different in terms of race or economic strength. Here, we propose an additional interpretative tool, the ideological significance of this type of pottery for the people of south-east Europe.

This article reappraises the iconography and function of an architectural model or pyxis from Aetos on Ithaka, represented by four sherds originally published by Martin Robertson in BSA 43 (1948), 101–2 as part of the group Aetos 600. Particular comparison is made with the iconography of an imported Ithakan kantharos from tomb 949 in the San Montano cemetery at Pithekoussai. This tomb context, dated to the third quarter of the eighth century, provides a rare fixed point in the chronology of Ithakan painting. In both cases, the mixture of Italian and Near Eastern iconographical traits suggests closer connections with contemporary Italy than the Greek mainland. Further iconographical and functional comparison is made with a figured architectural model from the Monte di Vico acropolis at Pithekoussai.

More than 100,000 lead figurines are reported to have been found in the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta. It has been suggested that these mass-produced votives were obtained from locally mined lead. Lead votives in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, were selected as representative of each ‘layer’ from the British excavations of the early twentieth century. Lead isotope analysis of the votives was conducted in the Oxford Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art and demonstrated that the lead was apparently derived from Lavrion as a by-product of silver extraction. There is a possibility that Attic silver, as well as lead, could have been used in Archaic Laconia.

Nobody flashed a shield at the Battle of Marathon, for it is scientifically impossible: hoplite shields were curved, and you cannot reflect a flash from a curved surface. The shield can only have been waved (as Herodotus says), making it a short range signal, not from far-off traitors in Athens but traitors at Marathon, signalling the movements of their own army to the enemy. The Persians' voyage round Sounion was long and tedious, and the quickest way to Athens would be to land as soon as possible after Marathon, at Loutsa, and for the cavalry to dash for the city. The signal warned that this route was blocked, hence Plan B—Sounion.

The fifth-century BC South Stoa at the Argive Heraion was first excavated in the 1890s and was published in 1902 by E. Tilton. It was subsequently re-examined by J. J. Coulton, who clarified important aspects of the stoa's design. Ongoing investigations of the architecture of the Argive Heraion have now brought to light new evidence for the building which requires modification of the previous restorations of the roof. A series of slotted wall blocks assigned to the back wall of the building indicate that the stoa had a large shed roof instead of the saddle roof restored by Tilton and Coulton. This article presents the case for a new reconstruction of the roof and explains the appropriateness of the roof design to the specific conditions of the building site.

Figured gravestones commemorating female professionals constitute a distinct group among Attic memorials of the Classical period. Gravestones of this group honour the dead women by emphasizing their occupations and professional accomplishments, concentrating on the professional rather than the familial or social persona of the dead in order to preserve their memory in posterity. Despite their relative infrequence, such memorials shed light on the place of women in Athenian society and may serve as an additional source of evidence for the perception of the female role at the time. Deviating from the set modes of female funerary commemoration and the typical emphasis on domestic scenes, which sustains the contemporary ideal of secluded Athenian women, the memorials under consideration register a ‘public persona’ for the women they honour, making us aware of the complexities of the role of women in ancient Greek society.

In the sepulchral inscription IG ii2. 10453 we are offered Άγλώκρ[ιτος] Τορωνα[ος]. The name Aglokritos, however, cannot stand, for there is room only for a name with a maximum of nine letters. The two extant transcriptions by George Finlay appear to offer two additional letters (AT/IA) at the end of each line, letters which were read by no-one else, Koumanoudes included. It is suggested in this article that Finlay failed to maintain his customary accuracy in making his sketches, and that we should place no faith in the supposed letters AT/IA at the right-hand edge of the stone. We believe that the only nine-lettered male candidate—the female name Aglokrate being less likely than the expected, but ten-lettered Aglokrateia—is Aglokreon.

Jewellery found during recent excavations in the necropolis of Thasos fills a gap in our knowledge of minor arts in an important metal producing area of the Greek world. The pieces examined in this article form, in terms of technique, style and iconography, a group, the affinities of which can be traced to the Ionic traditions of the northern Aegean. Their artistic identity fits well with what we know about the character and development of other aspects of Thasian art, characterized by a close adherence to dominant artistic trends coming from both Attica and the East during the late Classical period. The anthropological study of the skeletal remains from the tombs gives further contextual information on the general condition of the people interred, while the objects deposited offer clues to the interpretation of issues concerning the iconography and symbolic use of precious grave goods.

The development in the Classical period of washeries where the crude ores were processed for smelting marked a big step forward in Athenian silver production, since they made it possible to exploit the hitherto unusable poorest argentiferous deposits. The discovery and excavation of the washeries and ergasteria have illuminated the technological advance from the pre-Classical two-phase to the Classical three-phase system. The earliest washeries were located perforce close to natural water sources, but when these became inadequate for the growing needs of the industry, ergasteria were built which, in addition to a washery, had a cistern to collect recyclable rainwater, and could thus be located close to the ore sources. Small communities in which the personnel lived and died grew up around them.

From the 1997 excavations at a Lavrion silver-mine ore washery, Agrileza Compound B, datable to the fourth century BC, came a fragmentary black gloss ram head rhyton of the so-called von Mercklin Class. The rhyton from Agrileza is at present the only known example of this group with a well-defined archaeological context, and is therefore taken as the basis for a review of the regional and chronological attributions of von Mercklin rhyta in several European museums. A discussion of the relationship of these rhyta to the much more common and better known Attic red-figure animal-head vases sketches the background against which the rare occurrence of pouring vessels with animal foreparts in the repertoire of mainland Greek potters has to be seen.

Diachronic analyses of pastoralism over the millennia pose a problem. Studies of one period can use models based on other periods as heuristic devices, to pose problems and questions for investigation. But survey archaeologists and others engaged in diachronic analysis cannot assume a period-specific model as a starting point. Instead, we propose that investigation begin from a set of seven variables, which constitute the elements for the formulation of comparative analyses: environment, location, scale, specialization, links with agriculture, gender/division of labour, and cultural integration. The first five have been discussed before in the literature, but the last two have not previously been given sufficient attention, because of the old dominance of environmental and economic preoccupations.

In 1964, in the agora at Sparta, Ch. Christou excavated part of a monumental building which is identified as the Persian Stoa. The most important find was a bronze female portrait statue, Roman in date, which is on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens (NM 23321). The identification of the statue as Julia Mamaea, suggested by Ch. Christou, is still prevalent, although several scholars see in the Sparta statue iconographical elements that link it with Caracalla's wife Plautilla or with Annia Faustina, Elagabalus' third wife. However, the rendering of the hairstyle provides evidence for the identification of the woman whom the statue depicts as the empress Julia Aquilia Severa, Elagabalus' second and fourth wife. The erection of a statue of Julia Aquilia Severa in the Persian Stoa is most likely connected with the imperial cult of Elagabalus and his empress in Sparta.

Here is presented, along with a revised overall site-plan indicating findspots, the late material from the BSA excavations in the northern cemetery area of ancient Knossos, prior to the construction of the present University buildings. These finds were excluded from the major published site-reports. They relate to the Early Christian martyrion-church complex noted in the preliminary site report. Dating from the period c. AD 400–650, they comprise some small deposits within the church complex, items placed in some of the many ossuaries (osteothekai) surrounding it, and in particular a well/cistern filling datable to c. 620–640 which may signal the end of use of the church (though perhaps not of the cemetery). The ossuary finds document a widespread sixth and seventh century burial custom—did the practice of depositing pots in funerary contexts then cease, due to religious censure? The well finds include the normal ‘export’ wares of the period, along with a class of Cretan(?) imitations of the African and Phocaean fine wares. Some wheelmade lamps have parallels from elsewhere in Crete; a class of very simple coarse bowls could be locally made. Several vessels bear graffiti, in particular a Phocaean Red Slip dish with two Christian dedicatory texts.

This is the text of an address given at the funeral of Nicholas Hammond in Cambridge in March 2001.