Small pockets of neolithic levels were sampled during the 1987 investigation of the Throne Room System in the palace of Knossos. The limited stratigraphic evidence is here presented, as well as sections concerning the pottery, small finds, and animal bones. The most interesting point to emerge concerns the presence of Final Neolithic characteristics in the ceramic evidence that will help towards formulating an appreciation of that elusive period at Knossos.

The morphology of the Vouliagmeni Lake and Perachora coasts is the result of seismic uplifts with a cumulative amplitude of 3–4 m in the last 6,000 years; there is also evidence of a transient seismic subsidence at around 5,000 BP. These results are consistent with excavation data indicating a seismic destruction of an EH I site followed by land subsidence. This led to the abandonment of the site, which was reoccupied when the land was uplifted again.

A re-examination of the EH II architecture at Zygouries and other sites suggests that the traditional model of rectangular houses with two or three rooms may be inappropriate in many instances, and that in fact domestic architecture of the period, while showing greater diversity of form than has hitherto been supposed, may instead have been based on larger and more complex structures.

In a joint Greek-British excavation in 1993–4 on the E slope of the hill of Xeropolis, an interesting tomb complex of MH date was revealed, consisting of two chambers covered by slabs. Above the slabs was a stone-mound. The tomb complex, which had been robbed, recalls the tombs in the tumuli that are either built or in cist form. The pottery collected dates it to the MH period, but the tomb had been built on top of an EH layer. EH or LH pottery was also found in the fill of the tomb, apparently fallen from the settlement on the hill.

In the ceramic chronology of Minoan Crete, the phases corresponding to the rise of the New Palaces have proven to be particularly difficult to define. This paper presents new material from Palaikastro (Siteia, Crete) in an attempt to disperse some of the chronological and regional ambiguities surrounding early Neo-palatial pottery.

A group of ten copper and copper alloy Minoan tools from the Ashmolean Museum's Cretan collection is analysed. Though the component elements are recorded, the emphasis is on metallographic aspects of the objects. By considering these sets of information together we can learn how craftsmen treated the types of metal available in order to suit the requirements of the intended products. Many details of the stages undergone by the metal in its transformation into a finished item can be recovered. Much of this process is dictated by the physical properties of the metal itself. Two standards of finishing existed, relating to the available metal and its intended use. Though limited in the range of its conclusions, the study shows that the return of information, especially in an area of investigation left unexplored, well recompenses the loss of the snippet required for analysis.

The faces of seven skulls from Grave Circle B were reconstructed by the Manchester team, as an exercise in using the technique of facial reconstruction to look for family relationships on the basis of facial resemblances among the three or four burial groups within the circle. Similarities were noted between Ζ59 and Γ51, from early and late phases respectively; and between Γ55 (the man with the electrum mask) and his female tomb companion Γ58, both having a quite different facial structure from Γ51 but sharing features with A62, a late-phase burial from a different part of the circle. The skulls from the early burials Σ131 and Β52 showed only slight similarities to the others.

Current technical interest in the nature of the black inlaid decoration on ancient metalware has stimulated an examination of some of the well-known bronze daggers, silver vessels, and other fragments, all with inlaid decoration and dating to the 16–14th centuries BC, from Mycenae, Prosymna, Dendra, Routsi, and Pylos. Results of non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis point to great versatility in working with copper (or bronze)–gold–silver alloys. The black inlaid decoration is usually copper/bronze–gold alloy with small quantities of silver. Four of the objects were also examined by X-ray radiography.

The vase, found in Therasia in 1866, is published in detail for the first time and placed in the context of the eyed ewers from Thera. The suggested date of the vase is LC I early, contemporary with the seismic destruction level deposits at Akrotiri.

This paper looks at the period of the first regular use of pictorial vase painting in Crete: LM II–III A2 early. The focus is on Knossos, the major findspot for Minoan pictorial pottery of this distinct pre-destruction period. The shapes, motifs and overall character of Minoan pictorial pottery are discussed, as well as the extent of its influence on the earliest Mycenaean figure-style vase-painting.

An LH III wheelmade terracotta female figurine, found in the 1910 excavations at the Menelaion, Sparta, is illustrated and described. The context can be dated no later than LH III. An earlier suggestion that the piece is ‘provincial’ is discounted in the light of new material, particularly the so-called Lady of Phylakopi. Recent views on the nature of such figures are discounted. A summary list of comparable wheelmade figures of women, and of animals, is appended.

The Transitional LH III B2/C early pottery from Thorikos mine No. 3 is of particular importance for the definition of this as yet little-known phase. It is also of interest for its context. The assemblage is unusual; its nature implies a specific function rather than the debris of normal settlement. It is suggested that it may have resulted from mining activity.

For late bronze age Greece, archaeobotanical research has demonstrated a striking range of grain crops, whereas only two or three categories of grain are recorded in Linear B texts. It is unlikely that each Linear B grain ideogram covers several crops, or that the paucity of grain ideograms results from the partial preservation of texts. It is argued that the Linear B evidence reflects selective palatial involvement in grain production, although the identity of the two or three crops documented in Linear B is uncertain.

Excavation of the late bronze age destruction of building complex H in the ‘agora’ at Gla revealed widespread traces of charred grain and grape pips. Samples from room H1 contained seeds identified as einkorn (Triticum monococcum L.). This material appears to be unique in Greece in consisting predominantly of grains from two-seeded spikelets of einkorn. It is uncertain whether the lack of chaff and weed seeds in these samples reflects partial preservation and recovery of grain in long-term storage, or represents fully threshed and sieved grain ready to be prepared for consumption

This paper surveys farming practices and their associated administrative structures in Mycenaean Greece, and outlines the kinds of changes which might have occurred in regional farming systems during the dark ages. It is postulated that the underlying subsistence basis of Greek agriculture remained substantially the same, although the structural position of élites in regional agrarian economies (as well as the constitution of élite groups) may have changed considerably. The type and degree of changes that occurred during the dark ages in any particular region seem to correlate with their earlier relationships to Mycenaean palace centres.

In a rescue operation of 1965 on the Monte di Vico acropolis of Pithekoussai, Dr G. Buchner excavated a vast deposit of unstratified pottery and other finds, ranging in date from the Middle Bronze Age to early Roman times. At his invitation, the Euboean imports of the 8th cent. BC are presented here. Though fragmentary, they are of considerable importance not only in dating the foundation of the Greek colony, but also in providing the prototypes for the much more numerous colonial imitations in the same deposit, and in the recently published portion of the cemetery.

Many previous studies of early Lesbos have tended to emphasize the famous historical figures—Alkaios, Sappho, and Pittakos—and the events surrounding them that are known from literary sources; there has been much less discussion of archaeology, and this has led to a one-dimensional picture. The sources have tended to encourage an emphasis on features of the island's archaic history which are traditionally thought of as ‘Greek’, and the true context of early civilization in the island, which had strong links to Anatolia and the east, has largely been ignored. This paper corrects the imbalance, acknowledging more fully the eastern links in the island's culture from the Bronze Age to the Archaic period and indicating that during this period Lesbos was as much an extension of Anatolia as a ‘Greek’ island.

The excavations at Torone, Mende, and some other sites have produced evidence of continuous contact between Chalcidice and southern Greece from early in the Iron Age. We can now understand more clearly the relationship between the earliest Greek settlers and those of the colonizing period, and we can tackle some problems of topography in the Chalcidian peninsula from a new angle.

A fragmentary temple model from Sparta, in which the roof and one pediment are preserved, provides new evidence for reconstructing the system of Lakonian roofing. The ridge and Lakonian tiles as well as disc akroteria are modelled in high relief; a painted gorgoneion decorates the surviving pediment. The possibility is discussed that it represents a very small type of temple that may have existed at Sparta. A date in the first half of the 6th cent. BC is suggested.