Among the vast amount of pottery yielded from the Late Bronze Age settlement of Ialysos (Trianda) on Rhodes, 233 samples have been selected for chemical analysis by means of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) at the Bonn Laboratory. Thus, a rather comprehensive new data-base for pottery assemblages from Rhodes and other related production centres has been provided. Further evidence has been also suggested for the local mechanisms of pottery production and the patterns of continuity and changes from the LM IA, through to LMIB/LH IIA and LH IIB-III A1 to LH III A2/LH III B1 periods, in both the intra site and inter site relations of the island with Minoan Crete, the Greek mainland, the Argolid, Cyprus, and other eastern Mediterranean sites.

The study sets the basis for further studies towards the identification of the rather complex system of the society of Ialysos and its interaction with some other yet unknown centers in the Aegean during the early stages of the Bronze Age and throughout the periods of the Minoan and Mycenaean expansion.

Discovered in 1923 during excavations led by Duncan Mackenzie, the frescoes were found in a deposit in Space E on the ground floor of the building. Subsequent publication of the Monkeys and Birds Fresco suggested that the composition originally decorated a room on an upper floor of the House of the Frescoes. Shaw's close reading of the original excavation reports written by Mackenzie, however, yields no evidence for an upper storey. Shaw's review of the archaeological evidence and architectural comparanda suggests further that the House of the Frescoes may have been one-storied and that Room H-3 is the most likely candidate for frescoed decoration.

Part Two, undertaken primarily by Chapin, publishes a new reconstruction of the Crocus Panel that incorporates 14 previously unpublished fresco fragments in addition to the 14 fragments previously attributed to the composition. Stylistic and iconographic associations confirm the distribution of red-flowered crocuses, undulating bands, and an olive tree, but evidence for the attribution of two agrimia and blue-flowered crocuses remains weak. Detailed stylistic and iconographic analysis places the Crocus Panel within the Neopalatial tradition of wall painting.

Since 1902 archaeological investigations at Palaikastro in eastern Crete have sought evidence for two architectural structures: a palace located amongst the substantial remains of Minoan settlement and the temple and sanctuary of Zeus Diktaios referred to by Strabo. In 2001 a geophysical survey was conducted in the Roussolakkos valley to the south-east of the excavated Minoan remains. Previous studies had recorded this as an archaeological ‘nil’ zone owing to the complete absence of cultural surface debris. Seven geophysical zones, covering a total of 20,960 m2, were surveyed using a combination of electrical resistance and magnetometry methods. Anomalies attributed to anthropogenic activity were found in six of these zones. They probably reflect substantial Minoan architecture based on the shape of some anomalies, a comparison with geophysical results from a previously excavated area (Block X) and the occurrence of no pottery later than Minoan on the ground. On this basis the geophysical survey has approximately doubled the known area, of the Minoan settlement. The anomalies may belong to a large urban block though their scale and orientation are also comparable to plans of palatial structures from other sites. Anomalies that could reflect architecture were found in Zone 7, situated in the area of earlier finds of Iron Age votives and Archaic architectural fragments and may therefore be related to the Diktaion.

One of the goals of the Vrokastro Survey Project, based in west-central Mirabello, eastern Crete, was to identify a site within the boundaries of the survey study area worthy of further investigation, including excavation. The settlement selected, based on its complexity and long lifespan, was Priniatikos Pyrgos, a harbour community and ‘gateway’ of the Vrokastro region. As a preliminary to excavation, the Istron Geoarchaeological Project was initiated in order to document the nature, condition, and resources of this site and its coastal environment. This multidisciplinary program was implemented through fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and geophysical prospection. Results include new data concerning the industrial aspects of Priniatikos Pyrgos, the changing topographical situation of the site and coastal zone, the overall size of this diachronic harbor settlement, and the regional resources involved in ceramic and metallurgical production.

The present study explores the possible interpretation of the terracotta cylindrical models found in Late Minoan to Early Iron Age contexts (generally known as “(circular) hut models”) as reduced-scale models of tholos tombs. Theoretical issues concerning the relationship of an ‘architectural model’ with the archaeological context in which it is found are examined in order to support the above-mentioned suggestion. Archaeological data concerning the morphology, chronology, distribution, use and significance of the Late Minoan and Early Iron Age tholos tombs are explored in order to contribute to the discussion. The possible connection between the presence of the LM III tomb models in domestic contexts and the absence of contemporary intramural burials allows us to expand on the possible significance of these artefacts for our knowledge of LM mortuary practices and beliefs, especially those concerning the possible practice of ‘ancestor worship’. The presence of terracotta figurines of the ‘Minoan Goddess with Upraised Arms’ type attached in the interior of two examples (from SM Knossos and PG B Archanes) is considered as a late development within the tradition of these models and linked with the practice of placing MGUA figures in Early Iron Age tholos tombs (Rhotasi, Kourtes).

New archival information and fresh archaeological data concerning the architecture of the West House, one of the four “Ivory” houses south of Grave Circle B at Mycenae, the most controversial and perhaps the most archaeologically handicapped member of the group, which has been described as an ideal example of a developed, freestanding Mycenaean domestic unit, a spin off from the palatial model, has prompted a detailed re-interpretation/re-assessment of the evidence and has lead to a comprehensive reconstruction of the building, more than ten years after its final publication.

In the following article we will present and discuss more than 150 terracotta figurines that form part of the Collection of Antiquities housed at the British School in Athens. The majority of these artefacts originate from private collections bequeathed by men of culture and illustrious scholars (i.e. George Finlay, G. Empedokles, T. J. Dunbabin). However, there is a small group within the Collection that consists of pieces both brought to light from excavations and found by chance by British archaeologists working in Greece. This group of terracotta figurines dates from a period that ranges from the end of the 7th century B.C. to the second half of the 4th century A.D. and with time, this initially small collection grew in scale and importance. The largest group of objects in the collection belongs to the prolific terracotta production of Boeotia. However, many other terracotta workshops from places such as Cyprus, Eastern Greece, Attica, Corinth and Argolid, are well represented. The majority are common types but there are several remarkable exceptions which shed light on our knowledge of ancient terracotta production. This examination of terracotta figurines will be concluded with a group of more recent artefacts currently part of the Collection at the Museum of the British School in Athens

A fragmentary inscription found at Thebes casts new light on the abortive invasion of Athens in 506 by Kleomenes, the Boiotians, and the Chalkidians. On the one hand, it provides valuable confirmation, soon after the event, of the general drift of Herodotos' account of events; on the other, even in its incomplete state, it adds one important detail lacking in Herodotos. And, of course, it tells the story from the Boiotian point of view.

The excavation took place in the winter of the year 2001–2 in the property of Evanghelia Madhis at Thebes following her application for the construction of a new house. The plot is situated in the suburb of Pyri, in the north-west periphery of Thebes, about 800 m from the city centre of Thebes, and just beyond the Athens–Thessaloniki railway line (FIG. 1). In it was unearthed a well-built tomb-like cist, made of three rows of large conglomerate stone blocks in regular masonry; similar blocks form its pavement. No traces of covering stones or other relevant materials have so far been discovered. However, since the contents of the cist—including objects such as the bronze inscribed sheets found at the bottom—were probably thrown there when it was abandoned, it may never have been properly covered: no trace of a superstructure or roofing system is preserved on the upper surface of the walls of the cist.

Some recent statements in the scholarly literature exaggerate the length of ancient catapults, so a critique is offered, and an explanation for the source of the error is suggested. A brief account is given of how to calculate the dimensions of the ‘classic’ types of ancient catapult according to the formulae for their construction in Philon and Vitruvius. The implications for fitting artillery to fortifications are highlighted. It is emphasised that the type of device for which first generation artillery towers were designed were tension-powered catapults, not torsion-powered models. They were bow catapults (tension), not spring catapults (torsion), and therefore, since the formulae apply only to spring catapults, none of the ancient formulae apply to the machines for which first generation artillery towers were built.

This article present and contextualises five new inscriptions from central Crete: one from the hinterland of Gortyn, two from Knossos, and two more in all likelihood from Knossos. Internal geographical mobility from Gortyn to Knossos is illustrated by a Greek inscription from the hinterland of Gortyn. The Knossian inscriptions add new evidence for the local affairs of the Roman colony. A funerary or honorary inscription and two religious dedications – all three in Latin – give rise to new points concerning the well-attested link between Knossos and Campania. The colony's population included people, many of Campanian origin, who were already established in Crete, as well as families displaced from southern Italy in the great post-Actium settlement. The two religious dedications shed light on the city's religious practice, including a newly revealed cult of Castor, and further evidence for worship of the Egyptian gods. Oddest of all, a Greek inscription on a Doric epistyle names Trajan or Hadrian. These four inscriptions are then set into the context of linguistic choice at the colony. Epigraphic and numismatic evidence for the use of Latin and Greek in the life of the colony is analyzed on the basis of the available inscriptions, listed by category and date in an appendix.

What seems to be the case is that Durrës during the late Roman period was incorporated in the network of Byzantine state-controlled supply which operated throughout the east and west Mediterranean, suggesting that the city was more open to the east than to the west in late Antiquity. By contrast, the supply of Tunisian fine ware and amphorae is smaller then the imports from the eastern Mediterranean. However, the persistence presence of Tunisian wares throughout late Vandal and Byzantine period argues for sustained interaction between east and west within the Byzantine world. The presence of local production in the 6th century contexts merits further analysis.

The thirteenth-to-sixteenth-century (“Venetian”) defended settlement of Kephalos on the island of Paros was surveyed by the Cyclades Research Project (CY.RE.P.). This article offers an archaeological case-study of the kastro by examining and interpreting its medieval material remains (defensive walls, chapels, cisterns, domestic structures and surface potsherds). Moreover, on the basis of combined information from written sources and comparable building projects in late medieval Italy and the Latin-dominated Levant, more light can be shed on aspects of daily life in the Aegean. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first phase of Kephalos could be placed in the later thirteenth century but it was extended with the addition of an outer defensive wall in the late fourteenth century and was inhabited until the legendary besiege of the corsair Barbarossa in 1537. Domestic remains within the kastro suggest that the site must have been densely built, housing a large number of peasants in single-roomed two-storey houses. Architectural remains and ceramic finds on the highest point of the site testify to the existence of a strong Catholic/upper class element on the most prominent portion of the kastro, reserved for the Latin lords and their agricultural produce. Extensive survey (by CY.RE.P.) in the valley below Kephalos has shown that a number of contemporary satellite settlements existed and functioned around the kastro, suggesting an agriculturally intensified use of the rural landscape. Additionally, the study and interpretation of the surface ceramic finds offer a window to late medieval living standards and food preferences in the Aegean