The city of Rhodes, founded in 408/7 BC, took full advantage of the possibilities offered by a previously uninhabited site. In the acropolis area many of the main public structures were laid out in an open, natural landscape, but approaches to the summit from the city led past extensive, interconnecting artificial grottoes and ‘nymphaea’, decorated in flamboyant style. These were aligned with the city's grid-plan, and adjoined streets and stoas formalizing their ornamental aspects. The grottoes offered spatial distraction and visual interest, and served as cool, shady venues for displays of small votives to unknown deities; some apparently gave access to the underground aqueducts. The acropolis, as well as a monumental area, was a focus for private religious activity, seen in these dedications. The ornamental landscaping of the acropolis is to be understood, not in terms of a ‘pleasure park’, but as a fitting adornment for a primarily sacred area.

My first literary pilgrimage to the Ionian islands took place six years ago. I still find them an attractive field for research, and the present paper records observations made among them during two very pleasant summers. In this connection I would recall the fact that both Professor Chadwick and Professor Childe have indicated the importance of a study of North-West Greece for the better understanding of the coming of the Greeks.

At Easter 1981, as part of a joint Greek-British investigation of the region of ‘Toumba’ at Lefkandi in Euboea, a further area of the known cemetery there was excavated. The Greek Archaeological Service was represented by Mrs. E. Touloupa, previously Ephor of Euboea, and the British School by M. R. Popham and L. H. Sackett: the operation was under the general supervision of the Ephor, Mr. P. Kalligas.

Since the results of the previous excavations in this and the other cemeteries have recently been published with a full commentary, we have decided to give a quick and more summary account of the new finds as a supplement to the main publication to which reference is made for detailed discussion.

Archaeobotanical material was collected from the Bronze Age fill and the Protogeometric phases underneath the Roman Villa Dionysus, Knossos, Crete. The Bronze Age assemblage was poor, representing only accidental intrusions to a tight fill of sherds and stones. The Protogeometric data were more plentiful, providing a rare glimpse into the everyday life of the period. Glume wheat, barley, legumes, fruits, nuts and several wild species were present across two Protogeometric floors. No significant differences were observed in their spatial and temporal distribution. The plant remains, along with other bio-archaeological classes of material, indicated a series of domestic activities, including cooking and consumption events, the remnants of which gradually accumulated in the habitation floors. The archaeobotanical evidence from Villa Dionysus was then compared with other Protogeometric Cretan and Greek mainland sites. An overview of these sites allowed some general trends to be observed, tentatively suggesting a picture more similar to Bronze Age than Iron Age archaeobotanical assemblages. It also highlighted differences, which would both dictate and be shaped by different socio-economic systems, and the need for more contextualised studies.

A relatively rare type of bronze votive dedicated at Greek sanctuary sites in the second half of the 8th cent, BC depicts a female seated side-saddle on a horse. Examples have been found at only four sites, primarily in the Peloponnese: three come from sanctuaries in Arcadia, one from Olympia, and one from Samos. At 7th- and 6th-cent. sanctuaries in the Peloponnese, the type in terracotta is more frequent, but it never becomes particularly common as a votive. In the Aegean, the depiction of female riders seated side-saddle can be traced back to the Late Bronze Age; the type was probably originally inspired by models from the Near East. A similar pattern is found on Cyprus. Male versions of riders seated side-saddle are known from LBA sites, and the type reappeared in the late 8th cent. BC. The evidence suggests that the similarity between the Geometric bronze type and LBA examples was a result of memories of the significance of the female rider that survived in Arcadia through the Dark Age.

This paper deals with the cult and myths of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. The myth, preserved in Euripides’ tragedy Erechtheus, establishes the deceased daughters as goddesses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (arrhēphoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the Hyades was indeed visible from the Acropolis during the time when the young maiden cult rites were performed on the hill. This study investigates for the first time the role of the night sky and astronomical observations in the performance of the nocturnal festival of the Arrhēphoria.

In the store-rooms of the British Museum is kept a fragment belonging to a lead plaque which bears the traces of an inscription written boustrophedon in the Corinthian alphabet. This lead plaque was part of the collection of J. Woodhouse, which was made in Corfu, and following the death of the collector in 1866 was bequeathed to the British Museum.

In 1868 the plaque was catalogued and described in the Museum's Register. According to a sketch, also included, it is clear that at that time more of it was preserved and that besides the upper and lower edge possibly the right end was also retained. It was described as containing seven lines of a boustrophedon inscription, of which only the first, second, and seventh lines were transcribed. The inscription was incomprehensible, and that may have been the reason for its not being published hitherto.

A final report is presented here on the excavation of four Areas at the prehistoric site of Kouphovouno, Sparta, Lakonia. Areas A and D were excavated as trials in 2001 and lie outside the land purchased by the BSA for the main campaigns, so they could not be excavated further, whilst Areas E and F had extensive deposits of historic date and were not further explored as being outside the remit of the main Kouphovouno Project. The excavations have yielded important Neolithic and Early Helladic II deposits, plus Bronze Age burials and later Roman remains. After summarising the aims of the Project and mentioning earlier work at the site, the report gives an account of the stratigraphy and finds and includes specialist reports on the human and animal bones, the ceramics, the chipped and ground stone and other finds. Also discussed is the relationship between the surface remains reported in BSA 99 and the excavated material.

The Finds

In 1971 the Archaeological Service of Eastern Crete undertook an extensive programme of cleaning and consolidation (plates 15, a, 16, a) in the important Early Minoan cemetery on the island of Mochlos, which had been excavated by Richard Seager at the beginning of the century and had been abandoned since, becoming overgrown and partly or completely re-buried. During the course of this work several pieces of Early Minoan gold jewellery and a number of seals were recovered from the earth spoil of the tombs, or from incompletely excavated areas inside the tombs. The new finds, which considerably enrich the material from Mochlos, are now exhibited in the Hagios Nikolaos Museum.

The material for a study of Lakonian pottery may be roughly divided into two classes; first, the vases scattered through the museums of Europe, mostly found outside Greece, in tolerably good preservation, but covering a comparatively short period of time; secondly, the mass of pottery unearthed during the excavations of the British School at Athens in Lakonia itself. The latter consists mainly of fragments, but represents the continuous product of about four centuries, and in the sanctuary of Orthia we have the inestimable advantages offered by a well-stratified site.

The excavations at Praesos undertaken by the British School in 1901 were begun on May 7th and continued until July 3rd. The Cretan Exploration Fund contributed £200, the Society of Dilettanti £50, and the Prendergast Fund of Cambridge University £40, towards the cost of the campaign. With me were two members of the School, Mr. J. H. Marshall, of King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. R. Douglas Wells, architect. Mr. Wells made a survey of the city-plateau and the adjoining ravines (Plate VII) and a large number of plans and drawings, many of which accompany this article. Mr. Marshall rendered valuable help in the work of supervision, and undertook a systematic exploration of the surrounding district. I much regret that it has been impossible for him to contribute to this report more than the section on the Megalithic House, printed below (§ 4). Soon after the close of the season he was appointed Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and has necessarily been absorbed in the duties of that important post. I have had the use of his notes on some of the tombs.

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.

Since 1950 widespread and important excavation has taken place in the Argolid. For Mycenae and Tiryns much of the post-excavation study has now been completed but has not yet reached final publication. The use of material from the preliminary reports has, however, led to conclusions which are not justified. The study teams at both sites, working in close collaboration, present here the detailed stratigraphie background to their work and the definitive assignments produced. The diagnostic pottery for the second half of the thirteenth century bc (LH III B2 Early and Late), which culminated in a major destruction at each site, is illustrated with its contextual background. The relationship between the two sites can thus be accurately assessed and the evidence will enable well-founded historical hypotheses.

Από το 1950 εκτεταμένες και σημαντικές ανασκαφικές έρευνες έχουν λάβει χώρα στην Αργολίδα. Για τις Μυκήνες και την Τίρυνθα ένα μεγάλο μέρος της μετα-ανασκαφικής μελέτης έχει πλέον ολοκληρωθεί δίχως ωστόσο να έχει φτάσει στο τελικό στάδιο της δημοσίευσης. Η χρήση υλικού από τις προκαταρκτικές εκθέσεις έχει ωστόσο οδηγήσει σε συμπεράσματα, τα οποία δεν μπορούν να τεκμηριωθούν. Οι ερευνητικές ομάδες των δύο θέσεων, στενά συνεργαζόμενες, παρουσιάζουν στο άρθρο αυτό το λεπτομερές στρωματογραφικό πλαίσιο της εργασίας τους και τις τελικές εκθέσεις. Η διαγνωστική κεραμική για το δεύτερο ήμισυ του δέκατου τρίτου αιώνα π.Χ. (YE III B2 Πρώιμη και Ύστερη), περίοδος που σημαδεύτηκε αηό μία μεγάλη καταστροφή και στις δύο θέσεις, επεξηγείται στο πλαίσιο των συνευρημάτων της. Η σχέση των δύο θέσεων μπορεί με αυτόν τον τρόπο να αξιολογηθεί με μεγαλύτερη ακρίβεια. Τα στονχεία αυτά θα επιτρέψουν τη διατύπωση καλά θεμελιωμένων ιστορικών υποθέσεων.

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.

Images of bears are found as dedications in only five sanctuaries. The article considers the circumstances of this; particularly the belief that this animal was an emblem and pattern of motherhood.

It has been suggested that the inscribed bronze sword found at Hattušas in 1991 is a Mycenaean type B sword which may be used as evidence for Hittites fighting in the Trojan war against the Mycenaeans and for a historical background to the Trojan war. The present independent investigation of the sword indicates that it may well be a variant of an Aegean type B sword, but might reflect Mycenaean influence rather than outright manufacture. Moreover, a variety of evidence suggests that the sword must be interpreted in the light of events occurring not during the Trojan war, but some two hundred years prior to that war. It is possible that Mycenaean involvement in the Aššuwa rebellion c.1430 BC was recorded in contemporary Hittite documents and remembered in later Greek tradition as the legendary pre-Trojan war exploits of Achilles and other Achaean heroes in NW Anatolia.

This brief study of objects of Minoan origin found in Cyprus seeks to draw attention to a branch of Cypriot studies which for many years has remained neglected. Since the time of Forsdyke's often criticized pioneer study, no attempt has been made to collect the material under a single heading, or to comment upon its significance. Instead, in not a few cases the Minoan origin of these objects has been overlooked, and they are classified as Mycenaean or Levanto-Helladic.

Fashions in archaeology are well known to be arbitrary. General interest in Minoan studies has been on the wane in recent years, to the considerable advantage of the prehistory of Mainland Greece. This merely reversed a state of affairs which obtained in the years that saw the publication of The Palace of Minos. Now, however, there seems good reason to hope that a more balanced outlook on both Crete and Greece is coming into being. The moment is opportune, so the writers believe, for a contribution towards a fuller understanding of Minoan overseas relations.

After this brief introduction, there follows a catalogue of the objects found in Cyprus which are considered by the writers to be of Minoan fabric and origin. The catalogue is divided very broadly into (1) Middle Minoan and (2) Late Minoan objects. Amongst the former will be found one vase and several bronzes, while the latter lists only vases and fragments. The writers are very grateful to the Rev. V. E. G. Kenna for contributing a note on the seal impressions on 35.

In the winter months of A.D. 905–6 Arethas, Archbishop of Caesarea, unwillingly made the difficult journey from Constantinople to the Byzantine province of Hellas, central Greece. The official reason for this visit was to reconsecrate several churches which had been defiled and pillaged by raiders, probably Bulgars, but there was another reason why the vociferous archbishop should be removed from the capital. In September 905 Zoe, mistress of the Emperor Leo VI, had given birth to a child Constantine, Leo's first son and heir. While this event was joyfully celebrated by the entire court, it provoked dismay and alarm among ecclesiastics such as Arethas. For the emperor had already been married three times and to take a fourth wife was against the canons of the Orthodox Church.

110 copper-based objects from various sites on Crete, covering the whole of the Bronze Age, were analysed for their chemical content (12 elements) by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The results indicate that during the Early Bronze Age arsenical copper was mainly used while in the Middle Bronze Age copper, arsenical copper, and arsenical bronze were in use with about equal frequency. During the Late Bronze Age normal bronze was used when required. The copper technology in each era was the same at all of the sites examined. Metallographic examination of four triangular daggers of the Early Bronze Age showed that they had been cast. In the case of three Late Bronze Age hydriae, the component sheets had been hammered and annealed.

The story of the borderline sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis forms an integral part of the history of ancient Laconia and Messenia. Since the discovery of the Volimnos inscriptions in 1835, many scholars have entered the still-continuing debate concerning the sanctuary's location, history and significance. In this article the available evidence for the Limnatis cult and history is presented and thoroughly discussed: the small finds, currently kept in the Kalamata Archaeological Museum, the inscriptions of the Kapsocherovoloussa chapel, the scattered spolia at Volimnos and their possible association with architectural structures of the sanctuary, the topography of the area in accordance with Inscriptiones Graecae V,1 1431 (Kolbe 1913, no. 1431) and the attested boundary stones discovered in an extensive survey along the ridge of Mount Taygetos, and finally the origin and nature of the Limnatis cult. This discussion is expected to further illuminate issues still unresolved, offering a chance to re-evaluate generally accepted arguments.