This paper is the result of a study carried out in July and August 1987 as part of the survey of the Greco-Roman city of Balboura in North Lycia. Its aim was to produce a plan and catalogue of the large number of sarcophagi in and around the site. Due to the rugged nature of the area such a catalogue cannot claim to be absolutely complete; I suspect, in particular, that more awaits discovery in the trees to the west of the site. Nevertheless, the material at our disposal seems an adequate basis for discussion. The evidence collected is presented in full in the appendix, and on the plans (Figs. 1–5). What follows is an attempt to summarize and comment on the significance of these results.

A puzzling feature of a number of Lycian bath buildings is the array of holes cut in their walls at intervals of about 0·5 × 0·5 m. In size they are often about 0·12 × 0·12 m. × 0·06 m. deep, and so too large for the normal iron spikes which hold marble veneers or other wall facings in place. A chance find made during the course of the survey of Balboura in 1986 provides an explanation for these holes; they were to take spool-headed terracotta spacer pins which in turn held a series of large flat tiles with a space behind for the circulation of hot air from the hypocaust (Fig. 4), so providing the same effect as the better known tubuli and tegulae mammatae.

Amongst the standing remains of Greco-roman Balboura in northern Lycia are those of two theatres (Fig. 1). The smaller and better preserved clings to the steep south slope of the acropolis hill close to the line of the Hellenistic city's defence wall. The reports of early travellers provide little useful information about the monument, concerned as they are more with Balboura's rich epigraphic material than with her architecture. Spratt and Forbes, who visited the site in 1842 during their archaeological survey of the area, wrote a brief account, and nearly half a century later Petersen and Von Luschan published without comment a single photograph of the stage building's fine retaining wall showing its heavily bossed polygonal stones and its buttresses of squared blocks. No detailed picture was available, however, until the appearance in 1969 of the second volume of de Bernardi Ferrero's monumental survey of the ancient theatres in Asia Minor.

The second theatre, located in a rocky bay in the hillside at the edge of the valley three hundred metres to the south, has attracted even less attention, and understandably so, for its remains consist of little more than the foundations for the stage building which lie half buried beneath earth and debris. De Bernardi Ferrero has published several photographs but no drawings. Her brief description concentrates on the system of arches supporting the pavement of the proscenium, an unusual feature for which she cites several parallels in the area.

Some preliminary conclusions and individual discoveries from the first four seasons of a survey in the province of Adıyaman are presented here. Initial inspiration for this project grew out of the Institute's excavations at Tille Höyük and the realization that Tille and other excavations in the Lower Euphrates Rescue Project were beginning to provide the kind of precise ceramic sequence which had not hitherto existed for the region. An element of urgency was introduced by the imminence of flooding up to the 550 m. contour by the creation of a huge reservoir above the Atatürk Dam. Consequently a permit to carry out a survey of all archaeological remains in the province was applied for and granted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

During the four seasons, 1985–1988, which have taken place so far, our effort has been very largely directed towards a detailed investigation of that area on the west bank of the Euphrates which will be flooded (Fig. 1). At least one further season is required to complete this examination. To this end, part of the Euphrates valley and one tributary system were the focus of attention in the 1985–1987 seasons (Fig. 2).

It was in 1908 that D. G. Hogarth first published information about a “Central Basis” (Pl. XI (a), Fig. 1) that he had excavated in 1904 and 1905 in the Artemision at Ephesus, and for many decades his words remained the authoritative statement concerning the early sanctuaries not only in Ephesus, but also in the rest of the classical world. A colloquium in the British Museum in 1984, however, demonstrated that there were issues, raised by numismatists and art historians, that continued to be at odds with the results of Hogarth's excavations, and that could only be solved by a further examination of the “central basis” in question.

As early as 1986, under the northern outer rim of the crepidoma of the archaic dipteros (Croesus temple), a square base had been discovered which obviously formed the centre of a distinct cult area. A flood stratum of sand, which was typical of all the parts of the Artemision we had excavated, appeared under the base. Fortunately, the low level of the ground water made it possible to measure this stratum (66 cm.) and to observe beneath it a new culture stratum—a pavement made of yellow marly limestone slabs—that had previously escaped detection. This observation gave rise to the hope that more discoveries could be expected under Hogarth's “central basis”.

Malagina was a place of considerable strategic importance in the Byzantine period, from the Dark Ages until the final collapse of imperial rule in Asia Minor. Frequent mentions in the sources indicate that it was a major base, a station on the route of imperial armies to the East, and the seat of the stables from which the expeditions were supplied. It had an administration of its own, and grew in importance as the Empire shrank. Although its general location, on the Sangarius river, has never been in doubt, the site has so far failed to be convincingly identified, in spite of serious attempts. Thanks to investigations in the field, it is now possible to provide Malagina with a precise location, and to identify and describe its fortress, whose remains add considerably to our knowledge of the site and its history. For the sake of completeness, these remains will be discussed in the context of what is known of the Byzantine and Ottoman history of the site.

The first appearance of Malagina is in a curious text, an apocalyptic prophecy attributed to St. Methodius, but actually dating from the late seventh century. Its chronology can be determined from its forecast that the Arabs would break into Constantinople. Although that never happened, the prophecy has reasonably been associated with the great siege of 674–8. In preparation for that attack, the Arabs would, it announces, divide their forces into three parts, of which one would winter in Ephesus, another in Pergamum, and the third in Malagina. Although this provides no specific information about the site, it shows that Malagina was then considered an important military base, a likely goal for an Arab attack. It may also indicate that the place was actually taken and occupied by the Arabs on that occasion. In any case, Malagina was in existence by the seventh century.

During 1989 the Pisidian survey project continued for its fifth season at Sagalassos. The survey was directed in the first half of the season by Dr. S. Mitchell (University College of Swansea) and in the second half by Prof. M. Waelkens (Catholic University of Leuven and National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium). The team consisted of Prof. W. Viaene (geologist), Dr. M. Lodewijckx, R. Degeest, E. Scheltens, L. Vandeput, H. Bracke, A. De Daele, P. De Jonghe (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium), Dr. E. Owens (University College of Swansea), Dr. Chr. Lightfoot (The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara), Mr. R. Fursdon, R. Harrison and A. Young (topographers, University of Newcastle), and F. Richards (Sydney University). For 3 weeks we were joined by Selçuk Baser, director of the Museum of Burdur, who with M. Waelkens, directed a rescue excavation in the potters' quarter. Muhsin Endoǧru (Boǧazköy Museum) represented the Turkish Antiquities Department. The main financial support came from the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium), the Prime Ministry of the Flemish Community (Belgium), the Flemish Ministry of Education (Belgium), the British Academy and the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.

The castle of Cursat, modern Koz Kalesi, situated ten kilometres south of Antakya in Turkish Hatay, has been well covered: van Berchem (1914/5), Jacquot (1931) and Deschamps (1977). They draw attention to the conspicuous visible features, largely of 13th century Frankish origin, in the western and southern walls of Cursat, in particular salients A and B of the plan (Fig. 1). However, none of these previous investigators reports anything of significance on the eastern flank of the site, marked C on the plan, beyond noting the existence of a cistern, and several subterranean apartments.

As a result, they overlook two interesting features which this writer discovered in the Spring of 1989. These consist of a vertical shaft, cut in the rock, which descends from the level of a subterranean complex below the eastern terreplein, and a lower chamber at the level of the base of the castle ramparts, which receives the shaft.

The complex, comprising a Firing-platform, cistern and another apartment, possibly a bath, was noted by van Berchem and his successors. But the shaft and the lower chamber have not been recorded.

This was the second season of excavation at Amorium in east Phrygia, and the team worked for five weeks, from 24 July 1989. Our main aim is to trace archaeological changes and developments within the city from Hellenistic times into the Selcuk period. We carried out a general survey of the Upper Town by a regular 25-metre grid, and we also excavated three trenches, one in the Upper Town and two (which we started last year) in the Lower (Fig. 1). A preliminary analysis is underway of the pottery and small finds, which in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods appear mostly of local manufacture. There are some relevant excavation-sites in Asia Minor for study of the Late Roman period, but there is very little research geared to the so-called Dark Ages, especially inland. Amorium is a major site, virtually untouched, and the city offers a rare opportunity to examine an early Byzantine urban landscape. The excavation so far has been very successful, and has highlighted the site's great potential. Next year, we shall try to clarify the chronology, by more intensive excavation of the existing trenches.

At Oxford in the late summer of 1989, I was kindly escorted by Professor Gurney to visit Mr. Roger Mason, among whose recent discoveries was the so-called Medici-Lazara map of the Alanya fortress, now published in AS XXXIX 83–105. I had the privilege then of seeing the map itself and, although this was not an occasion for detailed discussion, obtained a clear understanding of its importance. Before I left Mr. Mason was good enough to provide me with copies of the maps and of the long article on the subject which he was about to publish. The latter consists primarily of an impressive dissertation on the historical setting of the document and its place in the early development of paramilitary cartography, followed by an examination in great detail of its topographical accuracy, as related to the evidence of the surviving ruins. For purposes of comparison, reference had necessarily to be made to the survey carried out by the present writer in collaboration with Dr. D. S. Rice, published in 1958 by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (Alanya (Ala'iyya)).

In conversation with Mr. Mason and in his writing, I became aware of his strongly felt affinity with the Florentine cartographer—his professional predecessor by almost four centuries—who had produced this “multiplane perspective” from the sketches and reports of “naval observers”, probably onboard ship. By whatever means it was achieved, the result is a remarkable historical document, well meriting the industry which Mr. Mason has applied to its detailed examination and the many pages which he has devoted to the consideration of its overall veracity. Nevertheless, in reading the arguments which are explored in these pages, one is conscious of two weaknesses in his approach to the task which he has set himself.