¹ This report has been made possible only by the combined efforts of several persons to whom I am glad to acknowledge my gratitude. Dr. H. Catling happily undertook to relieve me of the study of the bronzes and their publication: the fruits of his experience and vast knowledge of this field will be apparent in his section of this report. Mr. R. J. Howell, assisted by Mr. K. Wardle, was responsible under my supervision for the excavation, a difficult and trying one, and for keeping the record. Tomb 4 was spotted by the experienced eye of Spiro Vassilakis, who carried out most of the delicate excavating and kept watch by night. Miss Susan Bird made the master plan of the tomb, and nearly all the drawings of the small objects are the work of her skilful pen. Petros Petrakis mended and preserved some intractable material. Various experts have readily given me their advice and assistance, Dr. J. Betts on the seals, Dr. I. E. S. Edwards on the scarab, and Dr. R. A. Higgins on some of the jewellery, though he is in no way responsible for my irresponsible vacillation between the terms ‘faience’ and ‘glass paste’. The outline draft of the report was written while I was holding a post in the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati. Original excavation numbers, still carried by some of the objects, have been correlated with those used in this report and placed in the excavation notebook, which may be consulted in the British School at Athens.

Responsibility for most of the ideas, the faults, photographs, drawings of the pots and of a few of the small objects are mine. Dr. Catling's acknowledgements are at n. 36.

Abbreviations not standard and used in my report are:

ChT Wace, A. J., Chamber Tombs at Mycenae in Archaeologia lxxxii (1932).Google Scholar

DPK Popham, M. R., Destruction of the Palace at Knossos, Göteborg 1970.Google Scholar

Gems J. Boardman, Greek and Roman Gems and Finger Rings, 1970.

Jewellery Higgins, R. A., Greek and Roman Jewellery, Methuen 1961.Google Scholar

PTK Evans, A. J., Prehistoric Tombs at Knossos, in Archaeologia lix (1906).Google Scholar

TDA Evans, A. J., The Tomb of the Double Axes, in Archaeologia lxv (1914).Google Scholar

² BSA vi (1899–1900) 81 and map.

³ AR 1957 24 pl. 1 h–j. Since the text was prepared the excavation of another tomb at Sellopoulo has been brought to the author's notice: a shaft grave of LM IIIA date was excavated by Mr. M. S. F. Hood in 1958, a preliminary report on which is given in AR 1958 21.

⁴ DPK 71 and 78, and BSA lxii (1967) 344 and n. 32.

⁵ LM IB origin, e.g. BSA lxii (1967) pl. 81e and fig. 2, 9: LM IIIA2 deadness, ibid. 345.

⁶ BSA lxiv (1969) 299–301; DPK 78–9. Dr. Alexiou has drawn my attention to the lack of the ‘champagne cup’, a low-stemmed version of the one-handled kylix, in Tombs 3 and 4, which could have chronological implications since it seems first to appear at the very beginning of IIIA2, see BSA loc. cit.

⁷ DPK 79. An LM II version has been found in the Unexplored Mansion (unpublished) as well as the LM IIIB version, AR 1972–3 60 fig. 44.

⁸ Hesperia xxxv (1966) 381–96: ‘It is interesting to note’, she comments, ‘that almost all the recorded examples of this technique fall within a fairly narrow time range, from the late 15th through the first half of the fourteenth century.’

⁹ Dr. R. Hedges, who kindly examined this specimen from one of the kylikes in Tomb 3 in the Research Laboratory for Art and Archaeology at Oxford, has commented: ‘A sample fragment was analysed by X-ray fluorescence. This technique provides a quantative estimate of all elements heavier than Potassium present within a thin surface layer of the sample. The only element present in any appreciable concentration was Tin. Traces of Copper and Iron were found, possibly from the depositional environment. No traces were found of Silver, Lead, or other likely metals. The amount of Tin found is consistent with the material having been pure tin originally, since corroded to oxidized products.’ A similar coated kylix was found in the LM II destruction level in the Unexplored Mansion but, despite warning, it slipped through to the acid bath.

¹⁰ PTK 426 fig. 33n and 545 fig. 139.

¹¹ See Catalogue: a plain kylix, not identified as such, is drawn on the tomb-plan in MonAnt xiv fig. 6.

¹² Jewellery 75 and the relevant discussions in ChT and Prosymna.

¹³ Jewellery loc. cit., where the material is identified as magnesite sand; related to emery it might have been readily available in a neighbouring stone-vase or sealmaker's workshop.

¹⁴ e.g. Jewellery pl. 9= Prosymna fig. 577: reflected in pottery patterns, Furumark M 38, 2.

¹⁵ The context of the Sellopoulo ornaments and their form do not support Alexiou's interpretation of similar ornaments from the Kalyvia cemetery, AAA ii (1969) 86–8 and pl. 4.Google Scholar

¹⁶ ChT pl. xx. 14.

¹⁷ Cretan examples discussed in BSA liii–iv (1958–9) 237–9 and 261–2.

¹⁸ ChT 195–6.

¹⁹ BSA li (1956) 72 fig. 3, 14; 87 and n. 6; TDA 59, 2w.

²⁰ See Catalogue. The tombs are Mycenae Ts 515 and 55, Prosymna T XLIV, Dendra T 10, Asine T 1:1 and Vaphio tholos.

²¹ Cf. the shield on the Vaphio ring CMS i. 149 = Gems pl. 154.

²² Boardman, Gems 47, hints that the absence of facial features may have a religious significance being ‘almost strictly and deliberately aniconic’ but worshippers are so represented as well as ‘epiphanies’ on this group of rings, and on others are given features, e.g. Gems pls. 149–50; CMS i. 17 and 127.

²³ The cist was undisturbed and contained LH IIA pottery, so its contents may continue to be considered as a sealed and well-dated group. This is not true of the chamber and its finds as is usually assumed; it had been looted, was badly preserved, and contained no pottery which has been published or described if there was any. It is not unlikely that there was more than one burial and this probability is supported by the parallels to some of the objects found on the floor of the chamber and by the sherds preserved from the dromos in the National Museum at Athens. The sherds suggest to me that the tomb continued in use until LH IIB and possibly into early IIIA, for which see my article, ‘Sellopoulo Tomb 4, Some Aspects of the Finds’ in the forthcoming Acta of the Third Gretological Conference.

²⁴ The Index to PM lists the Phaistos ring as LM IA, the Vaphio ring as LM IB, and that from Isopata as LM II: cf. also Kenna, , Kritika Chronika 1963, 329.Google Scholar Boardman, Gems 47, on the other hand, assumes without discussion that they are LM II to IIIA.

²⁵ I am indebted to Dr. R. Higgins for this suggestion in the case of the Sellopoulo ring of which he has examined enlarged details.

²⁶ Jewellery 72 accepts with hesitation the suggestion in MonAnt xiv. 595 regarding the Kalyvia spirals. Zafer Papoura T 99 shown in PTK fig. 99, object b (two seem to be indicated though only one is listed) and c.

²⁷ e.g. CMS vii 248 and ADelt iv (1918) pl. 5, 5.

²⁸ Dr. Betts informs me that he would, on certain features, tentatively associate with the Sellopoulo gem two Kalyvia, seals (MonAnt xiv. 622 fig. 94 and 618 fig. 85)Google Scholar and a seal from Isopata (TDA 15 fig. 20b), My inexperienced eye sees as close, if not closer, similarities in the seal from Katsamba T. B. (Alexiou, KAtsamba 47 fig. 34 and pl. 14a).

²⁹ Dr. Betts has quoted to me three examples of gold capping from Crete, TDA figs. 13–14, Prakt. 1967 pl. 188, and BSA xlvii (1952) 275 fig. 16, none being really similar. He also pointed out that closer parallels and more numerous examples occur on the Mainland, e.g. CMS i. 239 and 247.

³⁰ Two only later than LM I, Dr. Betts informs me: Isopata T 3 (TDA 15 fig. 20b) and Gournes, (ADelt iv. 56 pl. 5, 2)Google Scholar to which we may add a talismanic gem from a LM II context in the Unexplored Mansion (unpublished).

³¹ See especially Gill, Kadmos v. 11 f.

³² PM iv. 861–2.

³³ The Chieftain Vase, Crete and Mycenae pls. 100–2 and PM ii fig. 516; the Fresco, Priest King, PM ii 780 fig. 508Google Scholar and Frontispiece, made before the fresco had faded. For earlier relief beads, especially Mochlos T 22, see Jewellery 77.

Gold beads are curiously lacking in all the LM II tombs recently discovered, both the Warrior Graves at Knossos and the contemporary burials at Katsambas. Could this have a chronological significance, or one of status, or mean a growth at Knossos in wealth between LM II and early IIIA? The bronzes, which show a similar chronological clustering, might support the economic interpretation.

³⁴ Jewellery 70 and 76.

³⁵ See note 23 above.

³⁶ The original drawings of most of the bronzes were made by Miss Susan Bird, and form the basis for the finished drawings published here. Mr. Garth Denning drew some additional items, and Mrs. Elizabeth Catling made the remaining series of reconstructed drawings, in particular T. 3, nos. 9–14, T. 4, nos. 17, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, and 37. Mr. Jeff Clarke has prepared all the final drawings from which the illustrations have been made. To all four draughtsmen a special debt is owed for the skill and care with which they have recovered the former state of so many important objects.

The following abbreviations are employed in addition to those in standard use.

Circle B: G. E. Mylonas, O Taphikos Kuklos B ton Consisted of bronze blade and hilt, to which hilt-plates and pommel of perishable materials were fastened. The blade is severely chipped and Mukenon, Athens, 1972.

CBMW: Catling, H. W., Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean-World, Oxford, 1964.Google Scholar

NT: Persson, A. W., New Tombs at Dendra near Midea, Lund, 1942.Google Scholar

Perati: Iakovides, S., Perati, To Nekrotapheion. i: Oi taphoi kai ta euremata; ii: Genikai paratereseis; iii: Pinakes. Athens, 1969–1970.Google Scholar

PTK: Evans, A. J., Prehistoric Tombs at Knossos, London, 1906.Google Scholar (Also in Archaeologia lix. 391–562).

RT: Persson, A. W., The Royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea, Lund, 1931.Google Scholar

³⁷ AJA lxvii (1963) 117–53, especially 123–30.

³⁸ CBMW 122f.

³⁹ AJA lxvii. 123.

⁴⁰ PTK. fig. 109 nos. 36i, 42a, 43a and 55a.

⁴¹ RT 35 pls. xx. 1 and xxii. 1.

⁴² PTK 62 Tomb 43.a and fig. 109.

⁴³ BSA xlvii (1952) 262 fig. 8.

⁴⁴ BSA xlvii. 270 fig. 12, from Tomb V.6.

⁴⁵ PTK figs. 59 and 112.

⁴⁶ BSA xlvii. 273 fig. 5 and pls. 50b and 53a.

⁴⁷ PTK fig. 59.

⁴⁸ PTK 60.

⁴⁹ PTK fig. 58.

⁵⁰ PTK fig. 66.

⁵¹ AJA lxvii. 125–9.

⁵² Horses: SG no. 748 from Grave V, pl. lxxxvi; Griffim: ibid. no. 417 from Grave IV fig. 34; no. 747 from Grave V, pls. xci–xcii; Circle B pl. 67, from Grave Delta. Curvilinear patterning: SG no. 402, from Grave IV, pl. lxxxv; no. 396 from Grave IV, pl. xc; Circle B, pl. 121, from Grave Lambda.

⁵³ e.g. SG no. 407, from Grave IV, pl. lxxiv; no. 635 from Grave V, pl. lxxxiii; no. 294, from Grave IV, pl. lxxxvii; no. 764 from Grave V, pl. xci.

⁵⁴ AJA lxvii. 133.

⁵⁵ Ibid.: a hilt of similar type from an LM II context in the Unexplored Mansion, Knossos, would now place this development even earlier, AR 1972–3 58 fig. 35.

⁵⁶ BSA xxviii. 282; AJA lxvii pl. 25, 30.

⁵⁷ RT 97 pl. xxxiii. 4.

⁵⁸ PPS xxxviii (1972) 281.

⁵⁹ CBMW 123.

⁶⁰ PTK 55 nos. 36e and f, figs. 56–7.

⁶¹ CBMW 123.

⁶² BSA xlvii. 270 fig. 12.

⁶³ AJA lxvii. 128.

⁶⁴ PTK 115–17.

⁶⁵ Prosymna 347 f.

⁶⁶ BSA liii–iv (1958/9) 235.

⁶⁷ Perati B′ 281–3.

⁶⁸ BSA liii–iv. 235.

⁶⁹ PTK 46, 47, 60, and fig. 63.

⁷⁰ PTK 62.

⁷¹ PTK 86 f.

⁷² MonAnt xiv. 542 fig. 24.

⁷³ BSA liii–iv. 235.

⁷⁴ PTK 23.

⁷⁵ In the Zapher Papoura cemetery, for instance, in Tombs 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12–14, 43, 51, 55, 62, 64–5, 75–6, 80–1, and 92. Cf., e.g., PTK. fig. 113, right.

⁷⁶ PPS xxi (1955) 175–7, 188·90.

⁷⁷ PTK figs. 34, 64c, 72b.

⁷⁸ PTK 50.

⁷⁹ On these see Branigan, , Bronze Working in Early Bronze Age Crete (Lund, 1968), 32Google Scholar (‘leather-cutters’) and 36–8 (‘Scrapers’). There are examples from Gournia: Gournia pl. iv. 28–31, and Palaikastro: Unpublished Objects pl. xxv u.

⁸⁰ RT 97 pl. xxxiv. 1.

⁸¹ Gournia pl. iv. 47.

⁸² Unpublished Objects pl. xxv T.

⁸³ PTK 115.

⁸⁴ Perati B′ 285–6.

⁸⁵ AM lxxiii (1958) 73–87.

⁸⁴ Prosymna 350 f.

⁸⁶ CBMW 226 f.

⁸⁸ Perati B′ 285–6.

⁸⁹ RT 91 ff. pl. xxx.

⁹⁰ PM ii. 627 ff.: (a) hoard in house north-west of the Palace, 627–9; (b) hoard in house south-east of the South House, 629–32; (c) hoard in the basement cell by the Stepped Portico, 632–3; (d) hoard in the North-west Treasure House, 637 ff.

⁹¹ CBMW 169.

⁹² PM ii. 630 fig. 394, 2.

⁹³ PM ii. 632 f. fig. 395.

⁹⁴ RT pl. xxx.

⁹⁵ They occur, that is, in Crete in Zapher Papoura Tombs 14 and 36, Sellopoulo 3 and 4, Phaistos Tomb 8, Archanes tholos and Archanes shaft grave, and at Chania. In Greece they were found in Mycenae O.T. 47, and other Mycenae old tombs, Dendra Tombs 2, 7, and 12, Asine Tomb 5, Nichoria tholos tomb, and Tragana tholos 1.

⁹⁶ e.g. on the lekanai in Dendra T. 12 and Tragana T. 1.

⁹⁷ Immerwahr, S. A., Athenian Agora xiii: The Neolithic and Bronze Age Periods (1971), 200.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ PM ii. 637 ff.

⁹⁹ CBMW 174 f.

¹⁰⁰ e.g. Isopata Tomb 4c, Archaeologia lxv. 19 fig. 31.

¹⁰¹ Asine Tomb 5, Asine 394 fig. 257.

¹⁰² AM lv Beil. 34. 1.

¹⁰³ BSA xlv. 211 f. and pl. 21. 4 from the Prehistoric Cemetery Area, Grave III. MP 656, Form 211.

¹⁰⁴ Circle B 172, N. 310, pl. 151c.

¹⁰⁵ Circle B 98, E. 288, pl. 84a.

¹⁰⁶ Knossos—PM ii. 387 fig. 221 b (silver). Mycenae—SG, pl. ciii no. 74 from Grave III (gold); pl. cxxxiii no. 475 from Grave IV (silver, fragment); 110 and fig. 40 no. 511, from Grave IV (silver).

¹⁰⁷ CBMW 177.

¹⁰⁸ CBMW 150–1.

¹⁰⁹ Thera iv pls. 94–5.

¹¹⁰ SG 117 no. 581 and pl. clvi from Grave IV.

¹¹¹ PZ xlv. 152 fig. 5. 4.

¹¹² e.g. on the octopus cup from the Dendra Royal Tomb and the spiral cup from Knossos, Warrior Grave from Ayios Ioannis, BSA li. 87–92Google Scholar fig. 5. 1, pl. 13.

¹¹³ Thera iv pl. 91b.

¹¹⁴ PZ xlv. 152 fig. 5. 10.

¹¹⁵ NT fig. 49. 1.

¹¹⁶ CBMW 162–3, 1 a and b, pl. 25e. Also in the Sword-Founder's Hoard at Enkomi, Alasia i. 418–21Google Scholar fig. 22.

¹¹⁷ BSA x (1903–4) 59–62. PM iv. 836–40.

¹¹⁸ PTK 30–2. MonAnt xiv. 536–7 fig. 21.

¹¹⁹ Mycenaean Age 206.

¹²⁰ JdI lxxvii (1962) 1 ff.

¹²¹ RT 54 fig. 32.

¹²² AR 1972–3, 58.

¹²³ Forms 6b, 7b, and 15—AM lxxxii. 46–52.

¹²⁴ See nn. 46 and 57 above.

¹²⁵ See Popham, , ‘Mycenaean Correlations at the Time of the Destruction of the Palace at Knossos’, in Acta of the 2nd Cretological Congress i. 230–3.Google Scholar

¹²⁶ Furumark, Chronology 111–12.

¹²⁷ For LM II tombs at Katsambas see Alexiou, St., Usterominoikoi Taphoi Limenos Knosou (Katsamba) (Athens, 1967).Google Scholar The LM II tombs at Knossos and the LM IIIA burials at Kalyvia have been referred to frequently above.

¹²⁸ Wooden biers and coffins are discussed by Vermeule, E. in Hesperia xxxv (1966) 69–72Google Scholar, where it is noted that ‘Most tombs which have produced traces of coffins belong to … the late 15th and early 14th century.’

¹²⁹ Argued in detail in DPK and especially 79–81.

¹³⁰ For example the weapons in Mouliana Tomb A and the comparable weapons recently acquired by the Ashmolean Museum; Catling, , BSA lxiii (1968) 89–131.Google Scholar

¹³¹ A point of some importance. The only LM II–IIIA cemeteries with earlier burials of which I am aware are Mavro Spelio, Gypsadhes (but no continuity), and Arkhanes, (? continuity), a very small proportion.

¹³² As convincingly argued by Furumark, in OpArch vi (1950) 249–54.Google Scholar

¹³³ The Mainland view, put by Wace, and by Pendlebury to a lesser extent, and vindicated by the decipherment of Linear B, BSA li (1956) 123 and AC 229 and 289; Popham, , BSA lxii (1967) 344 and n. 32.Google Scholar

¹³⁴ Even in pottery, the author has argued that dissimilarities have been overstressed, perhaps by reason of mistaken chronology and belief in a growing estrangement and rivalry between the Mainland and Crete, leading to the 1400 destruction of Knossos, DPK 86 n. 61.

¹³⁵ PM iv. 785 based principally on the art, tablets, and tombs, confirmed especially by the LM II Warrior Graves subsequently discovered at Knossos. Cf. also N. Sandars's views on the manufacture and origin of certain weapons at this time, AJA lxvii (1963) 125.