This is a report on the excavations undertaken in 2007 at the site of Praisos in eastern Crete. Three trenches were opened just next to the so-called Andreion or Almond Tree House on the NW slopes of the First Acropolis, excavated by R.C. Bosanquet in 1901. The upper layers of two of these trenches (A-200 and A-300) consisted of re-deposited material of Classical and Hellenistic date, which we infer came from Bosanquet's dump. Material from these upper layers comprised tile, pottery (including numerous examples of Cretan necked cups), loomweights and terracotta plaques with a distinct masculine iconography. Excavation also reached lower Late-Classical–Hellenistic floor levels, on which a number of pithoi survived in situ. Some of these pithoi are considerably older than the floor level, a terminus post quem for which is provided by a bronze coin. The abandonment of these houses must be dated to the final phases of Praisos' occupation, before 146 bc. There is however nothing to suggest that the city itself was subject to a fire destruction. Rather, the city seems to have undergone a forced abandonment followed by deliberate demolition.

Recent intensive survey over the entire extent of the small island of Antikythera has recovered an episodic sequence of human activity spanning some 7,000 years, including a Roman pottery assemblage that documents a range of important patterns with respect to land use, demography and on-island consumption. This paper addresses the typological and functional aspects of this assemblage in detail, and also discusses Roman period Antikythera's range of off-island contacts and affiliations.

In this paper we present the unpublished finds from the survey of Ayios Nikolaos Mylon. The site is located on one of the foothills of Mount Ochi, on a strategic defensive position overlooking the Bay of Karystos. The site, although unexcavated, is important for establishing the chronological sequence of events in southern Euboean prehistory, as it is the only locality in the area that has produced evidence for habitation which can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age. In the paper we analyse the material and offer some tentative interpretations not only of the archaeological evidence but also of the place of Ayios Nikolaos Mylon in the wider prehistoric world of the Aegean.

Among the more intriguing Minoan architectural forms is the so-called ‘Minoan Hall’. It consists, at its simplest, of a light well, a fore hall, and a room (polythyron) closed off by what are known as pier-and-door partitions. The Hall was located in the residential areas of the palaces, also in some Neopalatial houses, and was usually accompanied by a ‘lustral basin’, a square sunken room reached by steps often flanked by an elaborate balustrade. A window or a platform often enabled observation within the basin from ground level.

Examples of the Hall were once known only from the Neopalatial period, but two earlier, Protopalatial, examples have been identified at Malia. The later of the two occurs in Middle Minoan II Building A in Quartier Mu. It consists of the lustral basin, a large hall with a light well, and a polythyron. The earlier example, a Minoan Hall suite in the Middle Minoan I Crypte hypostyle, consists of a unique series of five basement rooms, the first bordered by a light well, then a polythyron, followed by a relatively small, square room with a large interior window (a lustral basin?), with a benched entrance room next door. South of these rooms was a large hall at ground level, probably for groups, from which one accessed separately the first and last of the rooms underground.

Comparison of the two room groups suggests that the Crypte hypostyle example is the forerunner of the Quartier Mu group. Specifically, the latter's polythyron was, for practical reasons, set at ground level while its lustral basin, which involved chthonic connections, remained at basement level and was approached by steps. The same arrangement, but with some adjustments, was to be adapted later, in Neopalatial times, completing a long history of a social and ceremonial architectural form that may have begun as early as the Early Minoan Period.

This article presents an unpublished stirrup jar from the Outer Kerameikos in Athens. The recently discovered archival material in the University of Oxford associated with the purchase of the stirrup jar helps to contextualise this object, and assess its significance in the light of the 1871–2 private excavations in the Outer Kerameikos. It also provides important information regarding the organisation of the antiquities trade in late nineteenth-century Athens.

The article presents an apsidal temple excavated by the 6th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Nikoleika, in the chora of ancient Helike. The building was erected at the end of the eighth century, after levelling which probably destroyed a Protogeometric construction. A mudbrick altar erected in the first half of the eighth century lay buried beneath the temple floor: offerings and faunal remains from the altar area are presented, noting evidence for ritual dining. A terminus ante quem for the abandonment of the Geometric temple is provided by mid sixth-century architectural terracottas, presumably from its successor.

In memoriam Eos Zervoudaki2

The terracotta model presented in this article depicts the roof of a small temple or naiskos. It was discovered during the excavation of a Late Geometric apsidal temple, probably dedicated to Poseidon Heliconius, at Nikoleika near Aegion. An account of the excavation can be found in the article by Erophile Kolia in this volume. The present article focuses on interpretation and analysis of the model in the context of the religious, social and political life of Achaea during the second half of the eighth century bc.

In memoriam Vivien Swan

An exhaustive presentation of one of the most important Chian amphora workshops that manufactured amphorae of Dressel 24 similis type, as well as ampullae, unguentaria, basins and funnels (vessels and equipment related to the olive oil industry), is followed by an analysis of the origin and evolution of this type since the Hellenistic period in the Chios–Erythrai–Kyme area. These discoveries bring to light the organisation of the amphorae workshops in this region, the same type of kiln being in use until the present day. Petrological and chemical analysis of the Chian and Erythraian fabrics, together with the identification of some Chian Dressel 24 similis amphora stamps on the lower Danube and Pontic market, also sheds new light on the flourishing olive oil industry of the central Aegean area during the Early Roman period.

The island of Kythera (Cerigo) has many well-preserved structures dating from the British protectorate (1815–64): the most striking of these are several stone-built school buildings constructed in 1825–6. Education in these schools was based on a British system, informed by evangelical religious principles that had gained popularity in England in the late eighteenth century, and known as the Lancastrian system after its founder, Joseph Lancaster. Using unpublished archival sources in both Britain and Kythera, this article focuses primarily on the colonial educational system on Cerigo, as embodied in the school buildings. The Cerigo schools are set in the context of socio-political events and ideas in the early nineteenth century: the phenomenon of the Lancastrian school movement, the impact of Protestant missions in the Mediterranean and the colonial initiative of public education in the Ionian Islands. The relationship between the British (officials and missionaries) and the islanders in the establishment and the initial operation of the schools is illustrated by a detailed discussion of teachers, schoolbooks, the number of schools and students, and data regarding the construction of the school buildings. The manifestation of that relationship is shown in the physical form of the British-built school buildings and their placement in the landscape. While the creation of the Cerigo schools may be viewed as a microcosm of British colonial and missionary involvement in the Ionian Islands, it can be demonstrated that subsequent changes in the function of the schools in the Colonial period reflected an increasing alignment with the ideologies of the developing nation-state of Greece.