This brief introduction presents the structure and contents of the current issue of Archaeology in Greece, linking the various contributions to events or very recent discoveries that were reported in the press in the period immediately before the completion of this issue in September. It also offers an overview (not meant to be exhaustive) of archaeological activity in Greece over the past 12 months, focusing on major exhibitions and important recent publications.

This article, based on an oral presentation by the author at its Annual General Meeting in February 2019, summarizes the activities of the British School at Athens with a focus on the calendar year 2018. It describes – selectively and concisely – research by award holders, BSA-sponsored fieldwork and study in 2018 at four locations (Olynthos, Koutroulou Magoula, Dhaskalio-Keros and Knossos), research and events associated with the Fitch Laboratory and the Knossos Research Centre, plus other activities of the BSA in Greece and the UK, including seminars, conferences and workshops.

‘Newsround’ offers a platform for new discoveries that do not appear within the specialist contributions of this year’s Archaeological Reports, but which nevertheless warrant emphasis, either as a result of their particular characteristics or for the contribution they make to broader archaeological narratives. This section is not intended to be exhaustive but rather an overview of archaeological research in Greece. It comprises largely preliminary reports (results of excavations that took place up to and including August 2019 where possible) that complement the digital content made available through Archaeology in Greece Online (https://chronique.efa.gr). Due to the diachronic nature of a number of the sites and for ease of reference, the material is organized within each section geographically in the first instance and then chronologically (earliest to latest), as far as possible.

This paper explores important new evidence from recent and ongoing landscape and excavation projects carried out in Thessaly that revolutionizes our understanding of the Neolithic in the region. Moving from wider landscapes to individual archaeological sites, the paper focuses on complexity and diversity in the spatio-temporal manifestation and internal structure of Neolithic settlements, and highlights the potential of the current direction of research to illuminate the lifeways of the Neolithic people of Thessaly.

The production and publication of new research on the Cretan Early Bronze has accelerated tremendously in recent decades. This article aims to present the highlights and main trends of the last 15 years: the sites, excavations, research projects and main publications. Moreover, it explores how the new data interlink with the extremely large body of information available from more than 100 years of archaeological studies on Crete. The aim of such a review is to identify patterns of research, popular themes and the strengths and weaknesses of the data recovered, and to consider the place of Early Bronze Crete in current trends in the fields of Mediterranean Prehistory and archaeology more broadly.

The legendary excavation of Mycenae’s Grave Circle A in 1876 resulted in the celebration of Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann as the sole excavators. The crucial role of Panayotis Stamatakis, the systematic and perceptive archaeologist who was assigned to supervise the excavation as a representative of the Greek state, was – for a long time – largely unacknowledged. Stamatakis’ invaluable manuscripts, where he recorded one by one all the finds and their locations, attributing them to specific burials, went missing for more than a century. Now part of the Archive of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, these manuscripts shed new light on the taphonomy and burial customs of Grave Circle A, revealing the biographies of the first Mycenaean rulers.

This paper reviews archaeological publications and fieldwork related to Macedonia and Thrace of the past five years, covering the Early Iron Age to the Hellenistic period, with reference also to sites and projects in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Turkey. Published syntheses reveal the priorities that have driven archaeological research to date (for example funerary monuments, ties to historical figures and narratives, pottery) and a need for more studies on other aspects of social history and archaeology, such as subsistence, crafts and households. Fieldwork at settlements has continued over the years, but few are being dug and published to current standards. A discussion is growing about the role and use of the countryside, and field surveys and excavations are providing new data on this. Fortified rural sites in Greece and Bulgaria may indicate that similar social processes were afoot, but full publication and the retrieval of relevant comparative data, especially faunal and botanical, are essential for a better understanding of potential differences.

Some areas of the territory of present-day Greece were under Ottoman rule for more than 500 years. To date, the study of this period has largely been neglected, with academic research generally focused on Prehistoric and ancient Greece. However, over the course of the last 20 years, there have been noteworthy developments in the study of the Ottoman history and archaeology of Greece. This paper has two aims: (1) to summarize research conducted in the fields of Ottoman archaeology and material culture in Greece, focusing on demographics, settlement layouts and ceramics, particularly table wares; and (2) to present recent efforts to record and protect the Ottoman monuments of Greece.

This contribution offers an overview of recent fieldwork and museum-based projects focused on the Rhodian countryside and Dodecanese islands. The excavations conducted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese over the past two decades, paired with the study of Rhodian collections in the Louvre and British Museum, among other museums, have developed and promoted the archaeological record of the region. The Kymissala Archaeological Research Project led by the University of the Aegean and a collaborative doctoral project investigating the British Museum’s collections from Kamiros each demonstrate the potential of revisiting historic excavations through topographical surveys and archival documentation.