This paper explores the full potential of archaeobotanical research in the investigation of issues such as agricultural practices and resource management and mobilisation in shaping the social dynamics of Neolithic and Bronze Age Crete, through a synthesis for the first time of all available archaeobotanical information to date. To this body of data new information is added from six sites: Kephala Petras, Pryniatikos Pyrgos, Aghia Fotia, Knossos Little Palace North, Sissi and Zominthos. A comprehensive methodology is devised using three units of analysis to allow an in-depth study, firstly of the quality of the available dataset and secondly of its content. A total of 80 archaeobotanical records, compiled in one database, are examined in the light of the methods employed for their sampling, recovery and processing. The reliability of the current dataset is assessed, highlighting shortcomings; methodological issues are addressed to improve its quality. These records are then analysed according to their temporal, spatial and contextual distribution across the island. A synthesis of the full resource base, including cereals, legumes, fruits, nuts, condiments and wild species, is conducted, providing a contextualised picture of their availability and use, and identifying lacunae and interpretational potential. On these bases a research agenda is set and future research priorities and new approaches are suggested that place archaeobotany in the core of current archaeological discourse on social models, practices and meanings for prehistoric Crete.

The manner in which Minoan potters first employed the pottery wheel has become a matter of some debate. A growing body of work has taken a sceptical approach to the transition from hand-building to wheel-throwing techniques in a number of contexts, finding that the idea of a technological transition of this nature is not supported by the ceramic evidence. Although a small number of publications have addressed this topic as it relates to Minoan Crete, in light of the evidence from contemporary areas around the Mediterranean and Near East it has become necessary to establish firmly what types of techniques and methods were being used as potters first employed this tool. In order to assess the types of primary forming techniques used by potters during the periods between Middle Minoan IB (when the wheel was first regularly used) and Late Minoan IA (by which time vessels of all sizes were regularly formed with some type of rotation), an experimental type set was produced. Analysis was conducted by correlating the macroscopic features produced with specific forming methods, and then comparing those features against material from Knossos, Palaikastro and Myrtos–Pyrgos. The results of that comparison challenge the established notion that potters had developed wheel-throwing skills during these early periods. Instead, a more complex picture emerges which reveals a process of gradual acquisition of combination techniques (wheel and coils). The pattern of uptake indicates a level of cohesion across the potting community of central and eastern Crete, irrespective of the geographical distance between the three sites studied.

Two Late Minoan IIIA1 cups were recently found in the excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. They were part of a larger assemblage of local Late Bronze IIA (first half of the fourteenth century bc) drinking and eating vessels sealed under a destruction layer in one room of a large edifice, presumably a ‘palace’. A commemorative scarab bearing the name of Amenhotep III and related to the first Jubilee (Sed festival) in his thirtieth regnal year was found alongside the cups, providing further chronological evidence. This article examines the Late Minoan IIIA1 cups from Beth-Shemesh within their Aegean context and emphasises their close affinity with comparable cups from the palace of Knossos, catalogued and republished here. The Tel Beth-Shemesh cups are the second occurrence – after Sellopoulo Tomb 4 – of Knossian Late Minoan IIIA1 pottery found together with Amenhotep III's scarab. This new evidence strengthens the likelihood of some chronological overlap between Late Minoan IIIA1 and the reign of this Pharaoh. The article also considers the biography of the two Minoan cups, as social agents within the intricate network of the Late Bronze Age palatial gift exchange in the eastern Mediterranean. While it is possible that the cups came to Beth-Shemesh directly from Knossos, another viable option is that they arrived as a gift from the Egyptian court. The two rare Late Minoan IIIA1 Knossian cups could have reached Egypt on the occasion of Amenhotep III's much-discussed official embassy to the Aegean – including Knossos – and then been sent as royal gifts to the ruler of Beth-Shemesh.

A medium-size Amenhotep III scarab recently discovered in the excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel, together with two decorated Late Minoan IIIA1 cups enables a fresh look at the synchronism between Late Minoan IIIA1 and Amenhotep III. The scarab is identified as commemorative, produced on the occasion of Amenhotep III's first Jubilee or Sed festival. In light of this interpretation a new examination of the renowned and debated Amenhotep III scarab from Sellopoulo Tomb 4 is presented. It is proposed here to identify this scarab also as commemorative as it includes, in addition to the pharaoh's prenomen, an epithet which relates it too to Amenhotep III's first Sed festival.

Both scarabs, from Beth-Shemesh and Sellopoulo, are shown to have been produced between Amenhotep III's Regnal Years 28/25 and 34 respectively – most probably around Regnal Year 28 – and presumably reached their destination about that time. Further analysis led to the conclusion that the envisioned Egyptian embassy to the Aegean, which may have been the source for the ‘Aegean List’ of Kom el-Hetan, took place also during Amenhotep III's Regnal Year 28.

The two culturally different and geographically remote contexts in which the Beth-Shemesh and Sellopoulo scarabs were found – a destruction layer in Canaan and a tomb in Crete – tell the same story: Late Minoan IIIA1 was in vogue at least until the last decade of Amenhotep III's reign in the mid-fourteenth century bc. This conclusion has important implications for the political and cultural history of Knossos and may anchor the sequence of events of the Final Palatial period in a more solid chronological framework.

The construction date of the Tomb of Clytemnestra at Mycenae is disputed, opinion being divided over whether the tomb was erected at the end of Late Helladic IIIA or towards the end of Late Helladic IIIB. The article attempts to resolve this debate by examining all of the dating evidence for the tomb. It stresses that the most valuable clues to the date of the tomb come from the excavations that were carried out in 1952 and 1953 on either side of the Great Poros Wall, the retaining wall that supported the eastern side of the earthen mound above the tomb. Several trenches of these excavations are discussed in detail, specifically V and M, both of which were sunk into the earthen mound behind the wall, and L, P, III and IV, all of which were located immediately in front of the wall. The information on these trenches is drawn not only from the published reports, but also from the original excavation notebooks. The pottery from them is used to determine the date of the tomb. What emerges is that the Tomb of Clytemnestra was, in fact, built at the beginning of Late Helladic IIIB.

This paper explores the role of waterways in shaping the settlement landscape of south-east Cyprus during the second millennium bc. Particular emphasis is placed on the proposed use of the Gialias river, in conjunction with overland portages, for transporting bulk commodities from the island's interior to the coast. The geopolitical characteristics of Alashiya, as known from eastern Mediterranean court correspondence, are considered with reference to adjacent riverine and maritime regions. A dominant trend of continuity in settlement and societal development is identified for south-east Cyprus as a whole throughout the period under review.

This article presents seventh and sixth century bc wheelmade ceramics excavated at two sites not far from the coastal area of Mount Ismaros in Aegean Thrace. It aims to introduce new evidence and to throw light on some aspects of the archaeology of the Archaic period in the area occupied by the Thracian Kikones. All the pottery sherds originate from the hilltop settlement at Kremasto (Asar Tepe) and the Cave of Maroneia, both located on the southern slopes of Mount Ismaros. Although both sites are situated in relative geographical proximity to one another, within the same ancient tribal area, they reveal two different patterns of human occupation and diversity in consumption patterns. The varying quantities and features of the wheelmade ceramics from both sites suggest that, while the limited sherds from the Kremasto settlement reflect, more likely, a sporadic import of luxurious objects by its inhabitants, the Grey and painted wares from the cave imply that they were used by people well acquainted with this type of pottery in their daily routine.

The characteristic terracotta plaques with seated figures accompanied by snakes were created for local use, as they are hardly ever found outside Laconia and Messenia. They served a type of cult, the heroic, as shown by both their widespread distribution in this region and their complete absence from divine sanctuaries. Their generalised and standardised iconography made them versatile offerings that could be used in various contexts, with the seated figure acquiring the identity of the locally honoured hero in a specific sanctuary setting. Distribution patterns also show variety. In Laconia, plaque findspots show this type of offering was favoured much more in the region inhabited by the homoioi. By contrast, the Messenian plaques, offered both at Bronze Age tombs and at urban sanctuaries, must have been dedicated primarily by perioikoi. The similarities between Laconian and Messenian types of plaques need not be correlated with the contested ethnic identity of the Messenians. Rather, they should be attributed to the flexibility and variety in their use. The Messenian cults that attracted plaque dedications honoured heroes not necessarily because they were Achaean, but because they were celebrated local mythical or historical figures. Creating a link with the past through heroes was a well-established way to articulate a strong local and communal, but not necessarily ethnic, identity.

In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

This article provides an overview of the development of palmette cups from ancient Tanagra. Also known as floral cups, these formed the predominant type of decorated pottery in Boeotia and neighbouring areas during the Classical period. Production of these cups – which were decorated with simple floral motifs (mostly palmettes) in silhouette technique – peaked towards the end of the fifth and in the early fourth century bc. This study is based on a catalogue of 74 cups of unknown context in the apotheke of the Schimatari Museum, with reference to other material from excavations and collections, thus providing the most comprehensive body of palmette vases known from Tanagra or any other production centre. With a focus on vase shape and decoration, several groups or workshops are identified. The picture that is built up contributes to a better understanding of the diversity and development of this type of pottery, and offers an insight into the ceramic traditions of Boeotia in general.

Marble statuettes, now in the Lamia Archaeological Museum, that date to the Classical and above all the Hellenistic periods, and a Hellenistic votive relief depicting Herakles are presented here. This study investigates the relations between the local workshop in central Greece which produced them and the major Classical and Hellenistic sculptural centres of Athens and of the Aegean islands, Asia Minor and the kingdoms of the Greek East generally. A marble statuette of a goddess which may represent Artemis from Melitaia, and a marble statuette of a seated girl of unknown provenance are dated to the Classical period. The subjects portrayed in the Late Hellenistic material show a typical repertory, marble statuettes of Aphrodite or Aphrodite-like figures, and a statuary group of Eros and Psyche in marble, unusual for this period. The ways in which the local sculptors of the Late Hellenistic period in the area of modern Phthiotis adopted the typological and stylistic trends current in the great cosmopolitan centres are a major concern here. In the Hellenistic period, the production of marble statuettes for making offerings at public and domestic sanctuaries and for decorating opulent villas was in vogue, and a common formal language was created especially for small-scale sculpture in the eastern Mediterranean and the new art markets of Italy. The vehicles by which these artistic influences were transmitted to the sculptural production of central Greece will also be investigated.

This short article considers the reuse of the Hellenistic period Dema Wall in the light of recent research at nearby Butrint, ancient Buthrotum, and proposes that the refurbishment coincides with the revival of the town at Butrint in the early eleventh century. The larger political context of this reinterpretation is briefly considered.