Klithi is a rockshelter in the lower reaches of the Voidomatis gorge, near the village of Klithonia in Epirus. Excavations in progress since 1983 have revealed evidence of a late Upper Palaeolithic occupation dated between 16,000 BP and 10,000 BP, with rich microlithic stone tool industries and faunal assemblages dominated by chamois and ibex. The excavations have been accompanied by wider investigations of the local and regional palaeoenvironment and reexamination of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites excavated by Eric Higgs in the 1960s, notably Kokkinopilos, Asprochaliko, and Kastritsa. This paper presents some of the detailed results of the Klithi excavations and sets the results within the wider context of the global issues which inform the study of Palaeolithic archaeology, the Palaeolithic of Greece as a whole, and the regional picture of Palaeolithic settlement in Epirus.

Hourmouziadis' recent analysis of the extensive excavations at Dimini has isolated a series of residential subdivisions or ‘domestic areas’ within the Late Neolithic settlement. Faunal remains from the ‘central court’ and from five surrounding domestic areas suggest a remarkably uniform pattern of animal exploitation. Individual domestic units kept cows, goats, pigs, and especially sheep; sheep and pigs, at least, seem to have been raised principally for meat. The lack of domestic specialization in stock husbandry has implications for understanding both of the ‘neolithic mode of production’ and of the role of specialization in the emergence of the élite which occupied the central court.

Systematic excavation from 1986 to 1990 in the Skoteini cave indicated that it was heavily used during LN I–II (5300/5200–3300/3200 BC); Early Helladic, Mycenaean, and later finds were insignificant. The abundance of Neolithic pottery and the detailed study of the stratigraphy have elucidated the LN pottery sequence. A trial excavation was carried out in the immediate vicinity of the cave, where remains of a Neolithic settlement exist. In spite of the erosion of ground, parts of the Neolithic buildings and an amount of LN II pottery were found. The work was completed with the excavation of a Neolithic cemetery 300 m from the settlement. Thanks to a systematic survey in the surrounding area, the location of many Neolithic sites was made possible.

The use of the cave was multi-purpose (for brief residence, cult, and burial practices, and particularly for storage). The finds and the ethnoarchaeological research suggest that during the Neolithic period two different models of residence occurred in the area. The settlement was in seasonal use, from spring to autumn, while during the winter the local residents were living in south-facing sheltered sites. At the same time, a number of more or less specialized herdsmen from the Tharrounia or Aliveri area are likely to have driven their flocks up to the mountainous grazing lands of Delphi and Xerovouni.

In 1959 Professor N. Platon excavated a Neolithic well, unique in Crete, in the vicinity of the modern village of Kastelli Phournis in E. Crete. It is located in the Phourni plateau at an elevation of c.400 m. With the exception of two EM I sherds, pottery forms a very homogeneous assemblage. It includes 34 handmade and thick-walled vases, and 138 undiagnostic sherds. Necked jars prevail, and all shapes are fully adapted to the special function of this group, that of drawing and transporting water. This assemblage finds close parallels at FN Phaistos and occasionally at the FN Eileithyia cave and the FN Nerokourou open settlement. Data on local hydrology and modern subsistence economy give us a good idea of the use and purpose of the well in Neolithic times.

The fifth excavation season at Palaikastro is reported. The principal discoveries are a floor deposit of the EM III/MM I A period, a well stratified sequence of levels from the MM II A to MM III B/LM I A periods, floor levels of the LM II and LM III AI periods, and a floor deposit of the LM III A2/B period with storage jars and a bull's head rhyton. Also noteworthy are the discovery of mason's marks on the N facade of Building 5, and fragments of the finest example of painted plaster found at Palaikastro. S. Hemingway reports an important group of metalworking artefacts from a LM III A2/B deposit.

This paper reviews the chronology and purpose of the ‘Early Keep’ N of the Central Court at Knossos. Examination of all the surviving pottery in the Stratigraphic Museum suggests that the Keep was constructed no earlier than MM I B and was not therefore a monumental contemporary of either the Hypogeum or the North-West Platform. Its function remains uncertain, but the deep ‘cells’ must have served a specific purpose, and it is suggested that the Keep may have served as a secure granary for the palace. It was probably decommissioned and built over at the beginning of MM III.

This paper presents an analysis of Evans' ‘Proto-palatial façade’ at Knossos, which casts doubts not only on the date but also on the very existence of such a façade, at least as envisaged by Evans. It is argued that Evans' ‘façade’ is composed of two distinct and unrelated sections. One, the N section, is a wall which can be assigned to the Pre-palatial period; the other, the S section, is probably just part of the paving of the West Court, and belongs to the Neo-palatial period.

Among the clay sealings from Knossos stored in the Heraklion Museum was found, in 1990, a hitherto unnoted roundel inscribed on both sides with signs in Linear A. The only completely preserved sign, AB 04 (TE), may perhaps represent an ideogram, while the motif on the two incompletely preserved seal impressions of a goat-monster seems to represent a development of the Minoan Genius not previously noted. The exact provenance is unknown. The suggested date of the document is MM III/LM I.

This article is concerned with the aspect of pottery function in both the domestic/personal and the public/commercial sphere, and particularly with the function of the most common pottery forms current in the Mycenean period, with special reference to material from a group of four LH III B1 houses outside the walls of Mycenae (West House, House of Shields, House of the Oil Merchant, House of Sphinxes). The primary division being between open and closed shapes, the different forms are individually examined both through practical experimentation and through a comprehensive assessment of their structural elements (size, lip form, handles, base, fabric, etc.), as well as from the point of view of current potters' practices. Many of the forms have also been encountered in earlier or later periods, the conclusions being thus applicable to a much wider context. The final section examines the distinction between primary (originally intended) and secondary functions, as well as that between containers of dry or liquid substances, with a detailed discussion of the criteria involved. Finally, the entire corpus of vessels is divided into six categories, corresponding to their usage, with special reference to primary function.

A pulse from Late Minoan Knossos, Crete, is identified as cf. Lathyrus ochrus (L.) DC. L. ochrus is grown today, for food or fodder, on the islands of Karpathos and Evvia (Euboea). This paper underlines the extent of crop diversity in both prehistoric and recent Greek agriculture.

This paper summarizes some results of palaeoethnobotanical study at Akrotiri, Thera, and evaluates the importance of studying plant remains at such a site. (As this is the first stage of a long programme, it does not pretend to be exhaustive.) The data from the West House provides the most detailed and complete information from Bronze Age Greece concerning bioarchaeological remains, because it comes from a single architectural unit (a completely excavated house). The results offer evidence for the crops grown, weeds of cultivation (segetal), and ruderal plants, as well as crop processing and storage. The data is important for its high taphonomic potential, thanks to the high degree of preservation of charred, mineralized, and silicified plant remains.

This addendum presents the tables of the chemical compositions of Late Bronze Age pottery that were omitted from the authors' paper with the same title, published in 1991 in the Proceedings of the Conference on Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean (Oxford 1989). In addition, a short description and bibliography is provided for those sites in Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily from which the pottery was analysed.

Three finely carved ivory mirror handles from Cyprus are closely related in form, subject matter, and style. To these we may now add a fourth example, albeit preserved only as a fragment. Found in the British excavations at Enkomi, this piece has been regarded hitherto as a pyxis fragment. Technical considerations prove that this cannot be the case and that the fragment must belong to a mirror handle, closely comparable to the famous ‘griffin-slayer’, also in the British Museum.

The excavations of R. H. Lang at the Temple of Apollo in Idalion in 1868 produced the largest number of Cypro-Archaic anthropomorphic bronze statuettes so far known from a single site in Cyprus. These are published here, many for the first time, and set within the context of similar material from the island, the Levant, and the Greek world.

A relatively rare type of bronze votive dedicated at Greek sanctuary sites in the second half of the 8th cent, BC depicts a female seated side-saddle on a horse. Examples have been found at only four sites, primarily in the Peloponnese: three come from sanctuaries in Arcadia, one from Olympia, and one from Samos. At 7th- and 6th-cent. sanctuaries in the Peloponnese, the type in terracotta is more frequent, but it never becomes particularly common as a votive. In the Aegean, the depiction of female riders seated side-saddle can be traced back to the Late Bronze Age; the type was probably originally inspired by models from the Near East. A similar pattern is found on Cyprus. Male versions of riders seated side-saddle are known from LBA sites, and the type reappeared in the late 8th cent. BC. The evidence suggests that the similarity between the Geometric bronze type and LBA examples was a result of memories of the significance of the female rider that survived in Arcadia through the Dark Age.

Recent research on a helmet of Illyrian type, found in the River Alpheios and purchased by the British Museum in 1914, has yielded interesting historical, epigraphical, and technological information. The helmet was made between about 550 and 525 BC, and it was probably dedicated to Olympian Zeus in the latter years of the century; it was embellished with various types of silver decoration, notably appliqués of horsemen on the cheek-pieces. The inscription, incised in unusual herring-bone fashion, indicates that the helmet was dedicated by the Koroneans, and the event commemorated by the dedication is here considered.

The bridges that served the city of Sparta are known to us from archaeological evidence, inscriptions, and references in the historical sources. These are brought together to examine changes in the activity of bridge-building from the Archaic to Byzantine periods. The conclusions from this analysis are associated with the findings of the Laconia Survey. Some topographical issues arising from the survey results are also examined.

This article seeks to construct a life table for the population of Athens during the Lycurgan period (338–322 BC). The total male citizen population in their twentieth year or above is mentioned in literary texts, and the number of ephebes in their nineteenth year can be calculated from the inscribed ephebic catalogues. The conclusions are that the total citizen population of Athens, male and female, may have been about 58,000, the average age at death was 54.11 years, and the growth rate was slightly more than 0.5 per cent.

The development of amphora production in Colchis is examined, from its beginnings in the mid-4th cent. BC under the influence of vessels from Sinope. The emergence of amphora production should be seen as the result of Hellenic influence upon the economy and upon craftsmen of the E littoral of the Black Sea. Throughout the Classical period one type of Colchian amphora existed, which underwent drastic change in the course of time. Three successive variants may be discerned. The earliest, from the mid-4th to 3rd cent. BC, retains similarities with the Sinopean prototypes. In the late 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, substantial changes in morphology and dimensions take place. In the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD the third variant, with a rib under the rim, appears. Petrographic analysis shows that the vessels were made within one extensive region, Colchis, but at a variety of centres. They were produced in state-owned and private workshops, employing both Greek and local craftsmen. The Greek workshops (or those which had links with Greek potters) were the main exporters of amphorae to the northern Black Sea coastal region from the 4th cent, BC to 1st cent. AD.