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The textual analysis of Linear A tablets presented in this paper is the result of preliminary philological research done in the unpublished dissertation "Administration and accounting systems in Haghia Triada during the LM IB" (in Italian). This paper is an examination of syllabic groups and isolated signs which appear most frequently and/or are present in contexts which are easier to understand. It seems wise to not rely on the many suggested decipherments and linguistic interpretations which attribute meanings based on assonance or on unfounded etymology. Rather the interpretation of the written records should be based on the analysis of textual organisation and on the reciprocal relationships among signs. Analysis done so far reveals, for example, that the lists of words which are followed by the number one and the numbers later are totalled are not necessarily made up of anhroponyms (see case of AB 81-56-55/KU-56-NU in the text). It also states that the only characteristic that distinguishes AB 31-76/SA-RA2 from many other phonetic groups, whose function is senders or recipients, is the high frequency (the word is attested in 18 tablets) and thus we exclude the hypothesis that this could be a "transactional term". Given the available traces, we propose also to integrate six units at the beginning of HT 100.2, so the sum of the numbers from lines 1-3 should be 99, while the total indicated at line 3 is 97, which can be explained if the 2 associated units, on line 2, at AB 67/KI were a deficit, since the sign would be abbreviation of AB 67-02/KI-RO, and for this reason would not be included in the sum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-days conference "Open Access to research data as a driver for Open Science" (Athens, 15-16 January 2015), as the final event of the RECODE project (Policy RECommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe) has been a unique occasion to think about Open Access to research data as a way to move towards Open science. High-level speakers and an active audience have discussed on values, risks, opportunities, open issues, best practices; the aim of this paper is to deal with the complexity of these issues and to give a taste of the importance of open data in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with two Greek reliefs found in Catania, an Attic relief with Demeter and Kore (late fifth c. B.C.), and a funerary relief of the late second - early first c. B.C., from Delos or Asia Minor. The Attic relief carries a votive inscription in Dorian dialect, which is possible to date to the second c. B.C., and raises the possibility that it was bought by a Catanaean family to be reoffered in the local sanctuary of Demeter. Traces of erased letters, belonging to an older inscription, seem to confirm such a proposal. The intense relations between Catana, Athens, and Asia Minor in such a period are clearly hinted at by inscriptions found at Oropos and Smyrna, which celebrate Catanaean athletes. In a wider perspective, moreover, the two reliefs, along with several references in Cicero's De signis and possibly the well known Mahdia shipwreck, strengthen the idea that Sicily played a first-rate role within the trade in works of art during the Late Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is the presentation of the MM IIA ceramic phase of Protopalatial Phaistos. Since 1994, V. La Rosa and F. Carinci have been directing a new programme of excavations and revision of 1950-1966 Levi's work at Phaistos, with support from the Italian Archaeological School in Athens. Within this project, my work has focused on the re-study of Levi's excavations of the quarter West to the West Court (Piazzale I) of the Phaistos Palace (rooms C, CI, CIII, ICα and ICβ). The analytical study of contextual data and MM IB-MM II ceramics retrieved from this quarter has been the starting point for attempting a new definition of the MM IIA ceramic phase at Phaistos. In fact, this work has allowed me to identify some levels (the uppermost fill levels) containing pottery easily comparable with that retrieved from MM IIA levels at Knossos. Phaistian MM IIA is characterized by the widespread use of the potter's wheel for small vases, as at Kommos, Knossos and Archanes, and by the appearance of new variants of previous forms and of new wares. The definition of the ceramic phase of MM IIA at Phaistos is remarkable because it also means that all the Phaistian deposits which were previously dated to a transitional phase between the MM IB and MM II phases, can now be re-dated to MM IIA. The uppermost fill levels from the rooms of the quarter West to the West Court, the floor-deposit of room 13 at Haghia Photeini, as well as the deposits found beneath the slab floor of rooms CVI and CVII on the southern slopes of the Acropofi Mediana, are MM IIA ceramic deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper from an archaeological and historical conference held on 4 May 2011 in Naples, Italy. That paper discusses the project funding the archaeological excavation on the Greek island of Lemnos or Limnos, Greece, and its findings to that date. Among other topics addressed are the research specializations of various participants in the project, which include the archaeology of the island's cult center of Efestia, linguistic issues related to a stele at the site, and the island's archaic period in relation to the rest of the Aegean and Mediterranean world.