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This paper presents the results of a study exploring the potential of magnetic-susceptibility and phosphate soil analyses to locate and characterize buried Neolithic settlements in Thessaly, Greece. Using the preliminary results of large-area magnetometer surveys, soil samples were collected at three well-known sites along exploratory lines and augers targeting the locations of possible features of interest, including habitational structures and enclosures. The results demonstrated the capability of these analyses to detect the sites, outline hotspots and better interpret the features identified in the magnetometer results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to a resurgence of interest in constructing long-term time proxies of human activity, especially but not limited to models of population change over the Pleistocene and/or Holocene. While very much agreeing with the need for this increased attention, we emphasize three important issues that can all be thought of as modifiable reporting unit problems: the impact of (i) archaeological periodization, (ii) uneven event durations and (iii) geographical nucleation-dispersal phenomena. Drawing inspiration from real-world examples from prehistoric Britain, Greece and Japan, we explore their consequences and possible mitigation via a reproducible set of tactical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulses have constituted an important food source for prehistoric communities in the Old World, yet little is known as regards their processing for consumption through the archaeobotanical record. This paper provides an overview of archaeobotanical evidence for the use of pulses in prehistoric Greece based on two case studies from the north, and explores (a) their preparation for consumption, in particular their detoxification and (b) the consumption of pulses as a component of ordinary daily meals in prehistoric times, as well as those for special occasions, within a context of feasting and ritual. The paper examines charred remains of Vicia ervilia (bitter vetch) and Lathyrus sativus (grass pea) from early Bronze Age Agios Athanasios and late Neolithic Kremasti Koiladas, respectively, as the former provides a basis for a pilot exploration of pulse detoxification and the latter, due to its origin, offers a rare opportunity to discuss the context of consumption. In the pilot exploration of pulse seed preparation for consumption, the inner cotyledon morphology of modern V. ervilia seeds which were experimentally processed with water and pounding was examined macroscopically and through SEM micrographs. Preliminary observations suggest that intentional splitting of pulse seeds as part of processing for consumption as food may be recognisable in the archaeobotanical record. Processing with water may also be detected. The particular context of the Kremasti finds suggests that pulses, in this particular case L. sativus, may have constituted special foods for particular occasions, loaded with symbolic meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of mathematical models in archaeology and history. Variants of a particular model - an entropy-maximizing spatial interaction model which also functions as a location model - are presented through two case studies. The first is an example from Archaeology which throws light on settlement sizes in the 9th and 8th century BC Greece; the second is from History and explores the evolution of the United States' urban system from 1790-1870 with particular reference to the impact of railways. The approach is essentially interdisciplinary and uses concepts from Geography, Economics, Physics and Ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel methodology for the classification of ancient Greek inscriptions according to the writer who carved them. Inscription writer identification is crucial for dating the written content, which in turn is of fundamental importance in the sciences of history and archaeology. To achieve this, we first compute an ideal or "platonic" prototype for the letters of each inscription separately. Next, statistical criteria are introduced to reject the hypothesis that two inscriptions are carved by the same writer. In this way, we can determine the number of distinct writers who carved a given ensemble of inscriptions. Next, maximum likelihood considerations are employed to attribute all inscriptions in the collection to the respective writers. The method has been applied to 24 Ancient Athenian inscriptions and attributed these inscriptions to six different identified hands in full accordance with expert epigraphists' opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact between Egypt and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age, especially the relationship between Minoan Crete and New Kingdom Egypt, has been the subject of much study. The relationship between the Greek (Mycenaean) mainland and Egypt is generally regarded as a more elusive topic, and most scholars seem to consider interaction between the two a matter of irregular exchange via middlemen (e.g., on Cyprus, in the Levant), rather than direct contact. This paper seeks to stimulate new thinking on this subject by positing the possibility that exchange between the two was more than a haphazard phenomenon, arguing that it was, instead, a highly organized system that involved the active engagement of the ruling elite at Mycenae as well as the pharaonic court. Using both archaeological and paleobotanical data and focusing my examination on the import into Egypt of Mycenean pottery, particularly stirrup jars, which are known generally as containers for olive oil, I demonstrate that olives and/or olive oil were a crucial part of this Late Bronze Age interstate connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between the egalitarian ideology of the Greek polis and the development of the complex, self-contained courtyard house. The polis was a 'corporate' state in which power was shared among a body of nominally equal citizens, rather than being centralized in the hands of an individual or small group. Elevating the citizen male to the status of head of an independent household, free from outside interference or ties of patronage, was one of the ways in which this equality was fostered; the enclosed form of the courtyard house advertised its owner's autonomy and adherence to shared moral codes, and thus his eligibility for access to power. The preference for new housing to be arranged in regular grid-plans also suggests a desire to avoid kin-based patterns of residence, replacing them with a new kind of solidarity based on membership of the citizen group. [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]

That the ‘natural’ world was imbued with symbolic and religious meaning in Minoan Crete has been suggested since the early days of Minoan archaeology. Notwithstanding, it often remains unclear how certain constituents of the physical environment acquired specific meanings, and what such meanings imply for the actual dynamics of human-environment relations. This paper considers the relationship between (what is today construed as) religion and human engagement with the environment in Minoan Crete. An ‘ecological’ perspective is adopted which assumes that both organisms and inanimate objects are a result of and subject to continuous development, and their identity is defined by the network of relationships they are endowed with. The idea is put forward that the relationship between people and certain landscape elements were of a social kind, based on mutuality and intimacy, and that some activities conventionally identified as religious or ritual are better understood in terms of practical engagement with the physical environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]