Description
In this rich volume our articles range across all the main phases of Greek Archaeology from Prehistory to the Postmedieval era, and cover a wonderful range of topics.
Studies of individual sites begin with an overview by Michael Boyd of Colin Renfrew’s research project on the Cycladic island of Keros at the truly remarkable prehistoric sanctuary centre of Dhaskaleio, but we also have an update by Corien Wiersma on the exciting new survey and excavations at the Mycenaean palace of Agios Vassilios near Sparta. Welcome news appears from Northern Greece, till not so long ago rather neglected by scholarship, with Bronze to Iron Age house and household cooking research papers from the Toumba mound and sites around Mount Olympus, by Kalliopi Efkleidou and Anastasia Dimoula.
Landscape studies begin at the grandest scale with Bernard Knapp’s article on the interconnections of Bronze Age Cyprus and Kostas Sbonias’ article on the coastal economy of Corfu, then scale down geographically to Nadia Coutsinas’ analysis of long-term settlement dynamics in Eastern Crete and Natasha Dakouri-Hild’s high-tech survey project at Aphidna in Attica. Michalis Karambinis follows up his earlier study of the Roman cities of the province of Achaia (JGA 3, 2018), with a survey of the cities of Roman Crete. In a related topic, Anastasia Yangaki offers us an authoritative study of the archaeology of beekeeping on Late Antique Crete.
We try hard never to neglect Greek art and architecture in our Journal, and are delighted to have a redating of the architectural history of the famous Archaic to Classical Athena Aphaia temple on Aegina by Hansgeorg Bankel, partnered by a study of the significance of its terracotta votive figurines by Maria Spathi. Andrew Stewart exhibits his immense learning in the field of Greek and Roman sculpture with an in-depth investigation of the statues of the Homeric hero Protesilaos.
Always enthusiastic to keep up our coverage of the Medieval and Post-Medieval archaeology of Greece, we welcome two articles on Byzantine and Frankish ceramics from Nauplia and Crete, by Anastasia Vassiliou and Matteo Randazzo.
Finally Michael Fotiadis dissects debates concerning the origins and nature of ‘Aegean prehistoric civilisation’ during the 19th century’s discovery and subsequent evaluation of Bronze Age Greece, a theme which has continued to be central to later and current approaches to ethnic and cultural continuity on the Greek homeland.
- From the foreword by John Bintliff, General Editor
