Comedy in Paestan vase painting

Summary.   The 'phlyax' vases of magna graecia are now known to represent actors and staging of Middle Comedy. More than half of the comic vases dating from the third quarter of the fourth century BC were painted in Paestum by Asteas and his circle, who were influenced by the Sicilian Painter of Louvre K 240. This paper asks whether these painters worked from direct observation of the theatre; and if so, whether the vases are evidence for details of performance methods in Paestum or in Sicily, and at what period. The stage and skene , masks, costumes and comic acting style are considered, together with the link between Asteas and the Painter of Louvre K 240 and the significance of the disagreement of their evidence with that of the Manfria Group of Sicilian painters.     

NEW EVIDENCE FOR THE NATURE OF THE ATTIC BLACK GLOSS

New evidence is reported here using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and laser reflectance for the nature of the black glossy decoration layer present on the Attic black or red figure vases of the sixth to fourth century BC. The black layer, of total thickness about 20 μm, consists mainly of poly crystalline magnetite (Fe₃O₄) particles of dimensions from 0.2 μm down to extremely fine sizes embodied in an amorphous vitreous matrix. On the outer surface of the black paint we discovered for the first time a thin clear glassy film of approximate thickness 0.1 μm which is rich in Al and Fe and poor in Si. This film must be responsible for the characteristic sheen of the surface. This is verified with the reflection of laser light mostly in specular direction, a unique property compared with black paints of other areas and other periods.     

MYCENAEAN PICTORIAL POTTERY FROM CYPRUS IN OXFORD

Summary. Six fragments of Mycenaean pictorial vases picked up at different sites in Cyprus are described and discussed. Comparison with other such material and chemical analysis of most of the fragments lead to the conclusion that the original vases were made in the north-east Peloponnese. These and other findings suggest the possibility of a pottery export trade during the 14th–earlier 13th century BC (Late Helladic IIIA2–IIIB1), such as is documented for 6th century BC Athens.     

THE WILD GOAT and FIKELLURA STYLES: SOME SPECULATIONS

Summary: It is suggested that the Wild Goat style began and was formed at Miletus and later was adopted with variations by other East Greek cities, and that when around 600 BC the North Ionian school developed a successful incising style, the old style persisted elsewhere, probably till the advent of Fikellura about 560 BC. Fikellura, it is argued, was a sudden creation, without a long transitional stage.     

PROTOGEOMETRIC SKYROS AND EUBOEA

Summary. Archaeological evidence indicates that during the Protogeometric period Skyros and Euboea shared several features. The striking similarity, both in style and fabric, between some of the vases found on Skyros and those from Lefkandi in Euboea, made us suspect that some of the Skyrian vases might actually have been imported from Lefkandi. Thanks to Mrs. R. Andreadis, whose private Collection includes Protogeometric vases found on Skyros and who allowed us to take samples from thirteen of them, this assumption was tested. The Research Laboratory of Archaeology and the History of Art in Oxford agreed to analyse them together with samples from the clay-beds on Skyros for comparison with the existing Lefkandi data. Assessment of the results supports a Euboean source for most of the vases analysed and strengthesn the link between the two areas, in which Euboea seems to be the supplier of most of the pottery found on Skyros in the Protogeometric period.     

宋代花瓶

四川遂宁金鱼村窖藏时代约当南宋末年,其品类十分丰富,且藏品的时间跨度很大,是汇聚了很可以体现时代风尚的一批器物。花瓶正是其中重要的一项,诚可视作记述了宋代瓶花故实的一批珍贵标本。然而“花瓶”一词用来专指插花之瓶,其出现于文献的时间是在哪一时代,又两宋文献中的“铜瓶”、“胆瓶”、“玉壶春瓶”等,其与实物究竟有着怎样的对应关系,将此一系列问题辨析清楚,遂宁窖藏才更能显示出它的意义。     

A CORINTHIAN RED-FIGURED CALYX-KRATER AND THE DOMBRENA PAINTER

Summary. An important red-figured calyx-krater, today in Boston, is examined in order to show that on grounds of fabric, style and iconography it was potted and painted not in Athens but in Corinth during the first quarter of the 4th century. Other vases in Athens, Corinth and Perachora are attributed to the same hand. Evidence in the Beazley Archive shows that Beazley was aware of some of these vases and had named the artist the Dombrena Painter.     

Technological features of Apulian red figured pottery

Apulian red figured pottery samples, dating back to the 5th and 4th centuries BC, from the archaeological site of Monte Sannace (Gioia del Colle, Bari, Italy) have been characterized from the physical–chemical, mineralogical and morphological points of view. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and atomic spectroscopy investigations have been carried out on the ceramic body, red decorated area and black gloss of the fragments, with the aim of outlining the technological features and of defining the nature of coatings and decorations. All 5th century fragments show the same features: fine texture of the ceramic body, red figures saved from the ceramic paste and black gloss painted directly on the ceramic body. The statistical treatment of compositional data of ceramic bodies excludes the local production of these objects. As regards the 4th century fragments, some show similar features to the 5th century ones; however others are characterized by the coarse texture of their ceramic body and an intermediate red layer of finer clay between the black gloss and the ceramic body. The analytical results make it possible to distinguish two different production technologies of red figured Apulian vases in Monte Sannace during the 4th century BC. Certain vases were produced using the “classic” Attic technology and others with a different technique, not previously known, which involved the application of a red engobe layer on the clay paste, before the black gloss painting.     

Sôtélès l'Athénien

A second Greek-inscribed sherd mentioning Soteles the Athenian was discovered in stratified context during the excavations at Failaka (ancient Ikaros), Kuwait. It gives a short list of three Greek personal names, Soteles, Dionysios and Agatharchos. It also provides a secure date for the activity of this Seleucid officer in the first half of the third century BC. The other sherd pertaining to Soteles is re-examined. Both were parts of inscribed vases offered to the deities of the temples inside and outside the fortress, during the process of settlement of the first Greek garrison.     

Late Holocene fishing strategies in southern Africa as seen from Likoaeng,highland Lesotho

The open-air campsite of Likoaeng in the eastern highlands of Lesotho, southern Africa, preserves an extensive record of fishing activity by late Holocene hunter-gatherers. This paper reports the results of the analysis of the enormous fish assemblage recovered from its excavation. Fishing appears to have become more important from the start of the late Holocene neoglacial, c. 1000 cal. BC, with people camping at Likoaeng to intercept seasonal spawning runs of two species, Labeo capensis (the Orange River mudfish) and Labeobarbus aeneus (the smallmouth yellowfish). The latter dominates in the lower part of the sequence, with the former becoming dominant after 560 cal. BC. As a result, the focus of occupation probably shifted from high summer to spring. Estimates of Standard Length show that some fish were significantly larger than historically recorded maxima, but there is no sign that human predation affected fish size. The massive quantities of fish taken suggest that people may have used seasonally predictable spawning events as a focus for social aggregation. While there is no evidence for fish being preserved or removed off-site, the strong focus on fishing at Likoaeng strengthens the case for intensified hunter-gatherer interest in freshwater resources in southern Africa during the late Holocene.     

LATE BRONZE AND IRON AGE LAKE SETTLEMENT IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 'CRANNOG' IN THE NORTH AND WEST

Summary.   This paper considers the evidence for the origins and development of the lake settlement tradition of Scotland and Ireland in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Considering a crannog 'event horizon' around the mid-first millennium BC, dating and structural evidence are compared and contrasted, and the evidence for non-domestic activity including ritual and votive deposition is contextualized. It is argued that the concurrent appearance of crannogs with the flourish of domestic monumentality in Scotland and Ireland can be seen as a consequence of the fusion of ritual and domestic spheres of life in the later first millennium BC, integrating the themes of architectural monumentality and the Iron Age reverence of water.     

Fields,Ritual and Religion: Holistic Approaches to the Rural Landscape in Long‐Term Perspective (c.1500 BC–AD 1086)

This paper discusses the relationship between agricultural activity and ritualized/religious practices in England from the middle Bronze Age to the early medieval period (c.1500 BC–AD 1086). It is written in the context of the ERC‐funded, Oxford‐based ‘English Landscapes and Identities project’ (EngLaId), which involved the compilation of an extensive spatial database of archaeological ‘monuments’, finds and other related data to chart change and continuity during this period. Drawing on this database alongside documentary and onomastic evidence, we analyze the changing relationship between fields, ritual and religion in England. We identify four moments of change, around the start of the middle Bronze Age (c.1500 BC), in the late Bronze Age (c.1150 BC), the late Iron Age (c.150 BC) and the middle/late Anglo‐Saxon period (c.800 AD). However, despite changes in both agricultural and ritual/religious practices during this extensive timeframe, a clear link between them can be observed throughout.     

'WHY THEY CAME'; THE COLONIZATION OF THE COAST OF WESTERN SWEDEN AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIATION

Summary.   In this paper we will bring into view new aspects of Late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic research on the west coast of Sweden. In doing so, we make use of oceanography and tidal modelling, in conjunction with basic research in the fields of archaeology and palynology. The focus of research concerns the Hensbacka culture group in central Bohuslän, a group of hunter-gatherers which visited the area between c.10,300–9300 bp (10,200/10,000–8500 cal BC). Recent investigations indicate that the frequency of Hensbacka sites in the archipelago of central Bohuslän, which at that time had a total land area of c.500 sq km, might well represent the highest site density area in northern Europe during a c.1000-year period of time at the close of the Late Glacial and beginning of the early Post Glacial. In the pages that follow, we will discuss how, and why, this 'seasonal colonization' was possible.     

一对青花云龙纹象耳瓶热释光年代测定报告

应用前剂量饱和指数法对两件青花云龙纹象耳瓶瓷器作了热释光年代测定,得到这两件瓷器的烧制年代均小于距今100年,否定了成份分析法得到的这两件瓷器系元代真品的错误结论。     

NEOLITHIC THESSALY AND THE SPORADES

Summary. Aghios Petros in the Sporades Islands is one of the earliest and most thoroughly excavated settlements in the Aegean. It was a permanent settlement of the end of the 6th millennium BC, and a unique cultural centre, with influences from Thessaly, Anatolia and the Balkans. In the present study, the degree of contacts and influence between Aghios Petros and the neighbouring well-known Neolithic settlements of Dimini and Sesklo is examined on the basis of trace element analysis by INAA. Cluster analysis, based on Th, Sc, Cs, Fe, Co and Eu, reveals distinct differences, Aghios Petros sherds forming a quite separate group. There also exist three sub-groups within the Sporades material. This result is substantiated by archaeological evidence and reinforces the view that Aghios Petros is a site of particular cultural interest and of semi-autonomous development, which flourished in the middle of the 5th millennium BC.     

FISHERS OF THE CORDED WARE CULTURE IN THE EASTERN BALTIC

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were reliant on an economy based on animal husbandry as demonstrated by zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence. However, this paradigm is beginning to shift. Here, we present new AMS radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements, pollen and macrobotanical data from sediment samples and a portable fish screen, as well as technological, molecular and isotopic data obtained from ceramic vessels from three CWC sites in the eastern Baltic. Overall, our results indicate a de-Neolithisation process undergone by some CWC groups, particularly in lacustrine and coastal ecotones, and a shift to hunting, gathering and fishing.     

BRINGING IN THE DEAD: BURIALS AND THE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE ON KYTHERA IN THE SECOND PALACE PERIOD

Summary.   This article analyses the mortuary data of the 'Second Palace' period (c. 1700–1450 BC) on the Aegean island of Kythera. It proposes that the chamber tombs which were first introduced to the island in this period can offer potential insights into aspects of local-level social relations, especially at the central site of Kastri. This approach complements the broader cultural perspective that has usually been taken regarding these tombs, which have been viewed as indicators of Cretan cultural influence and, indeed, colonization. It is proposed that a strong horizontal in-group solidarity was being expressed by the tomb-using group at Kastri through spatial and diachronic uniformity in burial practices, and that this uniformity should be viewed at least partially as a response to local-level social agendas. The hypothesis is then explored that status identities were also being asserted in the burial sphere by at least some members of this group, through tomb location, the resources devoted to mortuary rituals and, perhaps, emphasis on lineage.     

THE BROCH CULTURES OF ATLANTIC SCOTLAND. PART 2. THE MIDDLE IRON AGE: HIGH NOON AND DECLINE c.200 BC–AD 550

The basic features of broch architecture are discussed. There were probably a large number of classic, hollow-walled, dry-stone towers, as opposed to lower, less architecturally sophisticated 'Atlantic roundhouses'. Various kinds of dating imply that most were built – probably by professionals – in the Middle Iron Age, from c.100 BC to AD 200, although a few emerged earlier in Shetland, perhaps from 400–300 BC. Wheelhouses seem to have emerged from these early Shetland brochs. The MIA material culture includes many new items found all over the province, though much of the pottery is regional. Everted Rim ware was clearly connected somehow with the spread of the brochs from Shetland. The details of the MIA mixed farming economy are reviewed, as is the varied if indirect evidence for the social organization of the broch families; a hierarchical clan society is implied. The MIA now seems to have lasted until the sixth century AD and in the west at least its end may have been precipitated by a drastic climatic downturn.