A EUBOEAN WARRIOR TRADER

Summary A recently discovered burial in the Toumba Cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea, differs from others previously found there in the shape of the tomb and the method of burial, which is a cremation contained in a bronze cauldron. The offerings, which include a sword, spearhead and iron arrowheads, make it certain that it is the burial of a warrior, but others, such as a series of stone weights, a N. Syrian cylinder seal and vases from Cyprus and Phoenicia indicate that he was a trader as well. In this preliminary acount, these and other aspects of the burial are considered.     

PYLOS: REFLECTIONS ON THE DATE OF ITS DESTRUCTION AND ON ITS IRON AGE REOCCUPATION

Summary. The opinions of Blegen on the date of the destruction of the 'Palace of Nestor' at Epano Englianos and on the slightness of Iron Age occupation on the site are questioned. It is suggested that the palace may have been destroyed very early in Late Helladic IIIB if some vases of IIIC or early Iron Age were mistakenly ascribed to the destruction instead of to subsequent occupation of the site which, in Geometric times at least, appears to have been considerably greater than Blegen admitted.     

AN EARLY EUBOEAN SHIP

Summary. A pyxis with the painting of a ship was found during the 1986 Greco-British excavations in the Toumba Cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea. It was part of a deposit of broken pottery included in the refill of a shaft grave which had apparently destroyed an earlier tomb. The vase can with fair certainty be dated around 850–825 B.C. by the Attic Middle Geometric I pottery associated with it and from its local style.
The painting of a ship contained in one of its panels is, therefore, among the earliest pictorial representations known from Iron Age Greece. It is proposed that the subject may have been suggested to the Lefkandian potter by similar ship scenes on the engraved catchplates of contemporary fibulae.     

REFLECTIONS ON 'AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF GREECE': SURVEYS AND EXCAVATIONS

Summary. In his Sather Lectures, Professor Snodgrass maintains that circumstances in Greece will compel archaeologists to pursue field surveys instead of excavations. He, moreover, questions the value of excavations mainly on the grounds of imcompleteness, uncertainties regarding dating and the ambiguities of interpretation. The excavations at Lefkandi are cited on several occasions as an example and, where not referred to, are open to the same questioning.
In reply, reasons are given for continuing excavation in spite of difficulties, and the validity of the criticisms brought against excavation are considered with special reference to those carried out at Lefkandi.     

A LATE MINOAN IIIC PYXIS IN THE ANDREADES COLLECTION

Summary. A large pyxis in the Andreades collection is a fine addition to those known from Crete belonging to the LM IIIC stage, some of which were used in tombs to contain cremations. The vase displays religious symbolism on one face with its double axe set between 'horns of consecration'; the tree on the other face may also have a religious meaning. Objects accompanying the pyxis, when it was purchased, could be contemporary and belong to the same burial except for three small fibulae which must be much later. Parallels for the pyxis indicate East Crete as its place of manufacture, a region which had considerable importance in the closing stages of the Late Bronze Age in Crete.