Volume 81, 2006

The Lobby of the Stone Seat (LSS), or the Room of the Column Bases, in the Mycenaean Palace at Knossos is the find place of the ‘Oil Tablets’. These tablets record the incoming and outgoing olive oil. The Lobby of the Stone Seat is a fairly large and easily accessible room, situated only a few steps from the Central Court. Along one of its walls a stone bench was constructed. The room itself and its surrounding rooms were storerooms for pithoi. Shallow basins for the collection of olive oil indicate that olive oil was stored in these pithoi. The amount of oil recorded in the Oil Tablets corresponds with the combined volume of these pithoi. Therefore, this article will argue that from the LSS the olive oil recorded in the Oil Tablets was distributed and that the oil the palace demanded from Cretans was, at least partly, stored in the LSS and the rooms surrounding it. After comparing the Lobby of the Stone Seat to other Mycenaean sites a redistributive function can presumably be ascribed to the room.

A large assemblage of materials, dating to ca 900-770 BC, was found during rescue excavations in the city of Huelva. It included several thousand Phoenician and autochthonous ceramics and a group of Attic Middle Geometric, Euboeo-Cycladic Subprotogeometric, Sardinian, Cypriot and Villanovan pottery. Waste materials of ivory, bone, wood and probable stone (agate), copper, silver and iron have also been documented. In addition, Phoenician weights, baetyls and a tin sheet, probably used in the manufacture of bronze were discovered. These finds have implications for our understanding of the pre-colonial period at the beginning of the first millennium BC and once again raise the much debated question of the identity of the biblical Tarsis in I Kings 10, 22.

The radiocarbon dates from the archaeological stratum at Huelva, Tartessos (south-west Spain) that contains the oldest Phoenician material in the western Mediterranean so far recovered, are presented and interpreted. The quality of the radiocarbon determinations is assessed as excellent. The archaeological interpretation of these radiocarbon dates is more intricate since the implications are significant. First the archaeological stratum as found at Huelva is examined, followed by a discussion on other high quality radiocarbon determinations in the Western Mediterranean including those from the earliest settlement layers of Carthage. Secondly the chronology of the early Phoenician advance into the Western Mediterranean is debated. A final aspect discussed in relation to the age and character of the Huelva deposit, is its intriguing link with a much debated account in the Bible mentioning Tarshish, King Hiram I of Tyre, Solomon and their search for precious metals and other luxuries. The radiocarbon dates presented in relation with its archaeological context, document that the Phoenicians crossed the whole Mediterranean, from Tyre to Huelva, from onwards the first half of the 9th century BC if not before.

New investigations on the Bir Massouda site have refined our knowledge of Punic Carthage. In particular the southern casemate city wall has been dated more precisely to around the middle of the 7th century BC. Human remains in secondary position seem to confirm the existence of Carthage’s earliest necropolis on the site. Special attention goes to the Middle and Late Punic periods: a septic pit and its homogeneous fill are presented and discussed in the perspective of Carthage’s garbage collection system. A strongbox or cultic depository with two vessels and red ochre offering is discussed. A terracotta tile floor is presented as a rare example of the pavimenta punica. Finally, some prospects are given on the site conservation’s measures and the publication trajectory.

This paper focuses on southeast Italy in the 2nd century BC. This was the crucial period in which the foundations of Roman Italy were laid. The image of post-Hannibalic southern Italy was mainly constructed on the basis of ancient written sources. Three fundamental questions are discussed. The first question concerns the nature of both the archaeological evidence and the ancient written sources on this area. The second question explores the reliability of the pictures each of these seems to present. The third question concerns the relationship between these pictures. Can they be integrated in order to present a new and fairly coherent narrative?

This article presents an analysis of the building history and a reconstruction of the design of two Pompeian atrium houses with a longitudinal peristyle-garden, the House of Philippus (VI 13, 2) and the House of M. Terentius Eudoxus (VI 13, 6).1 The results of the analyses will be used to search for new insights in the social context of these houses at the time when they were constructed and during their history of occupation and use. The social history of Pompeii and the role of the house therein is a popular and fruitful research topic of many studies that are concerned with the ancient city of Pompeii. The fact that the actual layout of a house, the design by an architect, also carries in it many ‘social signs’ that are not immediately visible, but can be discerned by a metrological analysis, will be demonstrated by the following study.

Dating catacombs precisely is an issue that has not been resolved satisfactorily until now. In this article we propose an entirely new way of tackling this issue, namely through radiocarbon dating. In addition to presenting the final results of our efforts, we also explore some of the interpretational difficulties that beset a proper evalution of the data. We conclude that this new approach has far reaching ramifications for the study of both the Jewish and the early Christian catacombs of Rome.

White and pink material from twelve Roman glass birds and spheres has been tested by various analytical methods. X-ray fluorescence proved the main anorganic component to be chalk, gypsum or a mixture of both. Binding agents could not be detected, despite detailed analytical examinations of nine samples. This means that the substance was a powder. Earlier chemical research is summed up and evaluated. Classical sources describing colouring matters and make-up were studied to try to determine the name and nature of the powder. High Performance Liquid Chromatography demonstrated the presence of madder (rubia) in six samples from globes. In three of them also henna could be detected. Both pigments are known to the ancient authors, but hardly as ingredients of beauty products. Finally the archaeological context in which the glass containers were found and the cultural context in which they supposedly functioned are described.

New excavations at Bir Messaouda, a piece of open ground in the centre of modern Carthage, have uncovered a very substantial Christian transept basilica which dates to the 6th century AD. The structure bordered the Decumanus Maximus to the north and Cardines IX and X east to the west and east. The complex also comprised of a baptistery and crypt. The building appears to have been in use for much of the Byzantine period before falling into disuse in the later part of the 7th century AD.