226 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



excavations. A peculiar and unfortunate " squatter's law," together 

 with the carelessness of officials, allowed to certain "squatters" 

 rights to land immediately adjoining the Acropolis, which was not 

 occupied when the Greeks returned to Athens and which never 

 should have been used for buildings. These have been dispossessed, 

 but no thorough and systematic examination of the soil of Athens 

 has been practicable. 



The American School has conducted excavations at Eretria and 

 Sicyon in addition to doing less important work on half a dozen other 

 sites. The British School has excavated at Megalopolis, the French 

 at Mantinea and Tegea. The Greek Archaeological Society has 

 conducted important excavations at Thermon, in iEtolia, the capital 

 of the iEtolian League, and at dozens of other places, the income of 

 the only lottery authorized in Greece being given to this society to 

 be used for excavations and for the care of the ancient monuments. 

 In the year 1902 the Greeks conducted excavations in twelve or 

 thirteen places in their own kingdom, in addition to beginning the 

 work of laying bare the ruins of the great temple of Hera, at Samos, 

 which is still tributary to Turkey, though on a different footing from 

 Chios and Lesbos. 



Islands. — The islands of the JEgean sea have not been neglected 

 either. The French have dug on Delos intermittently, and on Amor- 

 gos, The British have dug on Melos. The Austrians explored Sa- 

 mothrace. Freiherr Hillervon Gartringen has excavated what may 

 be called a Greek Pompeii on the island Thera. Early in the nine- 

 teenth century (181 1 ) slight excavations were made on iEgina at the 

 time when the sculptures of the temple of Aphsea were removed, and 

 within the last two or three years Bavarian archeologists have car- 

 ried these excavations further. For two years a Danish society has 

 dug on the island of Rhodes. Other excavations also have been 

 made on these islands, but it would be too long to enumerate all of 

 them here. Even Belgians here have entered the lists of excavators. 

 Englishmen have explored Kos, and one of their countrymen spent 

 several weeks this summer on Karpathos, exploring it, as is believed, 

 with a view to the discovery and excavation of Mycenaean sites. 



Crete. — For many years archeologists have looked to Crete for the 

 solution of many of their problems, and occasionally endeavored to 

 explore it. About twelve years ago the Archaeological Institute of 

 America organized an expedition for Cretan exploration, but the con- 

 ditions proved more unfavorable than was anticipated, and the plan 

 was soon abandoned. Naturally, then, when this island was brought 



