TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. &59 



The excavation of a mound called Zerelia in Phthiotis shows that the two 

 northern peoples at least were contemporary, and that, as time passed, their art 

 degenerated. 



Traces of eight successive settlements show that the period of painted pottery 

 gradually passed, after the fourth settlement, into a period of unpainted polished 

 ware. 



The eighth neolithic settlement is roughly dated to 1300 B.C. by the presence 

 of imported Mycenean sherds. 



A series of tombs sunk into the remains of this eighth settlement indicates a 

 subsequent poor bronze period. Thus, during the development of the /Egteau 

 bronze culture the north of Greece was still in an Age of Stone, and used bronze 

 only at a comparatively late date, and presumably but for a short while before 

 the introduction of iron. 



The date at which these neolithic peoples brought in their comparatively high 

 culture may be placed in the middle of the third millennium. 



5. The Excavations of the British School at Athens at the Sanctuary of 

 Artemis Orthia at Sparta. By M. S. Thompson, B.A.^ 



The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, one of, the most important centres of 

 Spartan religion and especially celebrated for the annual scourging of the Spartan 

 boys, was discovered in 1906, and this is therefore the third season of the work. 

 In 1906 and 1907 a temple built in the middle of the sixth century B.C. was 

 found, and in front of it a late Roman theatre, for the better witnessing of the 

 rites, in the centre of which was the altar. The excavation of this arena and 

 of the interior of the temple revealed a rough cobble pavement, and on it a large 

 altar of undressed stones. The whole area was covered with a thick deposit of 

 votive offerings of great importance, characterised by pottery ranging from 

 geometric to orientalising. All these were clearly earlier than the temple, which 

 may be dated to the middle of the sixth century, and contemporary with the 

 large archaic altar mentioned above. The thickness of the stratum of votive 

 offerings is such that its earliest date cannot be later than the middle of the 

 ninth century, and as geometric sherds were found even lower than the pavement, 

 the earliest occupation of the site may he about 900 c.c. 



Thus at the end of 1907 both temple and altar had been found for the period 

 from the middle of the sixth century onwards ; tliis year's work gave the remains 

 of the primitive temple conteiiiporar}' with the great archaic altar, and like it 

 resting on the cobble pavement. The mass of votive offerings was especially rich 

 in its neighbourhood. 



The primitive temple has been largely destroyed by the foundations of the 

 later temple. The part preserved lies on the south side of the later building, and 

 fairly symmetrically with regard to the altar, although the orientation is slightly 

 different. 



The remains were covered with a mass of earth burned red, recognisable cs 

 the remains of mud-brick walls destroyed by fire. Beneath this were the founda- 

 tions of the end and part of the side of a rectangular building consisting of a 

 single course of undressed stones. At the west end of this building the walls 

 contained some vertical slabs in situ, and there were traces of a small inner cella. 

 Along what was probably the central line of the building was a row of irregular 

 stone slabs laid flat at intervals of about a yard, and corresponding to these in 

 position were similar slabs set in the foundation of the walls. All the slabs seem 

 to have supported wooden timbers, those built into the wall serving as a frame for 

 the building, and the others forming a row of pillars down the centre. The eastern 

 part was completely destroyed, and with it all possibility of recovering the form 

 of the entrance. A fragment of roof-tile was found, but clearly later than the 



' To be published in full in the Annnal of the lirituh School of Archa-vloay a 

 Atlwns. 



