The British School at Athens (BSA) (Greek: Βρετανική Σχολή Αθηνών) is an archaeological research institute, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy. Under UK law it is a registered educational charity, which translates to a non-profit organisation in American and Greek law. It also is one of the 19 Foreign Archaeological Institutes defined by Hellenic Law No. 3028/2002, "On the Protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in General," passed by the Greek Parliament in 2002. Under that law the 17 accredited foreign institutes may perform systematic excavation in Greece with the permission of the government.The School was founded in 1886 as the fourth such institution in Greece (the earlier being the French, German, and American). For most of its existence, it focused on supporting, directing and facilitating British-based research in Classical Studies and Archaeology, but in recent years, it has broadened that focus to all areas of Greek Studies. It has made notable contributions in the fields of epigraphy and the history of Modern Greece.It is defined by Hellenic law to be a "foreign archaeological school" with a very specific meaning. In addition to being trusted with antiquities in Greece, it serves as an agent for the Hellenic utilisation of British resources in Greece. Only the BSA can assign projects to British institutions, and it may only do so with permission of the Minister of Culture.The BSA's activities include a regular programme of lectures and seminars, a series of scholarships and bursaries, Athens-based courses for undergraduates, postgraduates and teachers, as well as archaeological fieldwork. The Directors, who have included many distinguished figures, have tended to be in Greece for only part of the year, keeping roles in the UK or elsewhere.
Podere Marzuolo, a minor rural Roman settlement in northern Etruria, has yielded two distinct assemblages of terra sigillata italica (TSI), each corresponding to different chronological phases. To investigate the potential for local production of early and late TSI at Marzuolo, an integrated analytical programme was conducted on 68 TSI samples, based on elemental analysis with wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and complemented with thin section petrography. Results suggest probable local manufacture in the early phase, potentially with relatively low standardization, alongside evidence for imported ware. The later TSI, instead, exhibits a narrow compositional profile, fits within the general pattern reported for sigillata production elsewhere in northern Etruria, and was likely not locally produced. These findings suggest that the site changed from an initial phase of engaging with the local landscape to produce TSI, to becoming embedded in, and supplied by, regional networks of exchange.
The British International Research Institutes (BIRI) are global research centres with a focus on arts, humanities, and social sciences. The BIRI cover diverse regions including the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa, East Africa and South, Southwest and Central Asia. Their historically significant archival resources, created over more than a century, range from photographic, architectural and cartographic archives to archaeological collections and corporate records of research, undertaken by or under the auspices of an individual institute, and personal archives of scholars contributing data to one or more institutions. In 2022, the institutes started working collaboratively towards standards and methodologies to enable access to and facilitate querying and searching collectively in their resources. This effort mainly focus on the use of Linked Open Data for identifying the links between collections, that usually remain hidden and underused and for building stories on top of them for two main purposes: (a) for public engagement, to tell meaningful and engaging stories using connected pieces of information, to a larger and more diverse audience and (b) for academic research, to present examples of research questions that can be better investigated when cross-collection searches are made possible. This paper discusses the first steps of the methodology adopted, the challenges as well as the first outcomes of this process, already promising.
The phenomenon of matt-painted pottery in the LBA prehistoric societies in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece, has often attracted researchers’ interest. The published material from excavations conducted during the second half of the 20th century, such as those at the toumbas of Kastanas, Agios Mamas, Assiros, and Thessaloniki, have significantly enriched our understanding of the Bronze Age in the region. However, until recently, a cohesive comparative study of pottery from the tell settlements of the region was lacking. The present paper focuses on studying the matt-painted tableware from several sites in Central Macedonia, applying an interdisciplinary methodological toolkit. A detailed macroscopic typological and technological examination is combined with the use of ceramic petrology to investigate technological aspects such as clay selection, manufacturing techniques, firing processes, and surface treatments, to improve the under standing of local production systems and technological traditions related to the only painted ware among handmade Late Bronze Age ceramics in Macedonia. The technological characterisation of the pottery and the reconstruction of the manufacturing process indicated that the matt-painted ware differed from the undecorated tableware due to its relative standardization, suggesting a consistent range of potter choices and a limited number of production locations. Furthermore, the analysis revealed some notable patterns concerning intra- and interregional mobility dynamics in Central Macedonia and new evidence regarding social cohesion and identity among the region’s communities at the end of the LBA.
Handmade pottery is among the most enduring yet least understood ceramic traditions of Roman Thrace. Long regarded as a simple household craft and primarily interpreted as a marker of local “Thracian” identity, it has rarely been examined as a dynamic cultural practice. To address this gap, this study adopts an integrated multidisciplinary approach to investigate handmade pottery from rural settlements along the Tundzha River in the Roman province of Thrace, focusing on its production, circulation, and use. Petrographic, mineralogical, and chemical analyses identified three distinct ceramic fabrics linked to local clay sources, enabling the reconstruction of regional production zones. Each settlement yielded both locally produced and imported vessels, demonstrating the coexistence of localized production and regional pottery circulation. Notably, all imported vessels originated from the same area of Monastery Heights, approximately 40 km away. Micro-CT analysis of representative samples from all three ceramic fabrics revealed a shared sequential slab-building technique and two interchangeable methods of handle attachment, indicating a common technological tradition across the region. Together, the evidence points to small-scale, decentralized ceramic production based on locally available raw materials. Organic residue analysis indicates that the vessels were primarily used for storing and preparation of animal meat and/or fat, while the presence of beeswax suggests deliberate surface coating. Collectively, these findings reveal a resilient regional craft tradition that persisted within the Roman provincial landscape and indicate that the regional circulation of these vessels was driven by their specialized function.
Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos private collection was donated to the Greek State in 1972 and soon after (1976), the homonymous Museum was inaugurated. The collection includes more than 6,500 antiquities and works of art from different historical periods and cultures, including a remarkable number of Coptic archaeological textiles. These textiles survive today due to the Coptic custom of burying them with the dead and to the aridity of the Egyptian graves. The dry environmental parameters which all these items have been buried or stored gave us the opportunity to study them until nowadays. The Canellopoulos Museum houses 19 textile fragments, which date from the 5th/6th to the 12th century. The four fragments were chosen to a detailed analytical investigation. The selected textiles were subjected to a combination of non-invasive and slightly invasive analytical techniques to determine the type of the fibers, the inorganic components associated with them, and the dyes used for coloring them.
