Final publication of a site more often than not throws up problems of interpretation which are more amenable to investigation than hitherto. Were this not so, the archaeologist would assume an unlikely reputation for omniscience, and future scholars would find it difficult to pursue original studies in the field.As new publications appear and the 'big picture' becomes clearer, modifications and reinterpretations seem inevitable. So it is for Kommos, where new evidence and increased control of data have led to this article. It specifically investigates all reconstructable developments in the site's history during the Roman period.Two obstacles have to be overcome: firstly, the fact that the temple was kept scrupulously clean for most of the Roman period is a problem; secondly, sand build-up in the courtyard renders most Roman finds there virtually unstratified. A typological study has been the antidote in the final publication, but enough insubstantial control does exist and points to a way forward. It is testament to the site's importance that many citations have already been published and, it is to be hoped, many more will appear in the future. Certain it is, though, that Kommos will remain the ceramic type site in the Messara for the foreseeable future.The Annual of the British School at Athens, (), , pp. - © The Council, British School at Athens,  doi:./S

The site lies on the sloping ground east of the Acropolis, about 300 m. west of the central court of the Minoan palace and 200 m. south of the Unexplored Mansion. In Classical antiquity it must have been on the southern edge of the built-up city; more recently a small olive grove stood there, but this has been increasingly encroached upon by the southward extension of Knossos village. In 1974 house-building operations on the plot of Mr. C. Vlachakis revealed traces of ancient habitation and a cache of Roman sculpture. In the summer of 1976 the sinking of a bothros behind the new Vlachakis house brought to light a stretch of ancient walling and Hellenistic sherds in some quantity. A new excavation was undertaken by the B.S.A. at the request of Dr. St. Alexiou, Ephor of Antiquities in Iraklion and work continued for approximately six weeks. The trenches were then filled in and, later, covered over by a concrete terrace. The present paper contains a detailed study of all the stratigraphy and architectural phases together with a description and interpretation of the Classical and Hellenistic assemblage and occupation. Future papers will deal with the terracottas of this phase and with the earlier and later material.

If the Unexplored Mansion must rest content with a name rendered obsolete by subsequent archaeological activity it is perhaps fitting that the Little Palace Well, which was sunk through its ruins, should glory in a similarly inappropriate title. The well was brought to light by one of nature's not infrequent excesses at Knossos. In winter and spring the area is subjected to occasional heavy downpours which erode the ground surface and reveal traces of ancient occupation. In the early weeks of 1938 subsidence caused by such winter storms exposed the top of the well, which lay just behind the façade of the Unexplored Mansion at a point where the west scarp of Evans's Little Palace excavations towered high above the level of the Minoan ruins. R. W. Hutchinson, who was then Curator at Knossos, conducted a small rescue operation and the results were briefly described in the JHS for that year. The outbreak of the Second World War prevented anything more than preliminary work on the pottery before archaeological activity at Knossos was brought to a halt. The whole and restored pots were transported to Herakleion Museum for safe keeping, and the fragments remained at Knossos and were eventually housed in the new Stratigraphic Museum.

In BSA 74 (1979) 1–80, an account was given of MM III and LM I buildings and their contents uncovered in 1975 at Knossos during a rescue excavation undertaken by the British School, in the northern half of the Staphylakis field, on the south-east flank of the acropolis (Site Plan, Fig. 1). In that account reference was made (p. 4) to the discovery of other ancient features within the heavily ploughed area. The more important of these finds are briefly described in what follows, to complete the summary publication of the results of the 1975 operation.Full details of the circumstances in which this investigation was undertaken are given in BSA 74, together with acknowledgements to all those who assisted the authors on the site and in the preparation of the material for publication. A brief account of the whole excavation appeared in AR 1976–77.

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