JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.(PLATES 49-70) T HE Neolithic period in Central Greece-that is in Boeotia and Phokis-is known chiefly from large quantities of material excavated mainly during the first decade of this century. Two series of excavations were responsible: 1) those of Soteriades at Chaeronea, Ayia Marina and the sites around Drachmani (now Elateia), and 2) the Bavarian excavations at Orchomenos and other sites on the rim of the Copaic Basin. Only preliminary reports, which present a very small fraction of the finds, have appeared for the excavations of Soteriades.' While an account of the German excavations soon appeared,2 the Neolithic pottery was not published until more than two decades later,3 and then without the help of stratigraphic indications except those obtained in a small test excavation done as part of the publication. It was not until the excavation of Eutresis (1924-1927) that Neolithic remains were again found in Boeotia in controlled circumstances, but there were only small quantities from the very bottom of a deep Bronze Age accumulation.4 A recent test of the lowest levels at Eutresis revealed more of this Neolithic deposit, and the publication gives reliable stratigraphic information for the latter part of the Central Greek Neolithic period.5The need for a well stratified sequence covering the entire span of the Neolithic period in Central Greece remained paramount. In considering the possibilities of many sites which had already been tested or which were known from surface indications, or both, one site seemed especially suitable. This was the low mound, situated about a mile to the northeast of modern Elateia, which was tested by Soteriades between 1904 and 1910 and referred to by him as the mound on the property of Dr. Chevas.i Especially intriguing was his statement7 to the effect that, while both monochrome and painted pottery occurred in the top two meters of the deposit, in the last meter to virgin soil the painted pottery stopped altogether and only monochrome 1 EXCAVATIONS AT PREHISTORIC ELATEIA, 1959 159 ware appeared; thus he was able to distinguish two periods. While Early Neolithic levels without painted pottery may now be appearing in Thessaly, I know of no others in Central Greece or the Peloponnesos. The promise of this mound northeast of Elateia was certainly sufficient to warrant another test, and it was decided to make one in the spring of 1959.8 EXCAVATIONOn June 1, 1959, the grain was ripening in the fields about Elateia, but on the prehistoric mound we had chosen...

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.The accidents of archaeological discovery and the circumstances of publication have colored to a large extent the present knowledge of the earliest culture of mainland Greece. Early work on a large scale in Thessaly revealed a well developed neolithic culture. Already twenty-five years ago two careful publications presented the information obtained in these excavations, which has remained the foundation for the study of the Neolithic Period in Greece. The investigation of mounds in Central Greece had already begun and was carried on for a few years more. The relations with Thessaly were soon pointed out, and recently the careful publication of the Orchomenos pottery has made the earliest culture of this region almost as well known as that of Thessaly. The Peloponnesos, however, remained comparatively unknown as a centre of neolithic civilization in the earlier years of prehistoric studies, and it has never quite caught up with the rest of Greece. Its importance in the Bronze Age has been well illustrated at several sites. Of late, increasing numbers of sites occupied in the Neolithic Period have been and are being investigated. The publication of this material, which has begun already,2 will certainly remove the veil of obscurity from this large region and will reveal it as one of the important centres of occupation in the Neolithic Period as well as in the Bronze Age. The fertile Corinthian plain 3 was particularly favorable to early settlement. The well-watered site of ancient Corinth was the natural centre of this region.In the first year of the American excavations at Corinth a group of prehistoric rock-cut tombs was found,4 containing a quantity of pottery which has subsequently been shown to be Early Helladic.5 The tombs were located to the southeast of the present town-square of Old Corinth. In 1904 " pre-Mycenaean " pottery, together with obsidian and bone tools, was found in what has come to be the northwest corner of the great agora.6 The following year similar sherds were found a little farther to the north, at the end of the Northwest 1 The unavoidable delays in the final publication of the prehistoric pottery found at Corinth made it seem advisable to issue a brief preliminary report on the subject. To this end Dr. Weinberg, at my request, dug some exploratory trenches and has written this article. (Signed) Charles H. Morgan II, Director. 2 The appearance of Blegen, Prosymna, at the same time as the proofs of this article has made it impossible to cite the particular refer...

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