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Photographic, 1890s-1982

 Series
Reference Code: GBR/3437/MCNE/3

Scope and Contents

From the Fonds:

The Mycenae Excavation and Publication archive comprises records created in connection with the British School at Athens (BSA) and British-Helleno excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site of Mycenae, Greece.

Dig and study seasons took place in the following years:
1920-1923 – BSA excavations directed by A. J. B. Wace
1939 – BSA excavations directed by A. J. B. Wace
1950 – 1955 BSA excavations directed by A. J. B. Wace
1956-1957 – Study seasons at Nauplion Museum
1959 - 1960 British-Helleno excavations directed by Lord William D. Taylour
1962 - British-Helleno excavations directed by Lord William D. Taylour
1964 - British-Helleno excavations directed by Lord William D. Taylour
1965 – Study season at Nauplion Museum
1966 - British-Helleno excavations directed by Lord William D. Taylour
1967 – Study season at Nauplion Museum
1968 – 1969 British-Helleno excavations directed by Lord William D. Taylour
1970-88 - Study seasons at Nauplion directed by Dr E. B. French

Areas excavated or re-excavated on the acropolis include the Lion Gate and Granary, Grave Circle A, the Ramp House, Hellenistic Chambers, Citadel House area, Tsountas House, the Palace, the Archaic Temple, the House of Columns, the Postern Gate and Gallery. Beyond the citadel, in the ancient town below, the 'Ivory Houses' - House of Sphinxes (South House), House of Shields (North House), House of the Oil Merchant - Schliemann's dump, Perseia area, Fountain House (Hellenistic Gymnasium), Cyclopean Terrace Building (House of the Wine Merchant) were dug. In addition to the Prehistoric Cemetery (which begins in Grave Circle A and extends north-west beyond the citadel walls), the other main areas of funerary archaeology were the chamber tombs and the tholos tombs: Aegisthus, Clytemnestra, Epano Phournos, Kato Phournos, Cyclopean, Panagia, Lion and Treasury of Atreus. Further afield, Atreus Ridge (House of Lead), the Agamemnoneion and Argive Heraion tholos tomb were investigated.

Primary material encompasses the Excavation and Study seasons 1920-1969 notebooks, site albums, pottery notes, pottery drawings, site plans and sections, maps, photographic positive and negative prints and transparencies, and administrative papers.

Secondary material was created by post-1969 study seasons.

The archive also contains original material which underpin publications relating directly to these excavations, in particular Chamber Tombs at Mycenae Archaeologia 82 (1932) and Mycenae (1949) by A. J. B. Wace, BSA and Journal of Hellenic Studies articles, the Archaeological Atlas of Mycenae by Dr E. B. French and the Well Built Mycenae series which is ongoing in its publications.

Dates

  • Creation: 1890s-1982

Creator

Extent

1 collection : photographs

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Negatives from the 1920-1923 excavations are kept together with their corresponding photograpic print in the same binder. From the 1939 excavation, negatives are stored in separate binders. This original order has been maintained, the reason being that there are relatively few negatives for the 1920-1923 photographs but many more for subsequent seasons. The majority of negatives for the 1920-1923 photographs taken by AJBW were lodged by him with the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (SPHS). When the SPHS divested itself of its photographic archives, AJBW's half-plate negatives (indexed with a 'C' preface) were lodged with the Archives of the British School at Athens. The Classics Faculty Archives, at the University of Cambridge, hold AJBW's autograph summary hand list of the 'C' series. Negatives are prefaced with different letters. B = Box Brownie camera H = half-plate negative Q = Quarter-plate negatives T = Tombazis negatives L = Leica camera

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Monochrome positive and negative prints, gelatin-silver process, unless otherwise noted at item level.

Bibliography

Bibliographic references are supplied for the initial publication of a photograph. Subsequent publications of a photograph are normally not given, unless it was a publication written or edited by A. J. B. Wace himself.

General

The title of the photograph at item level is deemed analogous to a 'Scope and Content' description. Only if there is further detailed information, then these additional descriptors are place in the 'Scope and Content' field. Duplicate prints of the same photograph, catalogued as one intellectual item of visual information, are identified by a lower case Roman numeral within the item record.

Repository Details

Part of the University of Cambridge: Faculty of Classics Archives Repository

Contact:
Faculty of Classics
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9DA United Kingdom
+441223 335193