History of the American School 1939-1980- Chapter VII

Chapter VII: The Corinth Excavations, Including Isthmia and Kenchreai

Chapter VII: The Corinth Excavations, Including Isthmia and Kenchreai

In this and the following chapters on the excavations of the School or sponsored by the School, the aim is not to repeat the accounts of the results of those excavations which have been published and are accessible in preliminary if not also final form. The idea is rather to summarize the areas of work of each season with the briefest mention of their significance, in the hope that this “history” of each excavation may be useful for reference and may supplement the previous chapters in the account of the activities of the School.

Corinth

When Charles Eliot Norton wrote of the founding of the School as intended among other things to offer prospective teachers of Greek “such knowledge of its [Greece’s] ancient monuments as should give a quality to their teaching unattainable without this experience,” he was thinking also of one of the purposes of the School as adding to those ancient monuments by the conduct of excavations and the training of excavators who might be useful to other institutions in their excavations. How well the School has fulfilled both those aims is shown by a glance at the list of excavations of the School (Lord, History, pp. 296-308 and here, Chapters VII-IX) and some thought of the many alumni of the School who have directed or participated in excavations by other organizations both in Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The very first year of the School’s existence, 1882-83, one of the students, John Crow, was permitted by the Ephor of Antiquities to investigate the Pnyx with two workmen, and in the fourth year of the School, in spring 1886, the first real excavation, of the theater at Thorikos, was carried out. Each year thereafter exploration was conducted by excavation at various sites until 1896 when work was begun at Corinth. From then on Corinth was to remain the principal site of the American School where excavation has taken place in most years except for two periods (1917–1924 and 1941–1959) when war prevented or School excavation was concentrated elsewhere while work at Corinth was limited to study of the excavated material, occasionally with small supplementary digging necessitated by the study. From the initiation of the Excavation of the Athenian Agora in 1931 Corinth has become one of the two principal sites of the School, but it has continued to be the one with which the greatest number of the annual students of the School are most closely associated.

Even during the years of World War II Bert Hodge Hill continued to work in Corinth on his study of Peirene except when under house arrest in Athens. Activity in Corinth throughout the war years and the decade or so following has been noted above (see Index). Although the concentration of the School’s excavation funds on the Athenian Agora after the war meant cessation of new excavations at Corinth, the site and the excavation house were far from deserted. Active work on the study for publication of the previous half-century’s excavation continued, and all further available study and storage space in the museum was used constantly by the staffs of the Lerna excavation between 1952 and 1959 (see above, p. 59 and below, pp. 205-206) and the Isthmia undertaking between 1952 and 1976 (below, pp. 169-171) for study of their finds.

Mention has been made above (p. 2) of the excavation in the spring and fall of 1939 and the spring of 1940 of the Tile Factory on a ledge about a half mile below (northeast of) the present village, an unusually well preserved kiln for the manufacture of roof tiles, which was excavated by Carl A. Roebuck; he also began in spring 1940 the excavation of the site of the projected addition to the museum, to the east of the existing structure. This latter work continued under the supervision of Chief Foreman Evangelos Lekkas until halted by the war (above, p. 3). We have also noted (pp. 28-29) that it was in Corinth that the first work of the School after the war could be undertaken in 1946-47, namely the opening of the museum and the study for publication with the necessary cleaning and supplementary investigation of the South Stoa (Oscar Broneer), Bema, Central Shops, Roman Buildings on West Terrace, Minor Monuments in the Agora (Robert Scranton), Southeast Building (Saul Weinberg) and Asklepieion (Carl Roebuck). Clearing the wells of the South Stoa provided invaluable information for restoration of the building, especially the roof, a portion of which was reassembled, and existing drums of columns and other blocks were set in place in the South Stoa, in the Central Shops and on the West Terrace to make the buildings more intelligible to the spectator. In the Southeast Building much supplementary digging was required to complete its study. In 1947-48 (above, p. 33) William Dinsmoor completed his study clearing of the West Shops in the fall; Saul Weinberg undertook study of the two basilicas, the South and the Julian, to be published with the Southeast Building, and work on the wells of the South Stoa and their pottery contents was continued by Roger Edwards. In spring 1948 Richard Stillwell cleaned and made further soundings in the theater in connection with its publication, and Agnes Newhall Stillwell worked on the vast mass of pottery from the Kerameikos. In 1948-49 (above, p. 39), Roger Edwards completed the cataloguing and photography of that other formidable mass of pottery, from the South Stoa wells, and Hazel Palmer worked on assembling the tomb groups of the North Cemetery and on their study. In the spring Edward Capps, Jr. arrived to work on the sculptures. 1949-50 saw Robert Scranton back to carry out supplementary digging in the North Stoa and North Market, John H. Kent to work on inscriptions found since 1927, and in spring 1950 Oscar Broneer completing the final excavation of the western half of the South Stoa. Evidence for the area prior to the construction of the South Stoa as well as for the interior disposition of the Stoa was discovered. George V. Peschke and Elias Skroubelos completed many plans and drawings to supplement those made by Leicester B. Holland in 1946-47. The pre-Stoa wells yielded some fine Archaic pottery.

In January 1950 construction of the new wing of the museum was finally begun, ten years after work on the foundation had been initiated. The $10,000 donation of Mrs. Moore for the addition to the museum, made just before the war, had become quite inadequate for the structure for which plans had been made and foundations partly laid. It was characteristic of her interest in the School that she generously added the needed $30,000. Once undertaken, construction proceeded rapidly and by September was complete. Director Caskey asked the Managing Committee to appoint as Curator of Corinth an “Old Corinthian” well familiar with the site and the finds to undertake a reorganization and reinstallation of storerooms (Pl. 16, b) and galleries now that the much needed extra space was available. Carl Roebuck was elected in 1951 but found it impossible to accept. In October 1951 the three mosaic panels in the Roman Villa, which had suffered from exposure in spite of the buildings over them, were lifted by the highly expert and experienced technician of the Italian Ministry of Education Vittorio Toti and placed in the museum. The School is indebted to the kind cooperation of Dr. Doro Levi, Director of the Italian School in Athens, for making Mr. Toti’s services available.

Spring and summer of 1952 found Oscar Broneer back in Corinth working on the South Stoa with Piet de Jong acting as architect as they worked out the drawings to illustrate the reconstruction, and Bert Hill returned for the summer and fall to work on his study of the temples at Nemea and Tegea for the publication of the School’s work at Nemea.

In January 1953 the Chairman of the Managing Committee, Charles Morgan, an “Old Corinthian” who had directed the extensive excavation campaigns in 1936–1938, was able to come back to Corinth for four months in which the first new excavation since the war and the waiting reorganization of the museum were undertaken. The large-scale clearing of the agora area in the thirties had gone only to the early imperial Roman levels north of the South Stoa, leaving the investigation of the Greek levels for later; Mr. Morgan had particularly wished to check one small area near the west end of the South Stoa for pre-Roman levels.

The museum was rearranged chronologically rather than by class of material as formerly. The small room on the west of the entrance was devoted to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the long gallery to the east to the Greek periods from Geometric to 146 b.c., and in the larger, sculpture gallery, to the Roman sculpture were added all types of material from the Roman periods, with the mosaics from the Roman villa installed on the west wall. Material from the Asklepeion continued in the small north gallery, and in the court and its colonnade architectural pieces and further sculpture remained and were augmented.

In summer 1953 William Dinsmoor conducted limited excavation in search of evidence for the peribolos of Temple E and predecessors on the site in connection with his study of the West Shops, and in both fall 1953 and spring 1954 Robert Scranton worked over indications of the mediaeval period in the general central area of the excavations. In a supplementary investigation of the north side of Temple Hill in June Mary Campbell Roebuck discovered many early Archaic roof tiles. During the summer Agnes Stillwell continued her study of pottery from the Kerameikos. In September in a field near Lechaion was discovered a cemetery of the 6th to 4th centuries b.c. which the Greek authorities asked the School to excavate; C. W. J. and Mary Eliot cleared some forty graves.

The most noteworthy event in Corinth in 1955 was the advent of electric power which reached Old Corinth in March and went into operation in the new wing of the museum. Wiring and fixtures in the workrooms of the earlier part and in Oakley House were installed, and lights went on in Oakley House first on September 20, 1955. Another significant change which had been growing apace in recent years was “the truly staggering number of tourists and students who visit the excavations.” Already in 1952 the veteran guard, counselor and friend of all Corinthians (American or Greek by nationality), George Kachros (Pl. 15, b), had been given assistance by the appointment of Evangelos Papapsomas specifically as Museum Guard; further help was urgently needed now, and Spyros Marinos was added to the staff of guards on January 1, 1956. During the summer of 1956 Oscar Broneer supervised a thorough cleaning and tidying up of the excavations. At least four guards were needed in the heavy tourist season, but the number was reduced again to two when George Kachros retired officially from the Archaeological Service on January 1, 1958 after some forty years of service as Guard of Corinth. His inestimable knowledge of Corinth, the Corinthia, its excavations, and its excavators was not lost to the School, however, for his skill as a mender provided the means of the School’s retaining him as mender and general consultant. He continued to serve the School in these capacities for more than another decade. Evangelos Lekkas had served as Chief Foreman at Corinth since his brother Sophokles left that post to assume the same position in the excavations of the Athenian Agora in 1931; he had served also more recently at Lerna, Isthmia and in the Athenian Agora. On July 1, 1957 he was recognized for his significant services to the School by being appointed Chief Foreman of School Excavations.

In 1958 Oscar Broneer acquired a plot of ground directly in front of and below the garden of Oakley House where he built a house to occupy in his lifetime. A small round building of late Imperial times was uncovered just beyond the southeast corner of the house.

By 1958 it had become clear that Corinth was ready for the resumption of major new excavation after a lapse of twenty years since the outbreak of World War II. The study and publication of the pre-1939 excavations had been pursued with steady dedication by a number of scholars, and the bulk of the backlog had been completed; many volumes had been published, others were ready or approaching completion. The new wing of the Museum affording much-needed extra space for exhibition, storage, and study had been completed and the exhibition and storage rooms rearranged; the work space which had served the Lerna staff for the study of its material would be free in 1959 when the Lerna material would be transferred to its permanent home in the Argos Museum. Excavation funds of the School would no longer be needed for other sites. The newly appointed Assistant Director of the School who would become Director in 1959 had a strong interest in reviving field work in Corinth. The stage was set for a new era to open.

Henry S. Robinson (Pl. 12, e) assumed responsibility for Corinth as soon as he reached Athens in fall 1958, and plans were made to carry on extended excavation in the spring. Meanwhile in the fall digging for a new water system for the village revealed traces of antiquities in Kakavi southeast of the village, and Mr. Robinson investigated the late Roman remains. The renewed campaign of 1959 included both the principal work directed by Robinson, assisted by two students of the School, in the only area of the agora hitherto undug, the southwestern corner, and a three-week investigation by Saul Weinberg of lower levels in two places in the old excavations. Weinberg’s search for prehistoric was financed by the Wenner-Gren Foundation; east of the Lechaion Road outside the northwest corner of the Peribolos of Apollo deposits of Archaic, Geometric, Early Helladic and Neolithic pottery were found, and at the west end of the agora, west of Temples H, J and K, deep Neolithic fill with some stratification was discovered. In the seven-week campaign in the agora the School’s excavation funds were augmented by support from Brown University, which was continued through the 1964 season at $750 per year. The plan was to investigate in detail the Byzantine remains in this 2,000 square meters, since so large an area of Byzantine settlement had not been visible at one time before. In the 800 square meters cleared in 1959 appeared an important road bordered by a 12th-century building with indications of bronze working. Work in this sector was to continue under Robinson’s direction for another seven years as he trained those first-year students of the School who were interested in assisting him.

In spring 1960 the southwest corner of the Agora was cleared to Byzantine levels, and a brief investigation of the “Baths of Aphrodite” was conducted during the summer. It was during the summer that Charles Morgan on one of his favorite walks up Akro discovered ancient remains on the slope of Acrocorinth just below the road; excavation in spring 1961 by Ronald Stroud identified them as a sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone. 1961 work in the Agora in Byzantine occupation south of the South Stoa found the Kenchreai Road; two Roman chamber tombs northeast of the city were also dug, and work continued in the sanctuary of Demeter. The digging of a wide ditch north of the north city wall to bring water to irrigate the plains of Corinth revealed antiquities which the School investigated for the Archaeological Service: a Roman bath, numerous Greek and Roman graves, two Roman chamber tombs, a section of the East Long Wall. The Demeter Sanctuary was further cleared in 1962, and two sectors at Kokkinovrysi, where a roadside stele shrine revealed by chance in the winter was found to include a rich deposit of terracotta figurines, were opened as well as the house with a fine 1st-century b.c. mosaic floor at Anaploga.

In 1963 work was concentrated at Anaploga where a cleaning and dyeing establishment and a great system of water tunnels were discovered, the wells producing a vast amount of new and unusual styles of pottery, and the quarry south of Oakley House was dug.

The earthquake of August 1962 did extensive damage to Oakley House (Pl. 3, a), and although the most serious cracks in the rubble fabric were patched, examination by engineers showed it to be unsafe. It continued to be used for kitchen, dining room and living room with library, but no one slept there; all slept in the Annex. Clearly it would have to be replaced as soon as possible.

Even more far-reaching and immediate changes were seen by Director Robinson as essential in the administration of the excavation. The need for a secretary to bring and then keep order in the records and storage of its finds was of top priority. A part-time assistant in 1961 and 1962, Chrysoula Kardara, had begun to consolidate the several earlier, often conflicting or duplicating inventories made by an ever changing staff. A full-time secretarial assistant was urgently requested and after a year of half-time service in 1963-64 Judith Perlzweig, student of the School 1952-53 and Agora Fellow 1953–1957, filled that full-time post until July 1, 1966, reorganizing the pottery storage, maintaining current inventories according to a system devised by Director Robinson and incorporating them with the earlier records, supervising all files and records. In this major undertaking she was assisted by several volunteers from among the students and students’ wives who gradually made readily accessible both finds and records, written, drafted or photographed, of the excavations from their inception in 1896.

Equally essential to the proper excavation and publication of Corinth, Director Robinson believed, was a Field Director who would devote full time to the task. Much as he personally cared about excavating in Corinth, he felt it impossible to do justice to both the Directorship of the School and the direction of field work in Corinth. He therefore urged the appointment of a full-time Field Director. Until such time as this would be possible, Charles K. Williams, II was appointed a Fellow of the School for Corinth for 1963-64 to serve as Assistant Field Director under Director Robinson; from 1964 to 1966 he held the first Gorham Phillips Stevens Fellowship, continuing as Assistant Field Director of Corinth and acting as Director of the School excavations at Nemea in 1964 (see below, pp. 217-218). On July 1, 1966 Charles Williams (Pl. 13, d) became the Field Director of the Corinth excavations and began a notable career not only as excavator but equally as teacher of the students at the School.

Investigation of the Northwest Shops and their conservation occupied Mr. Williams throughout the year 1963-64, and in the spring the main activity with the students was at Nemea. The major excavation at Corinth was further work in the Demeter Sanctuary on the slopes of Acrocorinth where two eight-week campaigns in 1964 were directed by Ronald Stroud who had supervised the earlier excavations there in 1961 and 1962. Several terraces with rooms including some with couches and quantities of terracottas were found. Mr. Stroud continued to work on publication of the buildings he had dug through 1967, but in 1968 direction of the excavation was taken over by Nancy Bookidis.

As frequently in Corinth, there were in 1964 several minor salvage operations necessitated by chance finds or public works, two of special interest being the Roman vaulted water-tunnel system on the slopes of Acrocorinth northwest of the church of St. George and the classical graves in the ravine of Vrysoula with evidence of funeral banquets.

The tempo of activity at Corinth, which had been increasing steadily since its resumption in 1959, reached a peak in 1965, with work in six different areas. There began the first experiment in sharing the Corinth permit with Cooperating Institutions, who wished to participate in field work; parts of Corinth not being excavated by the School could be allotted to them. Two such areas were taken on by the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas at Austin, the former the northwest corner of the peribolos of Temple E, the latter the Gymnasium area north of the theater. Although Professor James K. Anderson and his students from Berkeley and Professor James R. Wiseman and his students from Austin showed that teams from the Cooperating Institutions can make a contribution to the work at Corinth and can work under the Field Director and fit into the existing systems of digging and recording, it was thought unwise to have two such teams again, especially when the School’s own projects were making such heavy use of all facilities. The Temple E peribolos with its two large rooms did not prove very rewarding, and California did not ask to return, but the Gymnasium area revealed a stoa over 100 meters long of early Roman times and a circular structure. The Texas team returned for six more seasons (see below, pp. 159, 163, 164). The School’s work was carried on in (1) Byzantine levels south of the South Stoa to preserve the Turkish house found in 1963, trace the main road south from Roman through Byzantine times and find a fuller’s establishment of the 6th century after Christ; (2) the Roman bath along the Lechaion Road north of the village of which parts have long been visible; (3) the ancient quarry south of Oakley House begun in Hellenistic and continued in Roman times; (4) the Demeter Sanctuary on Acrocorinth in which the upper terrace theatral area and another dining room on the lowest terrace were found as well as many more terracottas and vases.

In addition to the cleaning and conservation work in the excavations begun by Mr. Williams in 1963 and continued throughout fall and winter thereafter, in 1965 Miss Danaë Hadjilazarou, trained in conservation at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, began the cleaning and conservation of the bronze mirror from Anaploga and set up a conservation system for metal objects and the large terracotta statues from the Demeter Sanctuary.

In the 1966 season, the last of which Director of the School Henry Robinson was the Field Director, the School worked (1) in the Peribolos of Apollo where students found Geometric through Hellenistic strata east of the altar of Temple A and a late 5th-century two-room basement in the northeast quarter and (2) in the Roman Bath in which Secretary of the School William Biers and Jane Biers continued to clear the central cruciform room and the hypocaust of 1965, two apsidal halls, and a service corridor. The University of Texas in the Gymnasium carried the stoa to 158 meters length and continued on the building to the south.

The Corinth excavations have been unusually fortunate in not suffering loss from theft throughout the years, but about midnight of Easter Sunday, April 21, 1966, the Sacred Spring was broken into and one of the bronze lion-head spouts hacked off and stolen. Many Corinthians, Greek and American alike, felt a deep personal loss. The good fortune returned, however, when the head was returned, as mysteriously as it disappeared, on October 10, 1967; it was put in the museum, a copy in the Spring.

On July 1, 1966 Charles Williams, who had been directing most of the work throughout the year in Corinth as Assistant Field Director since fall of 1963, assumed full responsibility for the excavation as full-time Field Director. Since he had already been committed to the Porto Cheli excavation for summer 1966 (see below, p. 213), Robinson oversaw the Texas dig at Corinth.

The organization of administration, recording, storage and display of finds, conservation, study for publication and new excavation in which students of the School participated which had been in process of establishment in the past few years was in working order, and Henry Robinson said that although he gave up Corinth “with considerable regret,” he was glad to turn it over “to so competent an archaeologist.” Robinson’s conviction that the excavation would be well served by Williams as full-time Director has been more than justified in the years since 1966.

The officer responsible for all the indoor activities, the Secretary who had reorganized the storerooms and modernized the records, Judith Perlzweig, resigned as of July 1, 1966 but continued to serve until her successor Helen von Raits took over on October 2, 1966. Miss von Raits had been a student of the School in 1962-63, the year in which the over three hundred fragments of plaques from Penteskouphia found in 1905 were rediscovered, and she had been working on them in Corinth, making many joins among them and with the pieces in Paris and Berlin. She tackled the main body of old excavation material stored in the old museum and began to make it available to scholars as well as keeping up with the newer material and handling the many museum pressures, all with great patience. The number of scholars now coming to Corinth all year long, both School personnel to work on the definitive publication of the excavated material and other scholars interested in the finds for other publications, continued to increase, and with the guest staffs from the University of Texas at Corinth and the Isthmia and Kenchreai staffs (see above, p. 158, below, pp. 169-171) this meant a heavy call on the facilities, both in the museum and at the excavation house. The Director made whatever facilities were available open to all scholars who came to Corinth to study.

Kathryn Butt spent time in 1966 reboxing, describing and identifying with notebooks much pottery from the old excavations, so she was well equipped to take over the Secretary’s duties in the fall of 1967 which she discharged with helpfulness and cheerfulness to all until July 1971. For the year 1971-72 the position was shared on a half-time basis by two young scholars working on the publication of Corinthian material, Sharon C. Herbert, student since 1969, working on Corinthian red-figured pottery, and Mary C. Sturgeon, student since 1968, studying the sculpture from the theater. In 1972-73 Jean MacIntosh, formerly of the Murlo staff in Italy, replaced Miss Sturgeon as half-time with Miss Herbert. Summer 1973 began the Secretaryship of Nancy Bookidis (Pl. 16, b) who had been living and working in Corinth since 1968 as Fellow, excavating the Demeter Sanctuary, and working on the publication of the sanctuary and its terracotta sculptures as well as on the Archaic sculpture from the old excavations. Her familiarity with all aspects of the Corinthian picture as well as her own qualities make her an ideal Secretary; she continues to grace the position in 1980 as she also continues her study and publication of much Corinthian material.

The School is deeply indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Ewart Davies who recognized the need to guarantee the presence of a permanent curator at Corinth and generously established the Myra and Ewart Davies Curatorial Services Fund for Corinth; this ensures an American Curator at Corinth at all times, whether or not excavation is in progress, to process orders, to help scholars, to work on material and to keep the collection in order. With the final bequest of $25,000 from Mr. Davies in 1979 the endowment totals well over a quarter of a million dollars and ranks as one of the great gifts of the century to the School.

Of finds from earlier excavations one large important class had been neglected since 1929, namely the coins. Identification and easily accessible record of these documents as well as of current coins were of vital significance for current excavations; a resident Fellow who was a numismatist was an immediate need Charles Williams saw as he took over the Directorship, but it was only in 1969 that a numismatist could be added to the staff. Joan Fisher filled that position until February 1979 when financial considerations made necessary her departure. She had identified and put into order coins found before 1969 and kept up to date with current discoveries, preparing for publication each year as part of Mr. Williams’ report the coins found in that season. This was an enviable record.

The serious need of a full-time trained conservator to deal properly with many of the older finds as well as those coming out of the ground in the several excavations each season was of concern to Mr. Williams for some time; the successive Secretaries had, when they were able, done the bare essentials. Nor were the three pot menders, one of whom acted also as photo finisher in the darkroom, trained in conservation of materials other than pottery at which they were highly skilled. So the final appointment needed to make a thoroughly efficient indoor staff was made in 1973-74 when Stella Bouzaki, who had worked in Munich with the post-war restoration of the Aiginetan pedimental sculpture, was appointed full-time conservator.

As noted above, much of the time of the staff (the Director, the Secretary, the Numismatist) throughout the calendar year was occupied in assisting the great number of persons who were studying material for publication. Mr. Williams made assignments to both older, experienced scholars and younger students of the remaining unpublished older finds and the newer discoveries as they appeared, in a valiant effort to complete the unfinished publication and keep up to date. Space does not permit listing all the publications in volumes (see below, p. 270) and in Hesperia articles, but mention may be made of some of the pottery studies by Roger Edwards, D. A. Amyx, Patricia Lawrence, Elizabeth Gummey Pemberton, Sharon Herbert, sculpture by Nancy Bookidis and Mary Sturgeon, prehistoric by John Lavezzi. It would have delighted Louis Lord to see Corinth taking its place in print on shelves.

But the heart of Corinth as part of the School and its program remained the main spring excavation. Since 1896 most students who wished could and did take part in that excavation, and no one who worked under Bert Hill’s direction in a dig ever failed to view that experience as a major part of his training in his year at the School. As time went on and numbers increased, many students of the School came and went without any field experience. Charles Williams recognized that the School ought to offer all classical students, regardless of whether their interest is primarily archaeological, the opportunity to know through personal experience what excavation aims and methods are and how they contribute to classical studies. His innovation in spring 1967 of training sessions of two weeks for all students of the School who wished to participate was one of the landmarks of the educational programs of the School. Two training sessions of up to 10 students each provide two to a trench and give also a day of work in the museum and a half-day on coins. Williams’ skill as a teacher has equaled that of excavator and administrator and has been one of the most significant and successful aspects of the training offered by the School. The fact that practically all students do take part indicates what it means to them. After the training session each April further weeks of excavation continue with those students selected by the Director to assist him.

The excavations of 1967 continued (1) south of the South Stoa, (2) in the Peribolos of Apollo where the area of the dye works appeared to have been in use from as early as the Middle Corinthian period to the Mummian destruction, (3) in the Roman bath to the north of the Peribolos only partially cleared in 1929, and (4) in the Roman bath north of the modern plateia (see above, p. 159) which proves to be a monumental structure of which many architectural blocks, especially of the Severan two-tiered facade, were found in this year. The whole School and many alumni were saddened by the sudden death in April 1967, between the bus stop and the museum, of Evangelos Lekkas, Chief Foreman of School Excavations, who had been a loyal friend of the School since his first association with its work in the 1920’s; his skillful organization of work and handling of men were matched by his cheerfulness and devotion (see above, pp. 104, 155). Since his death Photios Notis has acted as a most able successor.

Excavation in the Demeter Sanctuary was resumed in 1968; Nancy Bookidis found further dining and cult rooms and confirmed the 6th-century b.c. to Late Roman chronology. William and Jane Biers continued work in the Roman bath, particularly in the herringbone-paved court and on the monumental facade. This was the last season of digging in the Bath, but the excavators continued to study the site and prepare drawings for the publication for several more summers. In the Agora area Director Williams moved to the neighborhood of the Sacred Spring, particularly east of it, to test the stratigraphy of two meters of Classical and Hellenistic fill which revealed a long mud altar rebuilt at least four times. Work west of the Babbius monument went down to Neolithic levels. In the summer Director Robinson was able to return to Corinth to work on the 7th- and 6th-century temples on Temple Hill and their immediate surroundings, a study he would continue for a decade. The University of Texas team in the Roman Gymnasium concentrated on a bronze casting pit, an apsidal building with lead curse tablets and a large underground tunnel system connected with Lerna and including a fountain house containing hundreds of lamps from the 4th and 5th centuries after Christ.

In addition to further investigation around the Sacred Spring in 1969 which gave a more precise chronology of the spring, Williams led the students also in exploration at the east end of the Forum to define limits of the Hellenistic racecourse buried under the Roman paving; they found the southern limits; they also found the first sub-Mycenaean grave yet excavated at Corinth and early Geometric graves. In the Demeter Sanctuary, Nancy Bookidis found a great, broad central stairway with dining rooms on each side. The summer brought Robinson, now retired from the office of Director of the School, again to Temple Hill and brought Texas to uncover more of the Fountain of the Lamps and the Gymnasium. All these areas were worked again in 1970: at the west end of the Forum Late Neolithic levels were tested, and the area to the south of the Sacred Spring revealed Early Helladic remains, Protogeometric fills, Geometric buildings and a Protocorinthian house; in the temenos itself Classical and Hellenistic levels were studied; both spring and fall seasons in the Demeter Sanctuary cleared further cult rooms; Robinson studied the Temple of Apollo in detail from scaffolding; and Texas continued in the Gymnasium. Again in 1971 work continued in both summer (Bookidis) and fall (Williams) in the Demeter Sanctuary; in the spring Williams with the students carried down below Roman levels in another part of the Forum area, west of the Bema and north of the South Stoa where several 4th-century buildings overlay 5th-century structures, and the area around the underground shrine found in 1936 was further explored; in the summer Robinson, now heading a Case Western Reserve University expedition, excavated along the north slope of Temple Hill; and in a fall campaign Wiseman completed the University of Texas excavation of the Gymnasium.

During the winter of 1971-72 the material from the Shear excavations of 1928 to 1930 was turned over to the School and incorporated into the general records. The 1972 exploration of pre-Roman levels in the Forum concentrated on those from Classical back through Geometric, and the final stage of digging in the Demeter Sanctuary was begun; Robinson cleared more of the 7th-century b.c. road toward Glauke on Temple Hill and the narthex and graves of a 6th-to-7th-century church. As planned, work in the Demeter Sanctuary was completed in spring 1973; Williams continued to lead students in the pre-Roman levels of the Forum, and Robinson studied his finds from Temple Hill. The 1974 season saw Williams returning to the southwest corner of the Forum, where Robinson had cleared Byzantine levels in the early 60’s, to get down to ancient levels, and on Temple Hill Robinson began clearing the Early Christian basilica and quarry at the east end and continued the early road at the west end. The southwest corner of the Forum in 1975 had reached both early Imperial and Greek levels; the long narrow building and arch of Neronian date mark the limit of the Roman forum at that time, and the 5th- and 4th-century b.c. bath with its mosaic floor adds a valuable detail to the Greek phase of the area. On Temple Hill Robinson completed clearing the Early Christian basilica and recovered the 6th-century b.c. propylon at the northwest corner. Further Classical Greek buildings north of the bath clarified more of the Greek southwest corner of the Forum in 1976, and on Temple Hill work continued in the quarry at the east, along the north side, and on the west located the Archaic temenos wall, two periods of the propylon, and a Roman stoa east of it. By 1977 work in the southwest corner of the Forum had cleared the west wall of the South Stoa and its Stele Shrine and begun on the large complex of the early 5th century b.c. to the northwest of it, which in 1978 was cleared to reveal one of the most significant buildings yet discovered for the economic history of Corinth in the Classical Greek period; its contents provided the name, Punic Amphora building. Robinson continued on Temple Hill in 1977 and completed his decade of investigation in 1978.

Study of the fresco fragments found years ago in the Southeast Building required new testing of the stratigraphy; in doing so Williams recovered further fragments of this sole example of Roman Fourth Style painting found in Corinth which may have a topical interest if, as seems possible, it represents Briareos arbitrating the division of the Corinthia between Poseidon and Helios. In 1979 wages were escalating so frighteningly that excavation was restricted to the two training sessions, working again on the north side of the Punic Amphora Building, the south side of its northern neighbor, and the road between them, as well as clearing the storerooms of some of the South Stoa shops and the building under its west end. Excavation in the Southeast Building was completed in the summer. Spring 1980 brought a change of scene back to the Hellenistic starting line at the east end of the Forum for both the two training sessions and the regular season of excavation following them, now happily restored to the program; another starting line was found near the one discovered in 1969.

It will have been evident, from the above, that Mr. Williams’ plan of campaign has been to carry out the general over-all plan of many years ago, namely to carry down to Greek levels the vast area in the center of Corinth purchased by the School over the years and dug only to Roman levels by the time of cessation of digging in 1939; it has always been intended to go down earlier bit by bit. After the earthquake of 1962 there had been a proposal by the Greek archaeological authorities that more of the ancient city in the present village should be created an archaeological zone for future investigation before more construction takes place, but this plan did not prove to be feasible even though the School lent a cautious interested ear; by 1964 it was a dead issue. It was clear by 1966 that attention should continue to be paid to the very considerable amount of historical and artistic information still to be gained from the area already at the disposal of the School, and Mr. Williams has planned carefully the order of the sections to be investigated further in the Forum area. This had been the main activity; work on the Roman bath, a partly uncovered building, was also continuing. The unique and highly significant Demeter Sanctuary is characteristic of all digs—-a chance find has led to top-priority results.

Reference has been made several times already to the many scholars, both those of the School and many others both American and foreign, who have been enabled by the recent ordering of the vast materials of the Corinth excavations to work conveniently and profitably with the evidence it offers. As a further means of assistance in making available these finds, in 1977 Mr. Williams and his staff began an experiment which proved useful even in its early stages. Thanks to the request of the University of California at Berkeley that Corinth try out the possibilities of the SELGEM system, Corinth became the first Mediterranean excavation to put all find information onto Information Retrieval Systems tapes. Differences in terminology among scholars of different periods and materials have caused some difficulties, which were still being resolved, but by winter 1978-79 Mr. Williams and Miss Bookidis were able to introduce the system with both its advantages and its complications to an assemblage of archaeologists from other foreign schools and excavations. The Corinth excavations were also in 1980 working with the Fitch Laboratory of the British School on a series of tests by thin sectioning. One of the oldest excavations in Greece was keeping up with the newest technological possibilities.

Pages back (above, p. 157) we reported the damage to Oakley House in the earthquake of 1962 after which it was unsafe for any of the staff to sleep there; they continued, however, to eat and work in its rooms as plans were gradually evolved to replace it. Finally in October and November 1970 the excavation house (Pl. 3, a) which had been given by trustee Horace Oakley and had served since 1927, repaired after the severe damage of the great 1928 earthquake and again after several others, was torn down. The new earthquake-proof building designed by Charles Williams was constructed under his supervision throughout the winter, spring and summer of 1970-71 while the staff occupied temporary quarters in the village. On December 1, 1971 the new house (Pl. 3, b, right), 9 × 31 meters, occupying the same site, as attractive as it is comfortable and convenient beyond the wildest imagination of “Old Corinthians” who lived in the Pietri house or Oakley House, was dedicated. Greek and foreign archaeologists attended the ceremony with the School personnel. A marble plaque reads “The Corinth Excavation House / The American School of Classical Studies / at Athens / Named in Memory of / BERT HODGE HILL / 1874–1958 / Student-Director-Director Emeritus / 1 December 1971.” Nothing could be more fitting; Corinth of today is what it is because of Mr. Hill. To all the facilities of Oakley House, each now improved in efficiency and furnishings (kitchen, dining room, living room), are added a separate library, an architect’s drafting room with ample storage for plans, a photographic darkroom, two office and record rooms for the Director and the Secretary, three double bedrooms and good storage. Not the least of the many advantages of this building is the admirable way in which it fits into its setting, nestling among its trees above the slope of ground west of the Odeion, white stuccoed with dark green shutters, belonging to the village landscape. For the staff who live and work in it, the central heating adds a dimension of efficiency as well as comfort unknown to their predecessors, but extremely effective in the results of their work. The furnishings were handsomely augmented after the dismantling and sale of the Blegen House in Athens when many pieces from 9 Plutarch Street were brought to Hill House, a most appropriate disposition of them. Now that there were shelves to hold them, many gifts of books were made to the library in the following years, benefiting still more the many students and visiting scholars.

The so-called Annex had been built to the west of Oakley House of light and anti-seismic construction in 1931 to provide seven bedrooms after the 1930 earthquake had made the second storey of Oakley House unsafe for occupancy; it continued to serve as sleeping quarters for all the staff not provided for by the three bedrooms in Hill House, including the Director who occupied the large northern room designated originally for that officer. The first year of Hill House was progressing happily for the staff when tragedy struck. In the early morning hours of July 4, 1972 fire was discovered in one of the rooms of the Annex; it spread rapidly, but by the miracle of quick action by some, all residents escaped without injury. The building was quickly a complete loss and with it the notes, records, and manuscripts (several practically completed) as well as personal possessions of those living in it. This was no small personal tragedy to the staff members and students as well as to the work they were doing. The courage, determination, and good will with which they set about recovering what was possible by doing the work again had been inspired in all who worked with him by the Field Director. Irreplaceable were many of his directorial records as well as his own manuscripts of various pieces of work, but Charles Williams set about immediately to secure the funds through gifts and draw the plans for replacement of sleeping quarters. Although work was to begin on the two separate structures soon after the permit was given on December 1, 1972, construction required a long period because of difficulties with the contracts thanks to the rapidly changing and rising costs; once begun, work progressed well and the units were ready for the spring training session in 1975. Each building has three rooms and bath; they are designed to harmonize with Hill House and are set, with a small passage between them, at an obtuse angle to Hill House running back (south) and at a slightly higher level. The space enclosed by the angle forms an entrance courtyard for all three buildings. The whole complex of the three buildings (Pl. 3, b) presents an attractive prospect from any direction. The furnishings include some pieces from the Blegen house and desks with drawers (a godsend to an excavator) for each room, the gift of the Alumni Association. On June 6, 1975, after they had proved their worth through the spring season, the houses were dedicated at a ceremony; they were named the one for Rufus B. Richardson (Pl. 11, a), first Director of excavations at Corinth, who started the whole enterprise in 1896, and the other for Henry Schroder Robinson, the second founder who revived the excavations in 1959.

Charles Williams very fittingly chose to memoralize the names of the first and the reviving Directors of Corinth, since Mr. Hill had already been remembered in Hill House. To the dozens of School students who worked at Corinth even after his retirement as Director until his death in 1958 Corinth meant Bert Hodge Hill. In the later years it meant Oscar Broneer (see below, p. 170), and to those many more who have been a part of revived Corinth since 1967 Corinth means Charles Williams. Professor Richardson began the excavations; Mr. Hill developed them as he developed a method of field archaeology which in its precision and thoroughness has been the basis of field methods of countless expeditions and continues to be a paradigm of excellence in archaeological exploration. Professor Broneer continued and refined it. Professor Robinson revived the excavation and devised the methodical system of administration of field work and records; Mr. Williams has developed that organization of the museum and records to a model of conservation and convenience, the conservation of the excavations outside for the convenient understanding of the thousands of visitors and the current excavations for the training of all classicists who come to the School in the meaning of excavation in classical study, while continuing the steady publication of the site. The name Williams deserves to be remembered with the others.

Yet there is another man whose close association with Corinth spanned the two eras and was longer in years even than Mr. Hill’s, whose devotion to the site and its excavators was as deep as his contribution to the work, the man whom all who knew respected and loved as he did them. On October 4, 1976 an era indeed came to an end when George Kachros (Pl. 15, b) died. He joined the excavations as a boy and spent his life in their service. He knew every detail of what had been dug; he learned at Mr. Hill’s heels. He knew the Corinthia, every trace of antiquity in field, valley or hillside. He knew Corinthians, the families of the village, their connections, their skills; he knew too the American Corinthians and offered them an abiding friendship. After his retirement as Chief Guard in 1958 (a post he had held some forty years), he remained in the service of the School as the skilled pot mender who had brought back to life so many Corinthian pieces throughout the years; he had served the School in that capacity at the same time that he was the highly responsible representative of the Archaeological Service. Only in the last few years of his life did illness curtail that active assistance; devotion and loyalty remained to the end. The donor of a sum for a Fellowship in his name was speaking for his numberless friends in wishing his memory to be engraved in the School’s annals as it is in their hearts. Kathleen Slane Wright held that George Kachros Fellowship in 1977-78 and appropriately worked on Roman pottery, preparing two articles in his memory.

Isthmia 1952, 1954–1962, 1967–1978

Since the School did not take up active new excavation at Corinth when it reopened after World War II because it was funneling most of its excavation funds into the Athenian Agora, it was possible, with the approval of the Archaeological Service, to use “the Corinth permit” elsewhere in the Corinthia with funds provided by one of the Cooperating Institutions, with the Director of the excavation a veteran member of the School’s staff. In April 1952 Oscar Broneer (above, pp. 1, 28, 31-37, 43, 168), who retained his appointment as Professor of Archaeology of the School while he served as Professor in the University of Chicago, began a limited excavation at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia for Chicago. With the unerring precision learned from his long experience in excavation at Corinth, his first trial trench revealed the foundations of the Greek temple of Poseidon, and further trenches established its dimensions and plan and uncovered the upper half of a monumental marble statue of a goddess, presumably of Roman date. Encouraged by this beginning Broneer returned with regular campaigns starting in the spring of 1954, when the entire foundation of the temple was cleared and the precinct investigated, yielding evidence for a succession of buildings from the 7th century b.c. to Roman times and an Archaic deposit with fine pottery and metal offerings. In Fall 1955 the ridge of Rachi above the sanctuary was investigated as well as the southeast section of the temenos; there a puzzling pavement with lines appeared, which in the spring 1956 campaign was revealed as the starting line of the 4th-century stadium, now famous for the light shown on Greek athletics; excavation of the Roman temple of Palaimon adjoining it was also begun. The fall 1957 season uncovered about a mile of a cyclopean fortification wall, the Late Mycenaean line of defenses across the Isthmus, a most unexpected predecessor of the well-known line built by Justinian. Spring 1958 work concentrated in the sanctuaries of Poseidon and Palaimon, including the large circular pit containing Archaic dedications of pottery and bronze, the bottom of which was reached in fall 1959; this campaign also revealed the cult cave in the northeast corner of the Poseidon temenos which was further investigated in 1960 and 1961 along with another cave at the upper edge of the theater. The theater was cleared in these years, and in 1960 a section of the Hellenistic trans-Isthmian wall. After somewhat discouraging initial investigation in 1960 in the area of the later stadium in the hollow some distance southeast of the temenos, work in 1961 revealed the drainage canal and its basins along both sides and the starting line at the open (north) end; the “West Foundation”, a 4th-century b.c. exedra one kilometer west of the village of Kyras Vrysi, was also examined in 1961. The final season of excavation, spring 1962, added to supplementary digging in the temenos of Poseidon and the West Foundation extensive work in the later stadium where the south starting line was discovered and parts of the seating and track.

The brilliant discovery of the first season was a happy augury for the decade Broneer spent in recovering for the modern world the last of the four great centers of ancient Greek religious festivals and games. In the light of the two greatest and largest of these, Olympia, province of the German School, and Delphi, of the French, the two minor sites of Nemea and Isthmia had been neglected until the American School began work in Nemea in 1924 and planned and hoped to continue some day (as they did in 1964 and 1974 to date, see below, pp. 217-218). Broneer hoped to round out two pictures of the ancient Greek world, the Corinthian area and the great games; his success in locating, uncovering and interpreting and breathing life into the remaining traces of buildings of more than ordinary quality and significant interest is one of the most shining chapters of the American School’s excavations and of his own long career as one of its most distinguished professors and excavators. Fortunately for students of the School he invited some current students to join his staff in the latter years (in the earlier years the staff members were students and colleagues from the University of Chicago). They had, thus, the advantage of that excellent training in field work which many students of earlier years had enjoyed at Corinth and on the North Slope of the Acropolis at Athens under the tutelage of the School’s beloved teacher of Archaeology from 1928. Though officially retired since 1971, “Oscar” (as he is affectionately thought of) is in 1980 still living in Corinth and ready to share with all members of the School his native enthusiasm and his wide experience and learning as he has done with devotion for over half a century.

Five years after Oscar Broneer completed his excavations in the Isthmian sanctuary, while he was preparing them for that admirably prompt publication of which he himself completed (after annual reports in Hesperia during the excavation) three volumes published in 1971, 1973, and 1976 (see below, pp. 264, 270-271), another Cooperating Institution of the School applied for permission to resume work in another part of the Isthmia. The University of California at Los Angeles with Paul Clement as Field Director began work in 1967 along the Justinian Wall and continued it, finding portions of the earlier Roman wall and various Roman buildings, through 1975 under the auspices of the School as part of the Corinth permit. From 1970 work was concentrated on the bath of the 2nd century after Christ with its unusual carpet mosaic in the Great Hall. Because of the desirability of completing the clearing of the bath still under way in 1975, the Greek Archaeological Service arranged for Clement to work with them for another three seasons, 1976 to 1978.

Kenchreai 1963–1968

When Oscar Broneer completed his excavation at Isthmia in 1962 he had retired from the University of Chicago faculty; the University wished to continue excavation in the Corinthia. Professor Robert L. Scranton, alumnus of the School and of the Corinth excavations of the 30’s and 40’s, began in 1963 to investigate, under the Corinth permit, the Corinthian harbor site of Kenchreai, on the Aegean side of the Isthmus. Indiana University joined in the enterprise, with Professor Edwin Ramage acting as co-Director from 1964.

The preliminary explorations of 1963 in four places around the harbor discovered Roman warehouses and other buildings, some with mosaic floors. The 1964 season continued in all these areas, clearing the luxurious Brick Building in the northeast, the southwest area revealing the Piscina at the sea end of the South Pier and an apparent sanctuary under water on the south suggesting that underwater investigation was needed. This was carried out in 1965 with outstanding result; the apsidal cult room of a sanctuary was found stacked with crates of opus sectile panels of thin opaque glass with Nilotic and architectural scenes and human figures. Pieces of wood and marble in the adjoining room also indicate that construction was never completed. The 1966 and 1967 campaigns were devoted chiefly to the tedious and delicate business of lifting and conserving the glass panels; 1968 was the final season of cleaning up, with digging as necessary.

The results have been published in four volumes, between 1976 and 1979, of Kenchreai, Eastern Port of Corinth by E. J. Brill for the University of Chicago and Indiana University; another volume is to follow.

Isthmia Museum

The quantity and the quality of the finds from both the Isthmia and the Kenchreai excavations called for a means of making them available to the general public. The most striking pieces from Isthmia, e.g. the 7th-century perirrhanterion and the colossal bust of Amphitrite, had been exhibited in the Corinth museum from soon after their discovery, but the other finds along with the precious architectural fragments of the temples had been housed in a storeroom at the site. The unique glass panels from Kenchreai had to be properly housed. For some years attempts were made to provide funds for a museum in the village of Kyras Vrysi at the site of the Isthmian Sanctuary. Finally a museum building designed by Paul Mylonas was financed by private individuals and foundations, finished in 1972, and presented to the Greek Archaeological Service. It was only in 1978 that installation was completed, the furnishings provided by the Service. The museum was dedicated on August 25, 1978 by Director of the Greek Archaeological Service Nicholas Yalouris, Oscar Broneer representing the School, the Minister of Education and Culture George Plitas, and the U. S. Ambassador Robert McCloskey.

The Second Generation

It may be of interest to digress here, between the accounts of Corinth and the Athenian Agora, to make note of several descendants of former members of the School who assumed positions of responsibility on the School’s staff in the 1960’s. Helen von Raits (who later married Daniel J. Geagan, a fellow student), who became Secretary of the Corinth Excavations in 1966-67, is a great-granddaughter of one of the founders of the School, an original member of the Managing Committee 1881 till his death in 1905, its Treasurer 1881–1895 and an original Trustee 1886–1905, Frederick J. de Peyster. The same year (1966-67) William Bell Dinsmoor, Jr. began his service in the Agora Excavations as Architect (see below, p. 198) which continues still in 1980; he is the son of William Bell Dinsmoor, who himself began his association with the School as Fellow in Architecture 1908–1912, then was Architect of the School 1912–1919, Professor of Architecture 1923–1928, Annual Professor 1947, Visiting Professor 1955-56, Research Fellow and excavator at Corinth on many occasions, member of the Managing Committee from 1937 until his death in 1973. In 1968 Theodore Leslie Shear, Jr., Fellow of the School 1959-60, assumed the Field Directorship of the Excavations in the Athenian Agora, the post of which his father, Theodore Leslie Shear, was the original incumbent from 1931 till his death in 1945, after being a student of the School in 1904-05 and excavator at Corinth, of the theater in 1928 and 1929 and of the North Cemetery in 1930, member of the Managing Committee 1920–1945, a Trustee 1936–1943; his mother, Josephine Platner Shear, had been a student of the School 1927–1929, excavated at Corinth with Mr. Shear and was a member of the Agora staff from the beginning in 1931 through 1940. Then in 1972 Marian Holland McAllister, student of the School 1951-52, Assistant Architect of the Athenian Agora Excavations 1952-53, became Editor of Publications; as an architect she too follows the footsteps of her father, Leicester Bodine Holland, Fellow in Architecture 1920-21, Architect of the School 1921-22, Associate Professor of Architecture 1922-23, and Architect again in 1946-47 working at Corinth. In the United States in 1975 William F. Wyatt, Jr., a Harvard fellow of the School in 1959-60, became Secretary of the Managing Committee and served till 1980; his mother, Natalie Gifford, had been a student of the School in 1922-23 and his father, William F. Wyatt, a member of the Managing Committee 1947 till his death in 1961.

These are not the only second generation members in the School’s history. Another Corinthian, Edward Capps, Jr. who worked on the sculpture of Corinth, especially that of the theater, but died before its completion, a member of the Managing Committee from 1933 until his death in 1970, Annual Professor 1937-38 and 1948-49, was the son of Edward Capps, Chairman of the Managing Committee from 1918 to 1939, member of the Committee from 1908 till death in 1950, one of the early students of the School 1893-94. Another early student in 1902-03 and Fellow 1903-04, Lacey Davis Caskey, member of the Managing Committee from 1920 to 1940, gave the School a son as Director, John Langdon Caskey, Director 1949–1959, member of the Managing Committee 1949 till death in 1981, its Vice-Chairman 1965–1975. There have been other members who were children of earlier members, notably Charles Alexander Robinson, Jr., son of Charles Alexander Robinson 1897-98, who was student 1923–1925, Secretary of the Managing Committee 1945–1965, Annual Professor 1935-36, spring 1948, spring 1962, Director of the Summer Session 1959 and Chairman of the Committee on the Gennadius Library 1948–1964, but those noted here serve to illustrate effectively the kind of interest and devotion the School has generated in its members which is often carried on by later generations. Since Corinth has been a major part of the School since 1896, it is natural that most of these families have been touched by Corinth. It is hardly accidental that Theodora Stillwell (who later married fellow student Pierre MacKay), taken to Corinth as a child by her parents, should have returned to the School as a student 1959–1961, excavated at Corinth, and published some of the Byzantine pottery and later studied Frankish pottery. Her father, Richard Stillwell, was Fellow in Architecture 1924–1926 and Assistant Professor of Architecture 1928–1931 working at Corinth, Assistant Director of the School 1931-32, Director of the School and Supervising Architect of the Athenian Agora Excavations 1932–1935, member of the Managing Committee 1931–1936, 1945 till death in 1982, Annual Professor 1948 and 1960, Acting Director 1974 and author of several Corinth volumes; her mother, Agnes Newhall Stillwell, Fellow of the School 1927–1932, was the excavator and publisher of the Potter’s Quarter of Corinth. Of Athenian rather than Corinthian connections is Eugene Vanderpool, Jr. who became photographer of the Agora Excavations in 1967 and served till 1976; his mother Joan Vanderpool had been the first photographer, in the 1930’s, of those excavations of which his father, Eugene Vanderpool, a student of the School in 1929-30, had been a staff member from 1932 and Deputy Field Director from 1949 as well as the distinguished Professor of Archaeology from 1949 to 1971, member of the Managing Committee 1971 to date. Ione Mylonas Shear (Mrs. T. Leslie Shear, Jr.), a student of the School 1959-60, who was a member of the excavation staff of the Athenian Agora in 1967–1975 and 1979 to date, is the daughter of George E. Mylonas, Bursar of the School 1925–1928, member of the Managing Committee 1937–1939, 1946 to the present, and Annual Professor 1951-52 and 1963-64.