Antiquities Collection
It is a teaching collection that consists of 1,782 archaeological objects, about 2,200 coins, and 24,720 pottery sherds collected by ASCSA students during field trips before WW II. The collection was registered with the Ministry of Culture in 1999 (απόφαση ΥΠΠΟ/ΑΡΧ/Α2/Φ25/17214/1112/3103-99).
Content
All materials used by man to make objects, both utilitarian and decorative in nature, are represented in the Collection: terracotta, stone, bone, glass and metal. The most numerous are the sherds, fragments of ceramic vessels of all types for domestic, industrial and funerary use. Also in the ceramic category are figurines, loomweights, roof tiles and other architectural terracottas.We have a large selection of obsidian and flint, both implements and debitage, as well as tools of ground stone. Larger works of art in stone include grave stelae, pieces of statuary, and architecture. Our large numismatic collection (ca. 2,200 coins) includes all periods until the medieval times.
A selection of the pottery from the collections of the ASCSA and the British School at Athens (BSA) was published in 1994. (Oakley, J. H. et al., Athenian Potters and Painters. Catalogue of the Exhibit. December 1, 1994 - March1, 1995, Athens 1994.)
The sherd collection has been organized geographically.
A Attica
B Boeotia
C Euboia
D Phocis/Phthiotis
E Locris
F Aitolia
G Akarnania
H
I Epirus
J Thessaly
K Macedonia
L Megarid
M Corinthia
N Argolid
O Laconia
P Messenia
Q Elis
R
S Arcadia
T Ionian Islands
U Crete
V Aegean Islands/Saronic Gulf Islands
W Anatollia
X Egypt, Jordan
Y Magna Graecia
Z Cyprus
Note: An abbreviated PDF version of the catalog is available here.
Importance
The Antiquities Collection is open and available for access to the researchers. The importance of the Collection cannot be overstated. There are few places in the world so well endowed where scholars can have easy and convenient access to ancient Greek material of such wide variety. Because the material comes from all the ancient sites in the country and from all periods of antiquity, one can study it from a number of different perspectives, both chronological and geographical. The Antiquities Collection at the American School is one of the few places where students can get hands-on experience of ancient material.
Preservation and Care
The Antiquities Collection has all been catalogued and entered into a database format by the former Archivist, Dr. Carol Zerner. The objects are displayed in steel vitrines, while the sherds are stored in small boxes within steel cabinets with baked enamel finish. A number of objects have been conserved professionally.
Publications Referring
A considerable number of objects from the Antiquities Collection have appeared in scholarly publications, a selection of which is given below. Moreover, in 1994, a selection of pottery was displayed in the Basil Room of the Gennadius Library, to supplement a conference, titled Athenian Potters and Painters. A catalogue of the exhibit was published (Oakley, J. [ed.] Athenian Potters and Painters. Catalogue of the Exhibit. December 1, 1994 - March 1, 1995, Athens 1994).
Belmont, J.S. and C. Renfrew, “Two Prehistoric Sites on Mykonos,” American Journal of Archaeology 68, 1964, pp. 395-400.
Caskey, J. L. “Neolithic Sherds from Thespiai,” Hesperia 20, 1951, pp. 289-290.
Caskey, J. L. “The Figurine in the Roll-Top Desk,” American Journal of Archaeology 76, 1972, pp.192-193.
Coulson, W.D.E. The Greek Dark Ages: A Review of the Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research, Athens 1990.
Coulson, W.D.E. “Mycenaean Pottery from Laconia in the Collection of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens,” ΦΙΛΟΛΑΚΩΝ. Lakonian Studies in honor of Hector Catling, edited by Jan Motyka Sanders, Athens 1992, pp. 87-94.
Coulson, W.D.E. “Two Protogeometric Vases in the Collection of the American School, Hesperia 52, 1983, pp. 357-359.
Coulson, W.D.E. “Η Κεραμεική της Πρώιμης Εποχής του Σιδήρου στην Σπάρτη, ΙΙΙ: Ύστερη Γεωμετρική Κεραμεική στην Συλλογή της Αμερικανικής Σχολής Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα,” Λακωνικαί Σπουδαί, ΙΔ’, 1998, pp. 5-32.
Coulson, W.D.E. and I. Leventi, “A Roman Head in the American School of Classical Studies,” Hesperia 67, 1998, pp.223-229.
Coulson, W.D.E. and Iphigeneia Leventi, “Two Attic Grave Reliefs of Roman Date in the Collection of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, in Καλλίστευμα. Μελέτες προς τιμήν της Όλγας Τζάχου - Αλεξανδρή, ed. Α. Αλεξανδρή and Ι. Λεβέντη, Athens 2001, pp. 301-318.
Davis, J.L. “Brauron and Keos in the Shaft Grave Period,” Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών 10, 1977, pp. 270-272.
Dow, S. and C. Vermeule III, "The Stele of the Damaskenos at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Hesperia 34, 1965, pp. 273-297.
Hersom, S. “A Fragment of an Archaic Vessel with Stamped Decoration,” Hesperia 21, 1952, pp. 275-278.
Jordan, B. “A Grave Stele From Attica,” Hesperia 37, 1968, pp.182-183.
Knoepfler, D. "Hérode Atticus propriétaire et évergète en Eubée: une nouvelle inscription du Musée d’ Erétrie," REG 131, 2018/2, pp. 317-370.
McDonald, W. A. “A Geometric Grave Group from Thorikos in Attica,” Hesperia 30, 1961, pp. 299-302.
Oakley, J. H. et al., Athenian Potters and Painters. Catalogue of the Exhibit. December 1, 1994 - March1, 1995, Athens 1994.
Ober, J. "Pottery and Miscellaneous Artifacts from Fortified Sites in Northern and Western Attica," Hesperia 56:2, 1987, pp. 197-227.
Parisinou, E. "'Lighting' the World of Women: Lamps and Torches in the Hands of Women in the Late Archaic and Classical Periods," Greece & Rome 47:1, 2000, pp. 19-43.
Patrick, T. R. "Early Visitors to the Site of Perachoran Heraion," in Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou 1977-2007, ed. D. C. Kurtz, Oxford 2008, pp. 311-320.
Stone, S. C. III. "A Group of Terracotta Figurines in the Collection of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens," Unpublished ASCSA Papers, 1977-1978.