It is probably fair to say that perceptions of Greek history between the eighth and first centuries BC have almost completely altered in the past sixty years. Archaeology is mainly responsible for this.
Everyone reading Greek history will have found themselves confronted, in books and articles, by frequent references to archaeological evidence. What historians mean by 'Greek archaeology', however, may not be immediately apparent. Many people think of it in terms of beautiful works of art (the Elgin Marbles, the Charioteer of Delphi), or the impressive Bronze Age sites (the palace of Knossos, Mycenae with its Lion Gate, or the Thera frescoes). To others, archaeology conjures up the romance of discovery: Michael Ventris, a young English architect, deciphering a lost Bronze Age script, or the expeditions of Schliemann.
These things are an important part of Greek archaeology, and the flow of exciting finds has certainly not dried up. Pride of place amongst recent discoveries goes to the tomb of Philip II (father of Alexander the Great) at Vergina in Macedonia, in which a wealth of gold objects and frescoes were found (amply illustrated in, for example, R. Lane Fox, The Search for Alexander, Allen Lane, 1981), together with the cremated remains of Philip himself. The story of how the king's identity was revealed, by comparing the skull from the tomb with descriptions of him in ancient writers, makes a good detective story (Journal of Hellenic ....
