Acknowledgements

A substantial part of this course is based on material collected and analysed by members of the Sphakia Survey. The Survey is co-directed by Lucia Nixon and Jennifer Moody, with senior participation of Simon Price and Oliver Rackham. Fieldwork was conducted in 1987-90, 1992; final site revisiting 1996; study seasons 1992-95, 1997-99. Thanks to a generous permit obtained from the Greek Archaeological Service through the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens, researchers began working in Sphakia in 1987.

We are most grateful

• to the people of Sphakia;
• to Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, Vanna Niniou-Kindeli, and Stavroula Markoulaki of the KE’ Ephoreia in Khania for facilitating the project at every stage;
• to Elpidha Hadjidaki, of the Underwater Ephoreia, for advice concerning Loutro;
• to Caroline Williams, Jacques Perreault, David Rupp, and David Jordan, successive directors of the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens.

We are also most grateful to those who have funded the work:

• the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada;
• Queen’s University at Kingston;
• University Research Fund, University of New Brunswick;
• Vice-President’s Fund, University of New Brunswick at Saint John;
• the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (New York);
• the Craven Committee, the Emergency Research Fund, the Humanities Computing Development Team, the Faculty of Classics and Lady Margaret Hall (Oxford).

A complete list of all students and specialists who have worked with us in Sphakia can be found on our web site

In Oxford, we thank several important groups of people.

• We are doubly grateful to the Ashmolean Museum, first for its collections spanning all three epochs of Cretan history, and second for its staff. Prof. Michael Vickers (Greek and Roman Antiquities) kindly allowed us to photograph ancient and other objects in the Museum, and supplied images of others. Ian Cartwright (Institute of Archaeology) took the new photographs. Dr Jon Whiteley (Western Art) supplied a photograph of Edward Lear’s view of Khania. We hope that this course will encourage more people to make use of the Museum’s superb collections. The Museum’s web site gives some access to them, and includes a developing site on the Museum’s ceramic holdings.

• Charles Beesley and Karen Watts (now Carey) of the Media Production Unit (formerly Education Technology Resources Centre) helped us to make our video, The Sphakia Survey: Methods and Results (1995), which you have received as part of your course package. They also provided facilities for recording the audio clip introducing this course.
• We collaborated with Sarah Porter and Sophie Clarke (Humanities Computing Development Team, Oxford University Computing Services) in order to produce The Sphakia Survey: Internet Edition, first launched in October 2000 (and which will be used in Unit 4 of this course). It was seeing a demonstration of the web site that first suggested an online course.
• Dr Charles Crowther (Administrator, Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, Oxford) relocated our web site to CSAD, and facilitated the scanning of new images for this course.
• Oxford is blessed with excellent libraries. It is a pleasure to thank the staff of the following libraries: Sackler (art and archaeology); Taylorian Annexe (modern Greek); Tylor (anthropology).
• Last but not least, we thank Dr Tristram Wyatt (director of Online and Distance Learning, Oxford), who invited us to do this course, and Jeanette McLoughlin (Online and Distance Learning Project Officer), and all our colleagues at Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning (Oxford) who made it possible: Dr Michael Meredith (director); Pia Marks and Audrey Cantley (project managers); Marion Manton (e-learning assessment); Jeanette Wall (quality assurance); John Pilbeam (animations); Ian Gloster (images); David Balch (web development).