Labraunda, 1948- In 1948, after the war, when Persson could once more continue digging in Caria, the political situation had changed, and it was now possible to take on the site of Labraunda (alt. spellings Labranda, Labraynda) itself. In a paper published in the spring of 1948, Persson wrote: "Labraunda offers enormous possibilities to clarify the so far almost unknown Carian culture, and, as I believe, also its connexion with the Minoan one. Regarding the history of religions, the connexion can be discerned, but architecturally so far only hypothetically. It will be one of our tasks to try to find conclusive evidence for such a connexion." Labraunda, which is mentioned by several ancient authors, had been identified already in 1844 by Philippe Le Bas. In 1932, Alfred Laumonier, another French scholar, visited the site, and in 1933 he spent eight days there, mapping all the visible remains of the sanctuary and digging two trial trenches. He published reports on his visits, and a useful sketch map, but he was not able to raise the necessary funds for excavations before the war. To his disappointment, he saw this interesting site taken over by the Swedes. Since there was no road leading up to the site, where there also existed the mountain pasture and yayla, or summer village, of Kargicak, all equipment had to be transported on donkeys and horses. The eight Swedish members of the expedition lived in tents at the site, and 50 local workmen were employed during the campaign which lasted for the months of June and July. Labraunda is situated on a series of artificial terraces overlooking the plain of Milas. The site has an extension of about 200x100 m. On the uppermost terrace, the most well-preserved building was still standing with 8-m high walls. Before the start of the excavations, this was believed to be the temple of Zeus. Laumonier had called it Temple A, using the name Temple B for another building with identical plan on the terrace below. In 1948, these two buildings were investigated, but it soon appeared that they were no temples. In inscriptions, cut in large letters on the architrave blocks, once placed above the columns, they were called Andrones, the Greek word for dining-rooms. They were apparently buildings for sacred meals at the sacrificial feasts, and they were thus renamed Andron A and Andron B. The inscription at Andron B told that it was erected by Maussollos, the famous builder of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos (Bodrum) and the ruler of Caria 377-352 BC, which was then part of the Persian empire. Andron A was probably built by his brother and successor, Idrieus (351-344 BC). Immediately to the north of Andron A, the front of another building was discovered, which also carried a similar dedicatory inscription. It gave the information that this building, consisting of two square rooms behind a portico, carried the name of Oikoi ("the rooms") and that it was built by Idrieus. The true temple of Zeus was discovered to the east of the Oikoi Building. An inscription revealed that this building had also been erected by Idrieus. To the east of the temple, the front of a stoa from the Roman period (2nd century AD) was partly excavated. On one of its building blocks, an inscription told that the stoa had originally been erected by Maussollos. To the south of the temple some store-rooms were investigated. Many Greek inscriptions on marble were also found during this first excavation campaign, which also produced two fragments of terracotta tablets with Carian script, no doubt the most sensational small finds that year. In 1949 the excavation continued from May to July (19/5-27/7). The excavation of the temple of Zeus was then completed, as well as the clearing of the front of the North Stoa to the east of the temple. On the terrace below, excavation of Andron B continued. At the south-eastern end of the sanctuary, two gateways (Propylaea) were excavated, one looking south and the other looking east. In 1950, excavation proceeded from early June until early August (9/6-4/8). A large processional staircase leading from the gateways to the central parts of the shrine was then almost completely excavated. To a large extent the work during this campaign concentrated on documentation of the excavated buildings both on the upper terraces and in the gateway area. To the east of Andron B, a third, unstratified, fragment of a terracotta tablet was found, inscribed in the Carian alphabet. In 1951, during the preparations for the fourth campaign, Axel Persson fell ill and died shortly before the planned departure from Sweden. A managing committee was immediately formed to take care of the urgent situation. Gösta Säflund, the professor of Classical archaeology and Ancient history in Stockholm, who had been a member of the team since 1949, was appointed new director of the excavations. The campaign took place from late June to early September (23/6-4/9). On the uppermost terrace, excavation of the Oikoi Building proceeded, and some work at Andron A was also done. On the temple terrace, a retaining wall was discovered, which apparently was the southern border of the shrine in its early days (6th and 5th centuries BC). Before the mid-4th century the sanctuary seems to have consisted of just this single terrace. A building at its eastern end was interpreted as the gateway to the early shrine. On the terrace below, excavation continued at Andron B, and, to the south of it, another similar building appeared, which was called Andron C. This was believed to be of Archaic date (6th century BC). Other structures were excavated in the gateway area. Among the small finds from this campaign, two more fragmentary terracotta tablets with Carian script were recorded. In 1953, excavation continued for two months (25/6-20/8) under the direction of Gösta Säflund. When he fell ill in July and had to be hospitalized in Sweden, one of the other archaeologists, Eric Berggren, took over as acting field director for the second half of the campaign. The excavations went on in the temple terrace area, where a mudbrick construction, possibly an altar, was investigated. At the Oikoi Building, some deep trenches were dug, reaching bedrock at a depth of 5 m. The area between Andron B and the so-called Terrace House II was also investigated. The excavation at Andron C resulted in the discovery of one of the few sculptures found: a well-preserved, 1-meter-tall sphinx of marble, probably fallen from the roof of Andron B. In the gateway area the excavations also continued. After the end of the 1953 campaign, work on the final report was commenced, and the first fascicle, a study of the two gateways, The Propylaea, by Kristian Jeppesen, appeared in 1955. At the same time, it was apparent to the committee that the site was not yet in proper order to be handed over to the Turkish authorities. The committee decided that all dumps should be removed, architectural marbles put in order, documentation on the architecture completed, some complementary excavation executed, and all small finds and pottery brought to the archaeological museum in Izmir. Such a campaign did not, however, take place until 1960. The task to direct this mission was given to Dr Alfred Westholm, director of the Gothenburg Art Museum, former excavator in Cyprus with the Swedish Cyprus Expedition in 1927-1931. The staff of the expedition included two architects, an epigraphist and a technician. In addition to all work to bring the site in proper order, Westholm excavated a Late Antique church in the gateway area. He also excavated below the floor of Andron C and could thereby revise its proposed Archaic origin; it turned out to be of Roman imperial date (1st century AD). He also cleared the so-called West Stoa in the south-western part of the sanctuary. The 1960 campaign, which went on for a little over two months (22/6- 4/9), ended with an official ceremony, on 27 August, during which the excavation was formally closed and the site handed over to the Turkish authorities. In the years following the 1960 campaign, four fascicles of the final report appeared. In 1963, Westholm published a survey of the architecture of the site, in 1965 the publication of the post-archaic pottery, terracotta lamps and glass by Pontus Hellström appeared, and in 1969 and 1972 the numerous Greek inscriptions from the site were published by Jonas Crampa, the epigraphist of the expedition. In 1960, all potsherds and other small finds in storage at the site were transferred to the Archaeological Museum in Izmir, whereas most architectural marbles, inscriptions and sculptures remained at Labraunda. These were partly stored in the ancient store-rooms to the south of the temple, which had been provided with a new roof. Some of the marbles were in the 1960's transferred to the museum in Bodrum, under which the site then sorted. In more recent years the supervision of Labraunda has been transferred to the new museum in Milas, where some of the recent finds are now kept. This means that the finds that do not remain at the site, are divided between the museums of Izmir, Bodrum and Milas. During the continued study for the publication of the architecture, it became apparent that more work at the site was needed. Proper drawings and photographs of architectural blocks were still missing, as well as vital parts of the documentation of the buildings themselves. The publication committee of the Swedish archaeological institutes in Rome and Athens then decided that new investigations had to be performed. A new Labraunda committee was formed in 1977 to organise the work and the funding. The committee gave Pontus Hellström and the architect Thomas Thieme the task to prepare the remaining architectural final reports, starting with the temple. In 1979, a one-month campaign for the documentation of the temple took place. During that campaign the temple and its architectural remains were measured, drawn and photographed, and the land surveyor Åke Olson performed a geodetic survey of the site. In 1982, the final report on the Temple of Zeus appeared. In 1983 and 1985, documentation work continued at Andron A and Andron B, the Oikoi Building and the so-called Doric Building in the gateway area. As not more than the entrance porches of the interiors of the Andrones had been excavated, and the large building complex to the north of the gateway area had not been investigated at all, it was decided that this should also be done, if possible. In 1988-1991 and 1993, documentation of the major buildings continued, and, to the north of the eastern gateway, a 45-m long stoa was discovered, looking west. Behind its colon- naded front, a series of six square dining-rooms was found. Measuring and cleaning work was also accomplished at the Built Tomb in the slope to the north of the temple terrace and at the Stadion to the west of the sanctuary. Work on the publications of the Andrones and other buildings has now been going on for several years, but much still remains to be done before the architecture is published. In the meantime, four more fascicles on small finds have appeared. The first five fascicles of Labraunda publication appeared between 1955 and 1972 in the series of the Swedish Institute in Athens. In 1979, it was decided to continue the publication under the auspices of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, thereby inaugurating its international publications. The following fascicles in the Labraunda series have so far been published by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul: Stamped amphora handles by Marie-Louise Säflund (1980). Archaic pottery by J.J. Jully (1981), The Temple of Zeus by Pontus Hellström & Thomas Thieme (1982), Carian inscriptions by Michael Meier-Brügger (1982), and Marble sculpture by Ann C. Gunter (1995). For the immediate future, minor investigations and studies are planned to take place at Labraunda in June, 2002.