Acknowledgments

Science is a collaborative venture. Without the support and generosity of funding institutions and agencies and the dedication of several individuals, its pace, effectiveness and success are greatly limited.

This work was initially supported by the Leverhulme Trust. Without its generous support, the Project would still be in its infancy. The Walter Hudson Bequest, the University of Athens Research Committee, the National Bank of Greece and its Cultural Foundation (in particular its Director, Dionysis Kapsalis), all played a pivotal role in the success of the Project.

The support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture (in particular, Petros Tatoulis, former Deputy Minister) was invaluable. We also acknowledge essential support from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens (Nikolaos Kaltsas, Director, Rosa Proskinitopoulou, Deputy Director & Head of Bronze Section). We acknowledge the generous support of the staff of the National Archaeological Museum and of X-Tek Systems.

The Athens International Conference was supported by the National Bank of Greece. The French Embassy - French Institute in Athens contributed to the organisation of Session 3 of the Conference. The National Bank of Greece also funded subsequent research on the inscriptions.

Special thanks to the Athens Traffic Police for their assistance in conveying X-Tek Systems’ eight-tonne x-ray machine to and from the National Archaeological Museum.

Finally, we acknowledge help and advice from Alex Abravanel, Stella and Eftichios Alfieris, Janet Ambers, Hazel Forsyth, Ian Freestone, Emmanuel Georgoudakis, Dimitris Gogos, Robert Halleux, Theofanis Hatzigrivas, Velson Horie, Alexander Jones, Mark Jones, Herb Johnson, Panaghiotis Kipouros, Haralambos Kritzas, Josef Lossl, Dionysios Mouzakis, Efthymios Nicolaidis, Eftichis Papadopetrakis, George Simantonis, Ioanna Soufleri, Christos Stathakopoulos, Ioannis Theofanidis, Lefteris Tsavliris, Harry Tzalas, Alexandros Valassopoulos, Ruth Westgate, Tim Whiteside and Angelos Xenos.

[Text written in November 2006]