Introduction: Middle and Late Helladic Laconia. Competing principalities?Corien W. Wiersma & Maria P. TsouliThe Eurotas Valley, Laconia, in the 2nd Millennium B.C.: The Area of Vapheio –Palaiopyrgi in ContextEmilia Banou, Anne P. Chapin & Louise A. HitchcockSouthern Laconia in the Middle and Earlier Late Bronze Age: pottery from Pavlopetri and other sitesWilliam Cavanagh, Chrysanthi Gallou, Ilias Spondylis & Jon HendersonThe curious case of an island: A preliminary account on the Northern Kythera Bronze Age LandscapesKonstantinos P. TrimmisThe Ayios Vasilios Survey Project. A preliminary outline of the habitation history and size of Ayios Vasileios compared to other palatial settlementsCorien W. Wiersma, Wieke de Neef, Sofia Voutsaki & Adamantia VasilogamvrouPreliminary remarks on the stratigraphy of the West Stoa from the new Mycenaean palace at Ayios Vasileios, LaconiaNektarios Karadimas, Adamantia Vasilogamvrou & Elina KardamakiA new Mycenaean settlement by the site Vrysika of XirokambiMaria P. Tsouli, Adrianna Kotsi & Dimitris VlachakosGeraki in the Middle Helladic and Shaft Grave PeriodsStuart MacVeagh Thorne & Mieke PrentGeraki – from Middle to Late Helladic: ceramic evidenceJoost CrouwelCeramic Evidence on the Transition to the Mycenaean Era in Southern Laconia: Prehistoric Pottery from Passavas near GytheioEmilia Banou, Maria P. Tsouli & George TsiaggourisThrowing some light on the early history of the Mycenaean palace at Ayios Vasileios, Laconia: three early Mycenaean pottery deposits from Building AlphaDora Kondyli & Iro MathioudakiThe relationship between Central and South Laconia during the Early Mycenaean period: The pottery evidenceVasco Hachtmann & Sofia VoutsakiThe funerary landscape of Middle Helladic Laconia. The evidence from recent rescue excavationsMaria P. Tsouli, George Tsiaggouris & Aphrodite MaltezouA new cemetery of the Late Bronze Age at Pellana, in the northern part of the Eurotas valleyLeonidas V. SouchlerisThe North Cemetery at Ayios Vasilios: austerity and differentiation in the Early Mycenaean periodSofia Voutsaki, Ioanna Moutafi, Vasco Hachtmann & Michael DeeConstruction, destruction, reconstruction: the architecture of the built tomb of the North Cemetery at Ayios Vasileios, LaconiaYannick de Raaff, Sofia Voutsaki, Theo Verlaan & Gary NoblesPermanence and becoming. A study into the role of labour investment in processes of social change and the creation of meaning in the North Cemetery at Ayios VasileiosYoup van den BeldAfterwordOliver DickinsonMany new results on Middle and Late Bronze Age Laconia are presented in this volume, stemming from recent excavations by the Greek Archaeological Service as well as ongoing excavations, surveys and material studies by foreign schools and individual scholars. Among discussed settlements are the sites of Pellana, Palaiopyrgi, Geraki, Pavlopetri and Vrysika and also the island Kythera. The newly discovered palatial site at Ayios Vasileios is also elaborately discussed in various papers, including discussions of its North Cemetery, early Mycenaean pottery deposits, the West Stoa, and an outline of the habitation history and size of Ayios Vasileios compared to other palatial settlements.More than 25 years have passed since the publication of a paper by Oliver Dickinson in which he wrote about central Late Helladic Laconia that he had an impression of “competing and unstable principalities in the early period and perhaps centrifugal tendencies”. In this volume we explore to what extent this impression is still justified. Especially considering the recent discovery of a palatial site at Ayios Vasileios. Indeed, this volume shows that in the past decades much has happened in Laconia with respect to what we know about the Bronze Age. We are therefore extra pleased that Oliver Dickinson has agreed to write an Afterword to this volume.Written by academics and those working in the fields of Bronze Age Greece, Laconia, ceramic analyses, architecture, survey, and photogrammetry this volume will be invaluable to students and practitioners with similar interests.