Lynne A. Schepartz, University of Cincinnati
Sari Miller-Antonio, California State University, Stanislaus
A. During 2005 progress was made on the re-study of the human skeletal materials from the Blegen excavations at Pylos in the following areas:
| Sample # | Tomb | Type | Individual | Sex | Age | Sample |
| PY 40 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 1 4PY | M? | OA | Cranial |
| PY 39 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 1 YA dent | Tooth | ||
| PY 41 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 2 26PY | M | 30-35 | Cranial |
| PY 42 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 2 35PY | ? | 35- | Cranial |
| PY 43 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 3 12PY | Shaft | ||
| PY 44 | Vayenas | Tholos | Old 14PY | F | Cranial | |
| PY 45 | Vayenas | Tholos | 18PY | M? | Cranial | |
| PY 46 | Vayenas | Tholos | 17PY | M | Femur | |
| PY 47 | Vayenas | Tholos | 33 4-7-52 Pit l (NE) | Palace Jar cranial | ||
| PY 48 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit l | F? | Small humerus | |
| PY 49 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 4 25PY | F | Cranial | |
| PY 50 | Vayenas | Tholos | Pit 4 39 45E (5) | F | Mandible | |
| PY 13 | Tholos III | Tholos | 1 | F | 20-25 | Shafts |
| PY 15 | Tsakalis E3 | Cist | 1PY | M | 24-28 | Tibia |
| PY 14 | Tsakalis E3 | Cist | 2PY | F | 22-26 | Shaft |
| PY 20 | Tsakalis E4 | Chamber | 3PY | c | 6-9 yr | Cranial |
| PY 21 | Tsakalis E4 | Chamber | 3aPY | F | >28 | Tibia |
| PY 24 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6E | M | A | Tibia |
| PY 23 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6E sa | c | 8 yrs | Rib |
| PY 27 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6F | F | A | Tibia |
| PY 26 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6I | c | 5 yrs | Cranial |
| PY 22 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6J | M | <30 | Shaft |
| PY 25 | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | 6K | F | 25-35 | Cranial |
| PY 50a | Tsakalis E6 | Chamber | Misc. child from fauna, E6 Sherd to 2.60 75 7-18-62 WPD 166 | Not recorded | ||
| PY 28 | Tsakalis E8 | Chamber | 8A | F | YA | Femur |
| PY 29 | Tsakalis E8 | Chamber | 8B | F | <25 | Humerus |
| PY 31 | Tsakalis E8 | Chamber | 8H | M | YA | Cranial |
| PY 30 | Tsakalis E8 | Chamber | 8J | M | 25-35 | Cranial |
| PY 32 | Tsakalis E8 | Chamber | 8I? Misc pits | sa | 15-18 | Femur/Humerus |
| PY 16 | Tsakalis E9 | Chamber | 9BurA | F | 22-25 | Femur |
| PY 18 | Tsakalis E9 | Chamber | 9B | F | >30 | Femur |
| PY 17 | Tsakalis E9 | Chamber | 9Bmale | M | YA | Tibia |
| PY 19 | Tsakalis E9 | Chamber | 9Pits | Tibia | ||
| PY 3 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR1 | M | Tibia | |
| PY 5 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR2 | M | Tibia | |
| PY 6 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR3 | Shaft | ||
| PY 7 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR4 1 | M | Tibia | |
| PY 9 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR5 1 Ajax | M | Radius, L | |
| PY 11 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR5a 1 | F | Mandible | |
| PY 1 | Kondou | Chamber | Misc. | Tibia | ||
| PY 2 | Kondou | Chamber | Pit in dromos | Tibia | ||
| PY 4 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR 1/2 | Tibia | ||
| PY 8 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR 4 2 | M | Tibia | |
| PY 10 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR 5 2 | F? | Smaller humerus | |
| PY 12 | Kondou | Chamber | KDGR 5a 2 | Tibia | ||
| PY 33 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK2 | M | Femur | |
| PY 34 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK3 | Shaft | ||
| PY 35 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK5 | Shaft | ||
| PY 36 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK6 | Shaft | ||
| PY 37 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK7 | Small femur | ||
| PY 38 | Kokkevis | Chamber | KK7 -unknown | Big femur |
Joanne Murphy, University of Akron
Seven weeks in total were devoted to studying artifacts from the tombs excavated by Blegen's team around the Palace of Nestor. Murphy spent two sessions at the Chora museum; for one week she worked with Jeremy Rutter on categorizing of ceramics; and for a 6 period two students assisted her in cataloguing the artifacts. Jennifer Moody examined the fabrics of the tomb ceramics for three days during those 6 weeks. Murphy's team primarily focused on the ceramics and did a cursory examination of the small finds (all things non-ceramic). She examined the sherd material from the Grave Circle (Vayenas), the Tsakalis chamber tombs, the Kondou chamber tomb, Tholos 3, and Kokevis chamber tomb (K-2/g).
Jeremy Rutter spent one week with Murphy examining the ceramics from the Grave Circle (Vayenas), the Tsakalis chamber tombs, the Kondou chamber tomb, Tholos 3, and Kokevis chamber tomb (K-2/g). Rutter assigned a date and a shape to the diagnostic ceramics. This study of the pottery greatly refined our understanding of the chronology of the tombs, their chronological relationships to each other, and their chronological relationship to the palace. This study concluded that the majority of the material in the tombs date to LH I - LH III A. There is secure LH III B material from Kondou, Tholos 3, Kokkevis (K-2/g), and LH III C from Tsakalis Tombs E-6, E-4, E-8, Tholos 3, Kondou, and Kokevis (K-2/g). There was also some MH material in the tombs, but it seems only to be related to burials in Vayenas.
The Vayenas pottery indicates that the tomb may have been first used in the MH III/LH I period and continued in use until LH III A1. While there is some LH IIIA material from the tomb, it is very limited and may not be connected with any of the burials. The MH pottery in this tomb was found throughout the different levels of the excavation, was not excessively worn, and was from recognizable shapes. Its location in the tomb and the low level of wear on the pottery clearly shows that the tomb was in use in the MH period as well as LH period. In the surface levels of the Vayenas Grave Circle there were many Mycenaean kylikes; they were not related to the burials. The most interesting finds from the Vayenas sherd material were the fragments of at least one, and possibly a second, Cypriot base ring juglet (similar to CM 1583 and 1588), a trachite mortar, three large jars, several dippers, and a small tripod cooking pot that had been logged in the excavation notebook but was subsequently lost. (The tripod had been catalogued during the excavation as a skull). Some fragments from pots that are on display in the Chora museum were found in the sherd bags. There was a piece of highly polished floor plaster that was catalogued as a small find (SF 0004) and a piece of painted plaster that was given to Brecoulaki to be stored with the wall-paintings. The scattered deposition of the sherd material at Vayenas clearly shows that the tomb was very disturbed.
The pottery from the Tsakalis tombs suggests that the use of the cemetery may have begun in LH I and continued during LH II and LH IIIA1. After a break in use, there was limited reuse in LH IIIC. MH sherds were found scattered throughout the Tsakalis tombs. Unlike at Vayenas, there is no evidence to suggest that the MH material was connected with any of the burials and should be classed as background noise. From his analysis of the ceramics, Rutter concluded that there was LH III C activity at two of the tombs in the Tsakalis group (E-6 and E-4). In E-6 there is sufficient LH III C material to argue for reuse of the tomb at that time and that this late date should be assigned to the latest burials in the tomb. At E-4, it seems unlikely that the LH III C sherds were related to any burial based on the small number of the sherds and their location on the surface of the tomb area. Despite their small number, the presence of LH III C material in the area shows that there was some LH III C activity, but it is not possible to identify, at this point, the nature of this activity.
Most of the pottery styles evidenced in the sherds from the tombs were similar to what had been already inventoried in Blegen's original study of the tombs. Several pots, however, were found during this examination that were not in the original tomb inventory. Three fragments from LH III C dark burnished handmade deep bowls were found in E-4 (FS 284 -5) and in E-6 (FS 285 and FS 284-5). To date only one other example of a hand-made deep bowl has been found in Messenia; it was found (and subsequently lost) at Nichoria. Other examples of how the sherd material amplified the repertoire of shapes include joining fragments of a high quality linear alabastron of a shape not attested in the whole pots of E-4, although there are 2 examples from E-8 (CM 2870 and CM 2881); also from E-4, a patterned basin rim, with a "Minoanizing" feature of interior decoration, that could be an early version of the three-handled conical bowl, four examples of which were found in E-6; from E-6 there were fragments of two LH III C deep bowls and a LH III C mug, a beaked jug (FS 133), an alabastron (FS 84) that was larger than the others found in the tombs; from E- 8, there was a bridge spouted jug (FS 103), a squat jut (FS 87) with hatched loop motif (FM 63), and a dark grey burnished hand-made deep bowl rim; and from E-9 there was a jug with a cut-away neck (FS 133).
From the whole pots, Tholos 3 has evidence of use from LH II/IIIB to LH IIIC Early. Of the few sherds that remained from Tholos 3 all but one of the diagnostics were LH IIIA2 in date; one, a rim of a deep bowl, was LH IIIB-C. This deep bowl rim might provide a date for the last use of the blocking wall.
The whole pots from Kondou (K-1) demonstrate that it was predominately used from LH IIIA1 - LH IIIC. In the sherd material, Kondou had a large amount of material from LH 1 - LH IIA. There was also some LH IIIA2/B material. There were some MH sherds that were probably background noise. There was a large amount of joins up and down the dromos indicating several instances of disturbance that may have been caused by the opening and reuse of the tomb.
In Kokevis (K-2/g) the whole pots and sherd material dated to LH IIIB - IIIC. The sherd material from this tomb adds to our understanding of the common shapes in the area of the Palace of Nestor during these periods. A linear FS 240/295 rim and a large and elaborately decorated stirrup jar (FS 174/5?) were found in the sherd material, but are not represented in the whole pots. There was also a false neck and spout of a LH IIIC middle stirrup jar that might be a companion piece to a similarly decorated lekythos (CM 1746), also from the tomb. The sherd material also contained a full profile of what may be the largest mug (FS 226) in the Peloponnese. There were a lot of joins between the dromos and the blocking wall that may date the final opening/closing of the tomb to LH III C Early-Middle.
The fabric study of the pottery from the tombs revealed that the largest variety of fabric types was in the Vayenas deposit. There were several pots that, based on their decoration, looked Minoan. The fabric analysis was unable to confirm, however, whether these pots were of a Cretan origin or not. Most of the fabrics fitted into Galaty's division of local fabrics. The presence of small spicules of sponge in the fabric used for orange dippers is distinctives. Sponge spicules were rare in other pot types. The dippers may be imported.
The sherd material from the Grave Circle (Vayenas), the Tsakalis chamber tombs, the Kondou chamber tomb, Tholos 3, Kokevis chamber tomb (K-2/g), and Kokevis a was washed. All the sherds, excluding those from the Proto-Geometric tomb Kokevis a, were numbered, weighed, measured, Munselled, and described on catalogue sheets. Most of the information was transferred into a digital data base. There was a total of 116 fragments were drawn. Study photographs were taken of the material from the Grave Circle (Vayenas), the Tsakalis chamber tombs, the Kondou chamber tomb, and Tholos 3.
We filled out summary sheets for the small finds in order to assess what small finds were exist for each grave.
Paul Halstead, Sheffield University
Valasia Isaakidou, University of London
Halstead and Isaakidou worked for three weeks in Chora. For about a week, temperatures were so high that the computer could only be used outdoors, where the light is good, until mid-morning, but we made good progress. This year we recorded over 2500 identified specimens – substantially more than in previous years. The improvement in efficiency is essentially due to the use of an assistant last year to wash and mark much of the material. The contexts recorded this year were from EBW (1956, 1960, 1961, including GP) and Lagou. The latter includes three largish groups of material labelled as ‘palatial period’, ‘pre-palatial period’ and ‘earlier than pre-palatial period’, which are fairly similar in terms of taxonomic composition (sheep>pig>cow/goat), but there are evident contrasts between individual contexts, for example in the abundance of wild animals. Many observations made in previous years have been repeated: e.g., cattle seems to be mainly adult females (or, at any rate, small in size compared to those found in the burnt ‘sacrificial’ deposits); some contexts include articulating specimens, indicating relatively undisturbed deposits; some contexts exhibit repeated examples of very similar butchery marks, suggesting that they represent specific episodes of carcass processing and deposition. In addition to standard numerical recording, we have taken numerous digital photographs of butchery marks and pathological specimens. The EBW material includes a few very burnt specimens that may help to confirm the context of the EBW ‘sacrificial’ deposit.
Material remaining for study comprises four boxes: 1 small box of material from numerous tiny contexts within the palace; 1 large box of WGK+CKK 1962; 1 small box of PNW; and 1 large box of Lagos + EBW.
Sharon R. Stocker, University of Cincinnati
Jack L. Davis, University of Cincinnati
Stocker and Davis devoted about a month in late June and early July to the examination of important Middle Helladic finds from excavations not fully published by Blegen's team. Between June 9 and June 17, 1959, Marian Rawson conducted two soundings on the property of Yioryios Petropoulos, northwest of the citadel of the Palace of Nestor.1 She opened two separate trenches: one that she called Petropoulos I was 23 m. long and 1.50 m. wide, the other, the Petropoulos-Tsakonas Wall Hunt, was more restricted in scale, measuring only 2.00 x 1.50 m. It was clear to her that she had in both soundings reached MH levels, although results were only summarily described in hers and Blegen's final report. Since only a few finds were published in the Palace of Nestor III (pp. figs. 104, 159) and the excavations only cursorily described (pp. 63-62, figs. 93, 94), the aim of our report is to discuss the stratigraphy in detail and comprehensively to describe artifacts recovered at various depths in each trench and, in the case of Petropoulos I, in association with superimposed architectural remains. We suggest that the earliest wall found by Rawson is likely to date to EH III, contemporary with remains from Deriziotis Aloni, southwest of the Palace of Nestor on the Englianos Ridge; two later stages of construction seem to belong to an earlier phase of the MBA and the character of associated deposits is remarkably similar to that of contemporary levels at Nichoria. Several entirely new discoveries are here documented by us. Sherds may attest to occupation on the Englianos Ridge already in the Neolithic and EBA. A Middle Minoan vessel recovered in MH levels appears to represent the earliest import from Crete yet recognized in Messenia. Finally, a pit that Blegen and Rawson assigned to Geometric times should probably be redated to the Late Classical period.
The principal Petropoulos trench (Trench I) was 23 m. long and was oriented north-south (PON III, fig. 301).2 Rawson excavated the trench in a complicated manner, dividing it initially into five sections. In the two northernmost sections (Ia and Ib), each 4 m. long, she exposed remains of three successive architectural phases. The earliest walls were identified at the northern edge of Section Ia. Rawson there described a wall "laid on stereo…in a straight line" at the northern edge of the trench and visible for a length of 1.20 m.; the northern face of the wall lay under the northern scarp of the trench and was not visible. The wall for the most part was constructed of small rounded stones and some pieces of local bedrock; on top of it there appeared to be a piece of mudbrick, still in situ. Several stones, perhaps from an eastern wall of a room, may have formed a corner with the wall at its eastern end. Other stones immediately to the south lay in a "haphazard fashion" and seemed to have fallen from the wall onto a floor. Probably on the floor were fragments of an unbaked clay crucible with fragments of bronze adhering to it.3
Pottery retained from the deposits associated with these remains suggests that the wall was built in EH III.4 Pottery from 152 (MP7) is exclusively of EH III types, similar to finds excavated by Lord William Taylour at Deriziotis Aloni.5 Finds from 181 (MP3) and 183 (MP5) are mixed. Although EH III types are present, some sherds may be of the Neolithic (MP3-4; MP5-1), while others with standard MH matt-paint (MP3-7; MP5-21), features of Adriatic Ware (MP3-10; MP5-23), and of Argive Minyan (MP5-22), clearly belong to the MBA.
In the MBA a wall, approximately 70 cm. wide and ca. 45 cm. high, was built on top of the EH III deposits; it, like the EH III wall on bedrock, may well have supported a mudbrick superstructure, although no traces of bricks were found. The wall was built, according to Rawson's description, with "small rubbly stones like pieces of bedrock laid with even edges." Deposits associated with the wall, excavated both in Section Ia and If, suggest that it was constructed in the earlier part of the MBA.6
Sometime later, a third architectural complex was constructed on top of the deposits associated with the broad wall. Part of the corner of a room was uncovered, its walls built of large smooth stream cobbles. Excavation inside the room reached a "reddish stratum" that was "vaguely visible in connection with the wall and must represent whatever deposit there was." Finds from deposits associated with these uppermost walls also date to the MBA.7
Traces of Mycenaean remains were found in surface levels above the highest walls.8
In contrast to excavation in the northernmost 8 m. of the trench, excavations in the three 5-m.-long sections to the south (Ic, Id, and Ie) yielded no traces of buildings. The bedrock sloped gradually from south to north, such that the most deeply stratified deposits were found in Sections Ic and Id.
In Section Ic, immediately beneath brown topsoil at the surface, Rawson encountered deposits of earth that she described as "yellow hardpanlike," i.e., similar to the local marl bedrock in character, and in the northern part of the section, "mixed with a little black." In it were "a fair number of rotten looking chewed up sherds" and "hardly any small stones."9 Beneath this upper deposit she detected no real change in the soil, until she approached bedrock.10 There the soil was "more gummy," sticky and claylike, at times bright yellow, and contained bits of black burnt carbonized material, some of which were collected for C-14 analysis. In the southeast corner of the section two distinct red layers, consisting of bits of burnt mudbrick mixed with black carbonized material, were visible in the scarp of the trench. The burnt material appeared to have been pressed down into the claylike soil which she imagined to be the original bedrock.
Section Id, in contrast to the remainder of Petropoulos I, produced evidence for post-prehistoric activities. There Rawson encountered a pit that, at its center, reached a depth of some 65 cm.; it was entirely confined to Section Id. She described the soil in this pit as "black dry" and the pottery from it as being coated with "black filth like the deposit found elsewhere with late sherds." Although she and Blegen suggested in their final report that the pit had been dug in the Geometric period, the dating of the black-glazed sherds is ambiguous and the presence of a bronze coin (MX4153) may date the intrusion more precisely.11 In the center of the pit were stones, and elsewhere in the trench were "chunks of burnt brick."12
Beneath the pit in the northern and southern parts of Section Id, the soil was predominately yellow, mixed with black earth.13 In the center of the trench, beneath the pit, the earth turned entirely yellow and continued unchanged until reaching bedrock.14
Excavation in Section Ie was more shallow than elsewhere in Petropoulos Trench I. Here, as in Section Ic, Rawson detected "yellow hardpanlike earth" immediately beneath the surface. The same deposit continued to a depth of ca. 1.55 m. beneath the surface and contained few sherds.15 Immediately above bedrock she found very small fragments of carbonized material mixed in the yellow soil.16
In addition to Petropoulos Trench I, Rawson also excavated on the Petropoulos property a second, more restricted, sounding, ca. 2 x 1.5 m. and oriented northeast-southwest. The trench was excavated ca. 15 m. to the east of Petropoulos Trench I, where the property bordered an olive orchard belonging to the Tsakonas family against what appeared to be a terrace wall; the stones of the wall were removed, and it was determined that it had not been founded on an earlier, ancient, wall.17 Beneath the topsoil the earth was filled with "little white vein-like particles" that looked like ash, and which she compared to the earth excavated above the Wine Mazagine the previous year; at 0.70 m. stones were mixed in the earth and there were fragments of bronze. From the surface to a depth of 1.40 the deposit was entirely LH III in character.18 Beneath 1.40 m. the deposit was entirely of MH date.19
Hariclia Brecoulaki, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
A team of some 15 individuals under the direction of Brecoulaki worked in Apotheke 1 of the Chora Museum from May 8th until July 10th. The various activities in which they engaged during that time are described below.
After the final organization of the wall paintings in their permanent storage units, achieved during last year’s session, the next step was to rearrange the apothiki as a workspace and study room. Two new tables were ordered, suitable for restoration operations and reconstructions and long enough to accommodate a significant number of fragments for joins searches. Magnifying lamps also were purchased and positioned on the tables for more accurate cleaning of the fragments and observation. The acquisition of a new stereo microscope allowed for detailed microphotographic documentation of the fragments’ surfaces, prior to and after restoration treatments, as well as for the study of the colors and technical aspects of the pictorial layers (superimposition of paint layers and/or physical blending of pigments, original color, traces of faded paint nonvisible macroscopically, etc.). The rearrangement of the apothiki provided more space for restoration without needing to transport the fragments daily from inside the apothiki outside, and vice versa.
The marking of inventory numbers on the backs of the fragments was continued this year by a team of students from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Sixty more drawers were completed, leaving only 16 drawers for next year, from a total of 208. The materials and the methodology used for the assignation of the numbers proved efficient and should facilitate further research on the fragments.
The systematic digital recording of the wall painting fragments continued under Kori Pasternak and Jen Glaubius using both a digital camera and a scanner for the smaller fragments. The pieces contained in 80 more drawers were recorded this year, leaving only 44 more drawers for next year’s session. After this operation is completed, it will be possible to estimate the total surface of the preserved painted decoration of the palace in square meters, since the number of fragments alone does not provide this information.
The major restoration operations this year focused on two important fragmentary compositions from Hall 64: the well-known battle scene fragment I, representing a duomachy and mass murder, published by M. Lang (22H64), and a large unpublished fragment of a composition with ships, revealed last year during the cleaning of the fragments. In conjunction with the advanced work of the restorers and restoration students under my supervision, the group of Denison students also were involved in preliminary and first-aid treatments of the fragments, consisting of superficial brushing; consolidation of flaking pictorial layers or powdery mortars using Primal AC33 diluted in distilled water 3% to 5%; gluing pieces together with the acrylic adhesive HMG product (Paraloid B72); and coding. Anouk Jevtic also used various chemical products for removing saline incrustations from the top surface of fragments, trying to avoid as much as possible the mechanical removal of salts with scalpels, which causes permanent damage to the fragile surface of a paint layer and loss of valuable information.20 Jevtic’s best solution was the use of a mixture of a strong cationic surfactant (Amberlite 120H) reinforced by the fungicide Desogen (10% strength), applied on top of the incrustations with an organic gel (carboxymethyl cellulose), and then removed gently with cotton tabs and distilled water.
The "Battle Scene I: Duomachy and Mass Murder," collected in front of the northeast wall of Hall 64, is composed of two complexes made up of ca. 60 distinct smaller pieces. (The smaller complex is composed of ca. 20 pieces, the larger one of ca. 40.) The piece, all part of a larger wall painting composition that decorated this wall (Lang 1969, p. 72-74). Their poor condition, together with the aesthetical alterations to the surface by consolidation treatments from previous interventions, disrupt the legibility of the various components of the image and the appreciation of its stylistic and technical aspects. (Particularly annoying is the glossy thick film of a modern consolidant on top of the original surface.) In addition, the application of a thick layer of modern plaster on the backs of the fragments, applied to preserve their relationship after lifting them from the ground, had caused gaps between the warped pieces. M. Lang discusses this problem in her publication and points out that “… it is impossible often to remove them from the backing in order to clean and reset them because they are too delicate. The warping and gaps also make further joins difficult, if not impossible, so that it is only possible in a reconstructed drawing, in which each piece can be drawn separately and joined to its neighbours… (Lang 1969, p. 8)."
For those reasons we decided to undertake the task of de-restoring as a first stage and restoring as a second stage, this important wall painting fragment from Hall 64. Only after removing the pieces from their backing could we start searching for new joins and reestablish the lost cohesion of the composition. The various stages that were followed are:
The above operations revealed more details of the original composition. These elements — e.g., such as the boar’s tooth helmet of the man facing right, the black triangles of his skirt and the garment (confirmed as a beast skin) of his adversary — were only partially visible before, mostly because of the veil of saline incrustations. Additionally, to the right of the man facing right traces of a wavy line became evident, visible on the white band underneath the checkerboard pattern. Many areas of the background were cleaned, and the original colors and painting technique became more evident. The background’s color has not turned lavender-green, as M. Lang had thought, as an alteration of the original blue ground. Rather, it was originally conceived and executed as two distinct superimposed layers, a first layer composed of an organic lake of violet-pink color and a second layer of finely ground Egyptian blue. The optical result of such a superimposition created the lavender hue perceived as an alteration product by Lang. In fact, there are no traces of any green color or hue at all. The cross-section of a sample from this background confirms this coloration process. A similar technique was followed by the painter for blue band of the border. Here, as in the background, the painter superimposed a layer of Egyptian blue on a layer of manganese-based black to serve as an undercoat.
One of the major objectives of this year’s session was the cleaning and restoration of the poorly preserved fragments from the naval composition discovered during last year’s session. To this end, we decided to start with those pieces that had a zigzag pattern. The process consisted of the following stages:
Removing the fragments from their plaster backings and cleaning their surfaces considerably helped us to find new joins and recreate an important part of one of the ships from the naval scene from Hall 64. The checkerboard pattern of the lower part of the composition helped us in finding joins with fragments that did not belong to the same group of fragments found last year, but were mixed with other pieces from Hall 64.
Portion of wall-painting fragments were analyzed by means of the portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) equipment of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Athens, Democritos, by Dr. Andreas Karydas. The major objective of this year’s analytical project was to investigate in depth the use and application of different kinds of black and dark brown pigments. Based on analysis from previous years, we suspected that the use of a manganese-based black pigment was restricted to fragments collected from inside the various rooms of the palace, whereas the presence of organic black was restricted to black used on the fragments from area NWS. This hypothesis was not confirmed by this year’s analysis. However, the majority of the fragments examined suggested a clear preference for one or the other kind of black. The organic black only rarely was found on fragments from inside the palace. Only one sample from Room 1 confirmed the use of an organic black (007.10-1), which did not show any affinities with the other fragments collected from that room, but was found inside a box with other small colored pieces. The fragments with black or dark gray areas from inside the megaron that did not display manganese black (pyrolussite) had badly burnt surfaces; the black layer seemed more likely the result of an alteration product rather than an original color (027.02.5, 039.01-6, 038.05-6, 039.04-6).
The analysis of brown areas confirmed the use of umbers containing manganese dioxide as well as hydrous ferric oxide. The degradation pattern of this material after high-temperature burning (the manganese content in particular) should be investigated in order to understand the presence of iron in certain black or dark gray areas. Usually a raw umber with a brown color becomes redder and warmer when heated (the heating changes the ferric hydrate to ferric oxide). However, the hues we analyzed are all brown, dark brown, and black.
Another interesting piece of information from this year’s analysis concerns the brown background from the hunting scene from Room 43, considered by Lang as an alteration product of a green pigment. The detection of both manganese and iron confirmed the use of umber, excluding the possibility of an alteration of a true green pigment (13C43, 19H43). The presence of copper as a minor element may be related to the addition in the brown earth of some particles of Egyptian blue. SEM analysis of the stratigraphic section of a fragment sample will further clarify its exact composition.
Last year’s analysis of the lyre player fragment was completed with the investigation of nine more positions, confirming the presence of Egyptian blue on the rocks and the cloth of the lyre player, as well as the use of an organic pink-violet color, almost invisible to the naked eye.
The analysis of an area that should correspond to the sea on a fragment from the naval scene from Hall 64 also confirmed the presence of copper, suggesting that what today seems gray originally must have been light blue or blue-violet (141.02-64). This is a valuable piece of information for the most accurate reconstruction of the scene. The colors on the fragments from the naval scene have been leached out of the plaster. Therefore, color fading in this case is caused by the action of water and humidity rather than by burning.
Two hundred and fifty lime-based plaster samples 8 x 5 cm each were prepared at the Institute of Nuclear Physics by Eleni Kottoula, under my supervision. The composition of the modern plaster was based on our analysis of the components of ancient plaster from the “Palace of Nestor.” Mineral and organic materials that were identified on the paint layers of the samples from Pylos during the previous years were purchased from Kremer, Germany, by the Wiener Laboratory so that it could be applied on the white plaster surfaces in order to simulate ancient painting techniques. The aim of this experimental project, still in progress, is twofold:
The preliminary results of this experiment may be summarized as follows:
Samples applied with a tempera technique (egg or vegetable gum) :
When samples prepared with a fresco technique or using lime as a binder were fired, the red ochre and the Egyptian blue did not present any significant color alteration, allowing us to confirm the hypothesis that their chromatic alteration was due to the burning of the organic binder and not the chemical or physical modification of the pigment.
Thirty-one more samples were chosen this year in order to:
The discovery two years ago of two fragments from Room 20 (old 4) that join with the so-called “Bull Shoulder” collected in front of the northeast wall of the Throne Room had already raised significant questions about the location of the complex of fragments that include the lyre player and the possible “Bull” representation. Research conducted this year on the entire series of fragments collected from Room 20 confirmed that at least another dozen pieces originally belonged to the same complex as the “Bull.” Not only are the colors and the technique similar to the fragments from the Throne Room, but also the borders on at least three fragments are the same. The removal of the plaster backings from the fragments from Room 20 will allow us to search for new joins to the complex of fragments from the Throne Room during the next session. M. Lang in her palace survey of Room 20 does not mention the existence of any of these fragments. She only records the large quantity of pieces that had fallen, most likely from an upper room decorated similarly to the Inner Propylon, that are sufficiently homogeneous to have belonged together. However, she does mention the existence of one piece of straight-edged and flame-decorated curbing that might come from the curbing in the gallery over the Throne Room hearth (Lang 1969, p. 200). She speculates that large-scale material found in Room 17 originally may have belonged to the southwestern wall of the Throne Room and likely had fallen outward.
The re-examination of the pieces from the Throne Room and their differential state of preservation show a heterogeneity that has to be explained in a convincing way (for example, we should wonder why the badly burnt fragment identified by McCallum as vegetation21 [6NEQ4] was found together with the “Bull Shoulder,” which bears absolutely no traces of burning, and why we should we associate these fragments in the same pictorial complex? [McCallum p. 88 and 199]). As a matter of fact, I do not think that the location of the plaster as it was found during the excavation should be taken as the only valid criterion for the reconstruction of the decoration on a given wall. For instance, the fact that both Lang and McCallum associated the lyre player complex with the “Bull Shoulder” because these fragments come from in front of the northeast wall (quadrant 4) does not seem to be a convincing argument any more, since the two new pieces that join with the “Bull Shoulder” come from Room 20, which suggests that perhaps this complex was located on an upper floor. Further, the association of numerous fragments from Quadrant 4 depicting dapples of various colors (mostly dark brown or black) with the “Bull Shoulder,” proposed by Lang and L. McCallum, needs to be reconsidered. The observation and analysis of these fragments demonstrate that they did not belong to one animal as it has been reconstructed by McCallum (p. 89, 199) and that the difference in the color of the dapples cannot be explained in terms of a chromatic alteration. (Lang suggests that the dapples of the “Bull Shoulder” are now yellowish but they were originally brown and black [Lang 1969, p. 109].) XRF analysis demonstrated that we are here dealing with different pigments (see table with XRF results, 040,07-6, fig. 28). Besides, McCallum's hypthesis that her reconstructed bull had both brown and black dapples (McCalllum p. 89, n. 112) does not seem convincing, not only because of evident stylistic divergences between the various fragments, but also because she needs to explain the yellow color of the dapples on the “Bull Shoulder” as well. Would it have been possible to have a bull with dappling in three colours?
More research needs to be conducted on the fragments from the Throne Room before attempting new reconstructions and interpretations. (R. Robertson already has begun some preliminary reconstructions associating the various fragments of the “bull” or the “bulls” from Room 6; these will be completed next year.) What is certain, however, is that more attention should be given to the color alteration of the fragments, their state of preservation, and their composition, as well as to the chromatic and stylistic aspects of fragments from adjacent rooms. (I only mention here, for instance, the possibility that the damaged fragment 45H6 representing parts of two men in procession to the right belongs to the composition in Room 5.) Besides, careful macroscopic and microscopic observation of the fragments after cleaning their surfaces allowed us to distinguish more patterns that were almost invisible before. One example is the wavy junction of red and white (1M6) considered by Lang as a possible boundary between the scene with lyre player, banquet and bull complex on a “red” background and the heraldic composition of lion and griffin on a “white” background. First of all, the color on the “Bull Shoulder” is not red but purple and therefore is not the same as the brown colour of the lyre player background; second, the “white” part of fragment 1M6 is not white, since it preserves significant traces of green and purple that presumably originally represented floral elements.
Finally, I would like to stress an important remark made by our illustrator, Rosemary Robertson, concerning the reconstruction of the figure of the lyre player, which I find absolutely convincing: on the complex preserving the upper half of the lyre and the bard down to mid-torso, Lang described the existence of five strings stretched to the upper crossbar of the lyre. De Jong based his famous reconstruction on this observation. What made M. Lang believe she recognized five strings, instead of seven, were the traces of five darker lines on the brown background, just below the right circle of the lyre represented as the head of the swan. It is clear, however, as Robertson suggested, that the painted element with the five distinct brushstrokes does not represent the strings of the lyre but the hand of the bard, which was wrongly reconstructed underneath the original part of the composition, as if missing, creating an evident distortion of the body of the lyre player (29-30). A new reconstruction based on this observation will be produced in next year’s session.
More research needs to be conducted on the fragments from the Throne Room before attempting new reconstructions and interpretations. (R. Robertson already has begun some preliminary reconstructions associating the various fragments of the “bull” or the “bulls” from Room 6; these will be completed next year.) What is certain, however, is that more attention should be given to the color alteration of the fragments, their state of preservation, and their composition, as well as to the chromatic and stylistic aspects of fragments from adjacent rooms. (I only mention here, for instance, the possibility that the damaged fragment 45H6 representing parts of two men in procession to the right belongs to the composition in Room 5.) Besides, careful macroscopic and microscopic observation of the fragments after cleaning their surfaces allowed us to distinguish more patterns that were almost invisible before. One example is the wavy junction of red and white (1M6) considered by Lang as a possible boundary between the scene with lyre player, banquet and bull complex on a “red” background and the heraldic composition of lion and griffin on a “white” background. First of all, the color on the “Bull Shoulder” is not red but purple and therefore is not the same as the brown colour of the lyre player background; second, the “white” part of fragment 1M6 is not white, since it preserves significant traces of green and purple that presumably originally represented floral elements.
After the restoration of the ship with the zigzag pattern a first reconstruction was attempted by Robertson. It is possible now to offer a preliminary brief description of the ship, whose depiction is unparalleled in a Mycenaean context, with the hope that more joining fragments will be found next year. The ship’s hull is curved, but not continuously as the other two vessels belonging at the same scene (not yet restored) or the vessels at the Ship Procession in Santorini. A highly unusual pattern decorates the sides of the hull, a dynamic zigzag motif indicating perhaps a kind of strengthening of the ship or a ritual marker; the two other ships of the composition are unadorned. Could this particular decoration of the hull make reference to some early construction, in order to convey a sacred character to the scene? (With the encaustic technique elaborate designs were painted on the hulls of Egyptian ships used for ceremonial occasions during the New Kingdom.) On the hulls of the Santorini ships motifs of lions, dolphins, birds and stylized crocus blooms are depicted.
The rudder on the ship from Hall 64 is represented on the starboard side and has an oar-like shape as in the Santorini vessels, but unlike the shorter blunt blade of LBIII. No helmsman is recognizable, but there are traces of color suggesting a lost part of the original painting. The oars appear to be freestanding; no attachment to the hull is visible. It is difficult to determine whether there is a second rudder on the leeward side of the ship or simply an oar, although only Mycenaean sailing ships seemed to be equipped with two steering oars. No rowers or paddlers are visible. We cannot estimate, at present, the size of the ship, since a large part of the hull and the prow are missing. (Marinatos estimated the size of the Theran ships by counting the number of oarsmen and then estimating the space each would have occupied.) There is no indication of a sail or a mast. The presence of a stern cabin seems plausible, while the depiction of a central awning is confirmed, although there are no traces of human figures inside.