Jack L. Davis - Böcker

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.Although the Mycenaean civilization of the Greek Bronze Age was identified 150 years ago, its origins remain obscure. Jack L. Davis, codirector of excavations at the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, takes readers on a tour of the beginnings of Mycenaean civilization through a case study of this important site. In collaboration with codirector Sharon R. Stocker, Davis demonstrates that this ancient place was a major node for the exchange of ideas between the already established Minoan civilization, centered on the island of Crete, and the residents of the Greek mainland. Davis and Stocker show how adoption of Minoan culture created an ideology of power focused on a single individual, celebrating his military prowess, investing him with divine authority, and creating a figure instantly recognizable to readers of Homer and students of Greek history. A Greek State in Formation makes the powerful case that a knowledge of the Greek Bronze Age is indispensable to the classics curriculum.

This innovative study of the southwestern Peloponnese or Morea combines the study of unpublished Ottoman documents, other historical sources, and the results of archaeological fieldwork to explore the historical and economic geography of a particular region of Greece in the early 18th century, the period immediately following the Ottoman reconquest of this region from Venice. Central to the book is a translation of the section of an Ottoman cadastral survey (defter) listing in great detail properties in the district (kaza) of Anavarin (Navarino, modern Pylos). An introductory chapter outlines the history and methodology of the research project, while the translation is followed by chapters that provide a broader context, drawing on other sources for the information contained in the document and the principles behind its composition. A final chapter summarizes the conclusions drawn from the research, and a series of appendixes offer additional detail, including concordances of the personal- and place-names, an index of properties described, narrative histories of the two fortresses in the region, and a new English translation of the Anavarin section of the 17th-century Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi's Travel Book (Seyahatname). A facsimile of the document itself and color versions of all illustrations are provided as online supplements.

Despite growing interest, the archaeology of the so-called Post-Byzantine era in Greece remains a poor cousin of classical studies. The 13 papers in this volume survey the different regions of Greece from an archaeological as well as a documentary perspective, attempting to reveal common themes in the development of landscapes and sites between 1500 and 1800. There is a particular focus on the contrasting patterns of land use in Venetian and Ottoman Greece, and the effect on ethnic identity of population movements.

In spring 1939, as the prospect of war loomed, a joint Greek-American archaeological expedition began excavation on the hill of Epano Englianos, high above the modern town of Pylos in southwest Greece. Almost immediately more than 600 tablets bearing inscriptions in Linear B script were uncovered, as well as stone walls, fragments of frescoes, and stucco floors. The discoveries were kept secret during the war years and it was only in 1952 that the project could return to uncover, over 15 seasons, the Mycenaean building now know as the Palace of Nestor. This beautifully illustrated colour guide surveys the buildings and objects discovered and reconstructs life in the citadel and its associated tombs. It also describes the surrounding landscape, using evidence uncovered by the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project which surveyed the wider area around the palace between 1992 and 1995.

This book traces the archaeological history of Pylos and surrounding regions in Messenia from the Palaeolithic to the present. Designed as much for general readers and travelers interested in ancient Greece as for scholars, the volume presents the findings of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (PRAP), which has intensively studied the region over the past 15 years. The 1998 edition, originally published by the University of Texas Press and widely used as a textbook in undergraduate classes, is reprinted with a new preface assessing PRAP's impact and outlining new discoveries in the region.

This volume represents the product of 25 years of study conducted by the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, a multidisciplinary, diachronic archaeological expedition formally organized in 1990 to investigate the history of prehistoric and historic settlement in western Messenia in Greece. An introduction, setting the project in context, and an extensive gazetteer of sites precede a collection of eight previously published articles, which appeared in Hesperia, the journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, between 1997 and 2010. Taken together, these contributions document a comprehensive methodological approach by an archaeological project that was one of the first to incorporate new technologies such as digital mapping tools and online databases. The results of such a long-term and multifaceted research program illuminate the shifting relationships between humans, their landscapes, and historical forces, both local and distant. The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project: A Retrospective provides an invaluable resource not only for those interested in the history and development of southwestern Greece but also for researchers interested in exploring the full range of methodological approaches to archaeological survey.

Carl Blegen is the most famous American archaeologist ever to work in Greece, and no American has ever had a greater impact on Greek archaeology. Yet Blegen, unlike several others of his generation, has found no biographer. In part, the explanation for this must lie in the fact that his life was so multifaceted: not only was he instrumental in creating the field of Aegean prehistory, but Blegen, his wife and their best friends, the Hills ('the family'), were also significant forces in the social and intellectual community of Athens. Authors who have contributed to this book have each researched one aspect of Blegen's life, drawing on copious documentation in the United States, England and Greece. The result is a biography that sets Blegen and his closest colleagues in the social and academic milieu that gave rise to the discipline of classical archaeology in Greece.