The Pylos Digital Tablets Project

This project, co-directed by Dimitri Nakassis (精品SM在线影片) and Kevin Pluta (University of Texas at Austin), aims to document the administrative texts from the Mycenaean "Palace of Nestor" in southwestern Greece, as a continuation of the听Palace of Nestor听IV project initiated by Emmett Bennett, Jr. In addition to traditional methods for documenting the tablets we are also using new digital technologies. This project began in the summer of 2013 in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens; research in ongoing at 精品SM在线影片 and the at UT Austin.听This research is affiliated with the and has been possible thanks to the kind permission of the Greek and the .

The project has made use of the following analyses:

  • Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI): all inscribed surfaces have been photographed by Kevin Pluta and Dimitri Nakassis in order to produce polynomial texture maps (PTMs). The photographs are currently being processed to produce PTMs.
  • Line drawings: Yannis Nakas has made traditional line drawings of the inscribed documents. These are currently being checked by Tom Palaima and Cassandra Donnelly.
  • Three-dimensional scanning unding structured light scanners, by Benjamin Rennison and James Newhard.
  • Macroscopic analysis of the clay fabric of all documents, by Julie Hruby and Joann Gulizio.
  • X-Ray Fluorescence analysis of all documents, by Billy Wilemon.


Visualization of the surface normals of Pylos Cn 655.9

Publications

  1. D. Nakassis, K. Pluta, and J. Hruby (2021)听鈥淭he Pylos Tablets Digital Project: Aegean scripts in the 21st century,鈥 in New Approaches to Ancient Material Culture in the Greek & Roman World (Monumenta Graeca et Romana 27), ed. C.L. Cooper (Leiden: Brill) 161鈥171.
  2. D. Nakassis听and K. Pluta (2017)听鈥Vorsprung durch Technik:听 Imaging the Linear B Tablets from Pylos,鈥 in听Aegean Scripts. Proceedings of the 14thInternational Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies. Copenhagen, 2-5 September 2015, ed. M.-L. Nosch and H. Landenius Enegren (Roma: Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico) 285-298.
  3. D. Nakassis听and K. Pluta (2017)听鈥淭he Linear B Tablets from Pylos,鈥 in听Odysseys, ed. M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakou (Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund) 91-96. [=D. Nakassis and K. Pluta (2016) 鈥溛熚 蟺喂谓伪魏委未蔚蟼 蟿畏蟼 螕蟻伪渭渭喂魏萎蟼 螔 螕蟻伪蠁萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 螤蠉位慰蠀,鈥 in 螣未蠉蟽蟽蔚喂蔚蟼, ed. 螠. 螞伪纬慰纬喂维谓谓畏-螕蔚蠅蟻纬伪魏伪蟻维魏慰蠀 (螒胃萎谓伪 - 韦伪渭蔚委慰 螒蟻蠂伪喂慰位慰纬喂魏蠋谓 螤蠈蟻蠅谓 魏伪喂 螒蟺伪位位慰蟿蟻喂蠋蟽蔚蠅谓) 91-96.]

Academic Lectures

  1. B.B. Wilemon, Jr., M. Galaty, and D. Nakassis (2020)听鈥淧ortable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer Analysis of the Pylos Linear B Tablets,鈥 AIA, Washington, DC, 3 January
  2. D. Nakassis (2016) 鈥淰orsprung durch Technik: digital technologies, archaeology, and the future of Aegean scripts, Aegean Seminar, University of Zagreb, 5 April
  3. D. Nakassis (2016)听鈥淒igital Nestor: Aegean scripts in the 21st century,鈥 Mycenaean Seminar, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, 17 February
  4. Z. Bartholomew, J. Newhard, N. Levine, K. Pluta, and D. Nakassis (2015)听鈥淭he Development of a Legacy GIS for the Contextualization of the Linear B Deposits from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos,鈥 AIA, New Orleans, 9 January [poster]
  5. D. Nakassis and K. Pluta (2014)听鈥淒igital imaging of the Linear B tablets from the 鈥淧alace of Nestor,鈥 AIA, Chicago, 3 January
  6. J. Baxley, B. Rennison, J. Newhard, K. Pluta, and D. Nakassis (2014)听鈥淭he Use of Structured Light Scanning for the Study of the Linear B Deposits from Pylos, Messenia, Greece,鈥 AIA, Chicago, 3 January [poster]
  7. D. Nakassis (2013) 鈥淒igitizing prehistory: Aegean script in the 21st听century,鈥 Niagara Society of the AIA, 17 November

Blog posts and media

  1. (08.16.2013)
  2. (08.19.2013)
  3. (9.26.2013)
  4. 精品SM在线影片 (10.17.2018)