The Pylos Digital Tablets Project

This project, co-directed by Dimitri Nakassis (做厙輦⑹) 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泭Palace of Nestor泭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 CU Boulder and the at UT Austin.泭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)泭The Pylos Tablets Digital Project: Aegean scripts in the 21st century, in New Approaches to Ancient Material Culture in the Greek & Roman World (Monumenta Graeca et Romana 27), ed. C.L. Cooper (Leiden: Brill) 161171.
  2. D. Nakassis泭and K. Pluta (2017)泭Vorsprung durch Technik:泭 Imaging the Linear B Tablets from Pylos, in泭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泭and K. Pluta (2017)泭The Linear B Tablets from Pylos, in泭Odysseys, ed. M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakou (Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund) 91-96. [=D. Nakassis and K. Pluta (2016) 庣 庣彖帢庥巹帤庰 庢 帢弮弮庣庥峸 帢峸 庢 弇怷, in 帤庰庣庰, ed. . 帢帠怷帠庣峎彖彖庢-庰帠帢庥帢峎庥怷 (庛峸彖帢 - 峇帢弮庰巹怷 帢庣怷弇怷帠庣庥彖 彖 庥帢庣 帢弇弇怷庣庰彖) 91-96.]

Academic Lectures

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

Blog posts and media

  1. (08.16.2013)
  2. (08.19.2013)
  3. (9.26.2013)
  4. 做厙輦⑹ (10.17.2018)