The Pylos Digital Tablets Project

This project, co-directed by Dimitri Nakassis (ñ) 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 thePalace of NestorIV 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 ñ and the at UT Austin.This research is affiliated with the and has been possible thanks to the kind permission of the Greek and the .

Cover of "The Palace of Nestor" volume IV

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.
  • 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.

Publications

  2. J. Hruby and D. Nakassis. 2024. “Reduce, reuse, recycle? The clay of the Pylos tablets,” in KO-RO-NO-WE-SA: Proceedings of the 15th international colloquium on Mycenaean studies, September 2021 (Ariadne: The Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Crete Supplement Series 5),ed. J. Bennet, A. Karnava and T. Meißner (Rethymnon: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Crete) 545–559.
  3. D. Nakassis, K. Pluta, and J. Hruby. 2021.“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) 161–171.
  4. D. Nakassisand K. Pluta. 2017.“Vorsprung durch Technik: Imaging the Linear B Tablets from Pylos,” inAegean Scripts. Proceedings of the 14th International 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.
  5. D. Nakassisand K. Pluta. 2017.“The Linear B Tablets from Pylos,” inOdysseys, ed. M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakou (Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund) 91-96. [=D. Nakassis and K. Pluta (2016) “Οι πινακίδες της Γραμμικής Β Γραφής της Πύλου,” in Οδύσσειες, ed. Μ. Λαγογιάννη-Γεωργακαράκου (Αθήνα - Ταμείο Αρχαιολογικών Πόρων και Απαλλοτριώσεων) 91-96.]

Academic Lectures

  1. B.B. Wilemon, Jr., M. Galaty, and D. Nakassis (2020)“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)“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)“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)“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)“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 21stcentury,” Niagara Society of the AIA, 17 November

Blog posts and media

  1. (08.16.2013)
  2. (08.19.2013)
  3. (9.26.2013)
  4. ñ (10.17.2018)
  5. (10.09.2025)