(Social) Place and Space in Early Mycenaean Greece, pp. 185-192, 2021/05/25
International Discussions in Mycenaean Archaeology
October 5–8, 2016, Athens
Excavations at Pylos by Carl Blegen and Marion Rawson produced a vast corpus of wall painting fragmentsbelonging to the final phase of decoration at the so-called Palace of Nestor. The simultaneous discovery of depositsof painted plaster in extramural dumps and intramural construction debris, however, indicated the existence of earlierdecorative programmes at the site. The date of such prior programmes has long been a subject of debate. We can nowbegin to resolve this issue using new information provided by the recent shelter excavations at Pylos, which brought tolight painted plaster fragments in deposits of early Mycenaean date. These fragments, which feature monochrome aswell as abstract and figural decoration, help to refine our understanding of the early stylistic, iconographic, and technologicaldevelopment of wall painting on the Greek mainland. This paper presents an overview of the newly uncoveredearly material and offers preliminary observations about its character in comparison with concurrent developmentselsewhere in prehistoric Greece.
Keywords: Palace of Nestor, Pylos, wall painting, early Mycenaean, bird
