Carl Blegen (1887 - 1971)

• american, came from financially modest academic family from Minneapolis
• BA in Classics 1910, PhD in 1920 after war.
• assistant director of ASCS 1920-26, prof at Cincinnati 1927 - 57
• dug at Athens 1911 - 1913, Zygouries, Korakou
• dug at ordinary villages, didn’t have an obsession or fixation, just wanted to know how the ancients lived
• basically changed what archaeology is because not looking for fame and glory: had great love for the past and understanding it
• different goals means that methods are different and he advances archaeology into the modern era
• For Blegen, everything is important; got much better overall picture of site
• 3 very important principles: 1) stratigraphy, 2) pottery, 3) recording in situ

Korakou (ordinary village)

• Alan Wace collaborated with Blegen on pottery and excavations
• was able to find chronology of Bronze age on mainland, and divided it into 3 eras: Early Helladic (3000 - 2000), Middle Helladic (2000 - 1550), Late Helladic (1550 - 1100).
• each level has own specific type of pottery from pottery, decided that mainland and Crete different cultures
• thought that Minoans influenced mainland (shaft grave period), but later mainland dominant, not Crete
• is a village in the Nicosia District of Cyprus. The hamlet of Agroladou is part of the municipality. 

Troy (problems with Schliemann)

• Blegen dug between 1932-38
• showed that there were actually around 9 settlements and the 9 levels could be subdivided into 49 other levels
• found that Troy I -V: 1000 years, continuity. Great traders. Evidence for textile industry, animals like sheep
• Troy VI: different. Great fortification walls. Minyan pottery - maybe new people from Asia Minor to Greece.
• Troy VI: Schliemann’s Troy. Fits Homer’s description but great walls shifted...what caused it?
• Troy VIIa: messy shacks, packed along walls, lots of one-roomed huts... in a hurry to rebuild?
• still had many questions after excavations: What was the relationship between mainland and Crete? Were both cultures the same? Who were the mainlanders - were they Greek? What language did they speak?
• needed more proof and this site prompted him to look for Nestor's palace

Troy VI (Schliemann's Troy)

• Blegen dug between 1932-38
• showed that there were actually around 9 settlements and the 9 levels could be subdivided into 49 other levels
• found that Troy I -V: 1000 years, continuity. Great traders. Evidence for textile industry, animals like sheep
• Troy VI: different. Great fortification walls. Minyan pottery - maybe new people from Asia Minor to Greece.
• Troy VI: Schliemann’s Troy. Fits Homer’s description but great walls shifted...what caused it?
• Troy VIIa: messy shacks, packed along walls, lots of one-roomed huts... in a hurry to rebuild?
• still had many questions after excavations: What was the relationship between mainland and Crete? Were both cultures the same? Who were the mainlanders - were they Greek? What language did they speak?
• needed more proof and this site prompted him to look for Nestor's palace

Troy VIIa (Homeric Troy)

• Blegen dug between 1932-38
• showed that there were actually around 9 settlements and the 9 levels could be subdivided into 49 other levels
• found that Troy I -V: 1000 years, continuity. Great traders. Evidence for textile industry, animals like sheep
• Troy VI: different. Great fortification walls. Minyan pottery - maybe new people from Asia Minor to Greece.
• Troy VI: Schliemann’s Troy. Fits Homer’s description but great walls shifted...what caused it?
• Troy VIIa: messy shacks, packed along walls, lots of one-roomed huts... in a hurry to rebuild?
• still had many questions after excavations: What was the relationship between mainland and Crete? Were both cultures the same? Who were the mainlanders - were they Greek? What language did they speak?
• needed more proof and this site prompted him to look for Nestor's palace
• late Helladic period and found pottery and bronze consistent with Homer's accounts
• Blegen deduced from pottery that this was Priam's Troy and that Schliemann had been wrong all along, but if he had of kept the pottery and used it to date the sites he would have known this.

Pylos (search for Nestor's palace)

• questions about the relationship between mainland and Crete prompted Blegen to search for Nestor's palace.
• turned to Homer again to search for Nestor’s palace, which was known to be in South Western Greece but the site was “lost” after Trojan war
• Dorpfeld in 1907 found 3 tholos tombs at Kakovatos and many thought this was Pylos, but between 1912 - 1926 more tombs around Bay of Navarino
• 1939,  decided to look for site, did a field survey and thought that Ano Englianos hill was where a king, would have liked to live
• Dig began Apr. 4 1939, and knew he had palace right away on first day, because found 600 linear B tablets (Evans’ old Class B) so mainlanders literate after all!
• many tablets found at Knossos but were still unpublished because Evans was still working on them and maybe mainlanders were the same as the Minoans.

Pylos (archive room 1939)

• found Linear B tablets baked into the ground from a fire dated c. 1200
• linear A is minoan language and ends at 1450 after which linear B (Greek) emerges and linear A is not found on mainland, whereas linear B is found on both (mainland and Crete)
• Linear B consisted of both pictures and symbols
• Pylos tablet: records distribution of cow, pig and deer hides to shoe and saddle makers like census: palace knew everything about everyone but no real history on the tablets

Nestor's Palace (view of Megaron)

• built in the 1400 c., destroyed in the 1200 c.
• the unfortified palace consisted of two-storied buildings arranged in three main blocks: the main building with a megaron hall (containing the throne), propylon, archives (with hundreds of clay tablets preserved), magazines and private chambers.
• The SW and NE blocks contained workshops, storerooms and private chambers.
• Tholos tombs and a lower town are associated with the palace.
• had 2 megarons, the Queen's (with on suite bathroom) and the regular megaron.
• If Knossos had conquered mainland, then would be Minoan, but odd thing is that Pylos outlasted Knossos by 200 years. Knossos destroyed 1450, but Pylos only 1200 so how could Minoans be ruling then? Blegen turned things around: by 1450 mainland ruled Knossos and things became different after 1450, because of a new people shows shift in power which is important in showing how theories evolved.

Nestor's Palace (back view, Great Hall)

• built in the 1400 c., destroyed in the 1200 c.
• the unfortified palace consisted of two-storied buildings arranged in three main blocks: the main building with a megaron hall (containing the throne), propylon, archives (with hundreds of clay tablets preserved), magazines and private chambers.
• The SW and NE blocks contained workshops, storerooms and private chambers.
• Tholos tombs and a lower town are associated with the palace.
• had 2 megarons, the Queen's (with on suite bathroom) and the regular megaron.
• If Knossos had conquered mainland, then would be Minoan, but odd thing is that Pylos outlasted Knossos by 200 years. Knossos destroyed 1450, but Pylos only 1200 so how could Minoans be ruling then? Blegen turned things around: by 1450 mainland ruled Knossos and things became different after 1450, because of a new people shows shift in power which is important in showing how theories evolved.

Pylos Palace (floor plan)

• built in the 1400 c., destroyed in the 1200 c.
• the unfortified palace consisted of two-storied buildings arranged in three main blocks: the main building with a megaron hall (containing the throne), propylon, archives (with hundreds of clay tablets preserved), magazines and private chambers.
• The SW and NE blocks contained workshops, storerooms and private chambers.
• Tholos tombs and a lower town are associated with the palace.
• had 2 megarons, the Queen's (with on suite bathroom) and the regular megaron.
• If Knossos had conquered mainland, then would be Minoan, but odd thing is that Pylos outlasted Knossos by 200 years. Knossos destroyed 1450, but Pylos only 1200 so how could Minoans be ruling then? Blegen turned things around: by 1450 mainland ruled Knossos and things became different after 1450, because of a new people shows shift in power which is important in showing how theories evolved. 

Linear A Tablets

• developed form of hieroglyphics, like cursive developed at 1800 - 1700, used until 1450 (used at same time as hieroglyphics until it got phased out)
• found on Crete islands, but not mainland trade with islands, but affects Evan’s theories of Minoan domination of mainland ideograms; c. 100 signs, some in groups, so syllables
• evolved from gems which had little pictures (hieroglyphics) that represented objects c. 2000 - 1650
• not deciphered seals (gems) clumsy, small so used clay tablets not deciphered, but were lists of inventory palace bureaucracy: no general literacy
• gave way to Linear B
• almost all found at Knossos and the main palaces on the mainland. Date of Knossos tablets are a big problem (either 1400 or 1200) same script on mainland and Crete (no advances over 200 years)

Linear B Tablets

• ideograms and signs that are almost all found at Knossos and the main palaces on the mainland. Date of Knossos tablets are a big problem (either 1400 or 1200) same script on mainland and Crete (no advances over 200 years) 
• are accounts of palace storerooms, Pylos tablet: records distribution of cow, pig and deer hides to shoe and saddle makers, like census: palace knew everything about everyone, but no real history on the tablets
• Evans published Scripta Minoa (1909) but only hieroglyphics, by 1920 only 120 examples of A and B published by Evans Sir John Myres published Scripta Minoa II using Evans work
• Pylos texts published 1951 Wace also found Linear B at Mycenae which means possibly Minoan scribes on mainland
• Dr. Alice Kober did much work on grammer of Linear B, but died 1951 without finishing work.
• Michael Ventris heard Evans at 14 , and studied architecture, but war intervened, and became fascinated by codes so studied Linear B just for fun. Looked for patterns between Knossos, Tylissos, etc, and went on air in 1952 on BBC radio announcement that Linear B was ancient Greek, which was a monumental implications

Michael Ventris (1922)

• Heard Evans at 14
• military school in Switzerland, Poland, etc and studied architecture, but war intervened
• served as a navigator on bombing missions, which provoked a fascination with codes
• studied Linear B just for fun and looked for patterns between Knossos, Tylissos, etc
• in 1952 on BBC radio announcement that Linear B was ancient Greek which was a monumental implications 

Athenian Alphabet or Dipylon Jug (740 BCE)

• wine jug with script surrounding neck letters scratched into pot, not painted
• whole different way of writing
• monumental discovery with monumental implications
• prize for a dancing competition filled with oil found at Athens

Eleusis Cup