Ins and Outs of the Archives Rooms at Pylos: Form and Function in a Mycenaean Palace T
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Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Faculty Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Research and Scholarship 1985 Ins and Outs of the Archives Rooms at Pylos: Form and Function in a Mycenaean Palace T. G. Palaima James C. Wright Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs Part of the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Custom Citation Palaima, Thomas G., and James C. Wright. 1985. Ins and Outs of the Archives Rooms at Pylos: Form and Function in a Mycenaean Palace. American Journal of Archaeology 89:251-262. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs/48 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ins and Outs of the ArchivesRooms at Pylos: Form and Function in a Mycenaean Palace* THOMAS G. PALAIMA AND JAMES C. WRIGHT Abstract far the largest number of Linear B tablets that has ever been discovered in a cor- In this article we examine archaeological and epi- single location.1 Blegen graphical evidence pertaining to the architecturalrecon- rectly referred to the two rooms as the Archives Com- struction of the Archives Rooms in the Palace of Nestor plex, and in fact they may have contained the only at Pylos, with the aim of understandinghow the rooms fit genuine archives of Linear B documents that have yet into the total architecturallayout of the palace and how been found.2 their obvious the recordswithin them relate to scribal and work activ- Despite importance, the nature and function of these rooms have ity in and around the palace. We reconstructtwo exter- precise never nal doors into the Archives Complex, a primary door in been studied in detail. We do not know how these ar- the inner room and a secondary door in the outer one. chives fit into the general scheme of scribal activity in This suggested reconstruction best accommodates the the palace, nor is it clear how the roomsthemselves fit discernible of scribal conditioned patterns activity by ar- into the total architecturallayout, which must have chitecturalmodifications to the overall palace plan in late LH IIIB. Our reconstructionalso suits the function of determined the patterns of scribal and other work. the Archives Rooms as the central focus of record-keep- How did the scribes use these two rooms? How did ing activity in the palace. their work there relate to their activitieselsewhere in the palace? What do the placement and plan of the While excavating under the direction of Carl W. Archives Complex (hereafter AC) reveal about the Blegen in 1939 at the site of Ano Englianos, William architecturalconception of the palace and its overall A. McDonald discovered the first Linear B tablets on system of organization? the mainland of Greece in a two-room complex that, We ask these specific questions in the hope that by through excavation in the years 1952-1964, was answering them we may gain insights into the func- found to be in a prominent and central location at the tion of the whole palace as well as of its many separate major southeastern entrance to the Palace of Nestor parts. Such an attempt requires coordinatinganalysis (ill. 2: Rooms 7-8). This two-room suite yielded by of the written documentswith that of the architectural * The authors wish to thank Mabel L. Lang and Cynthia Shel- PTT 1, 2: E.L. Bennett, Jr. and J.-P. Olivier, The Pylos Tablets merdine for participating with them in an open seminar at Bryn Transcribed, Parts 1 and 2 (Rome 1973 and 1976). Mawr College in March 1982, during which the problems ad- Reference will be made to excavation notebooks by name (year) dressed in this article were first considered. Thanks are also owed and page number. Room numbers are those appearing on the gen- to the University of Cincinnati Archaeological Excavations and E. eral site plan (ill. 2). Reference to findspots of tablets from the Ar- Tucker Blackburn for making microfilm copies of the original ex- chives Complex is according to the grid in ill. 6, in which the Ar- cavation notebooks available to Palaima, who wishes to acknow- chives Complex is divided into 1 m. squares. Within each meter ledge also the characteristically generous assistance of Emmett L. square a 10 cm. grid with the same system of numeration and the same Bennett, Jr. Ingo Pini kindly shared with us the latest information orientation should be understood. Location is then designated m. and 10 cm. thus: on Linear A sealings. The completion of this study would not have by 1 square (bold) square (plain), 1333, 6483, etc. See PTT 2.23. All illustrations are been possible without the help of an Alexander von Humboldt fel- by Wright. Of the more fully preserved tablets from Pylos, 767 were found lowship (Wright) held at the Archaeological Seminar of the Phil- in or obviously displaced from Rooms 7 And 8. In contrast, Myce- ipps University, Marburg, and sponsored by Professor Bernard nae, Thebes and Tiryns together have produced fewer than 150 Andreae, and an ACLS fellowship for postdoctoral research at the inscribed tablets, and the two possible archives complexes at Knos- Institute for Research in the Humanities of the University of Wis- sos contained only 293 (Bureau C) and 261 (Bureau I) respectively. consin (Palaima). Bruce Redford and Cynthia Shelmerdine helped A detailed statistical breakdown of the number and types of Linear greatly in the revision of this text for publication. B inscriptions at different sites is given by A. Bartonak, "The Lin- The abbreviations used in the footnotes are those in given AJA ear B Series and Their Quantitative Evaluation," Res Mycenaeae 82 (1978) 3-10 with the following additions: (Akten des VII. internationalen mykenologischen Colloquium in MT 2: E.L. The Tablets Bennett, Jr., Mycenae 2 (TAPS n.s. Nuirnberg vom 6.-10. April 1981, Gittingen 1983) 15-27. 48:1, 1958). 2 For a discussion of the use of the term "archives," see M. de PCA: C.W. Shelmerdine and T.G. Palaima eds., Pylos Jong Ellis, "Correlation of Archaeological and Written Evidence Comes Alive: and Administration in a Industry My- for the Study of Mesopotamian Institutions and Chronology," AJA cenaean Palace (New York 1984). 87 (1983) 497, n. 2, and 499. The special characteristics of Linear PN: C.W. Blegen and M. Rawson, The Palace of Nestor at B archives are discussed by J.-P. Olivier, "Administrations at Pylos in Western Messenia 1 (Princeton 1966). Knossos and Pylos: What Differences?" PCA 15-17. 251 American Journal of Archaeology 89 (1985) 252 THOMAS G. PALAIMA AND JAMES C. WRIGHT [AJA 89 * * 8 2 8 2 7 1 7 1 ar Ib a b Ill. 1. a) Pylos, Archives Complex as restoredby Blegen;b) Restorationsuggested by Palaima and Wright organization of the palace. In doing so we consider ords."3 The exterior room, according to Blegen, was three questions: 1. Did Mycenaean scribes and work- entered from outside the palace, before one passed ers move through the Palace of Nestor in definite, dis- through the gateway of the outer Propylon (ill. la: cernible patterns? 2. Was the work of scribes inside doorway between Areas 1 and 2). The AC as exca- the AC significantly different from their work outside vated, however, was incomplete (ill. 2); the surround- in the workshops and storerooms of the palace? 3. ing walls of Rooms 7 and 8 had been robbed out, per- How were daily activities in different parts of the pal- haps in .the late seventeenth century when the founda- ace related? Insofar as we can provide answers to tions were mined for stone-as dated by a coin of the these questions, we are able to explain the design and last Doge of Venice found in the eastern robbers' purpose of individual parts of the palace and ulti- trench, dubbed by Blegen "the Chasm."4 Thus the ex- mately to consider how this information reflects on the cavators had to rely on inference in restoring an outer organization, function and role of palatial complexes door directly into Room 7. Blegen noticed that the in Mycenaean economy and society. sentry stand of the southern Propylon (within Area 1) is located on the left side of the gate, whereas the other The Archives Rooms at Pylos are especially suit- two stands in the palace (within Areas 4 and 5) are set able for this kind of study because, while they form a to the right of their respective doorways. Blegen ex- simple architectural unit, they nevertheless provide plained the anomalous position of the stand in the abundant information about their plan and use. Two southern gate by suggesting that it was deliberately main types of evidence show how they were integrated placed between two doorways, that of the Propylon into the palace as a whole: 1) the architectural ar- and the hypothetical door into Archives Room 7. By rangement of the two-room suite and of comparable this arrangement the sentry "could control those en- units within the Palace of Nestor; 2) the Linear B tab- tering what may have been a treasury office as well as lets and the evidence they yield about scribal activity those going straight on into the palace."' and movement. Additional evidence in support of Blegen's recon- We begin by re-examining the evidence for Ble- struction is lacking.6 During the course of excavation, gen's reconstruction of the rooms.