Join us this Thursday, August 31, 2023, for a LUNCH (12:00-1:30pm) meeting at The Phoenix, for a presentation by Sharon Stocker and Jack Davis, University of Cincinnati Archaeology.
New University of Cincinnati Archaeological Excavations at the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor in Greece
The University of Cincinnati archaeological excavations at Pylos resumed in 2015 for the first time since 1969, when Carl Blegen, discoverer of the Palace of Nestor, the best preserved of all Bronze Age palaces on the Greek mainland, suspended his campaigns two years before his death. Blegen had been one of a core group of archaeologists, who, in the early 20th century, shaped the field of Greek archaeology, as it developed after Heinrich Schliemann’s discoveries at Mycenae in the 1880s. Blegen recognized Homeric overtones in his discoveries. Indeed, it was the text of the Odyssey that led him to the area of Pylos in southern Greece in the first place. The reexamination of Blegen’s own finds in the 1990s produced new results that are in part reminiscent of practices described by Homer, including the first evidence for burnt animal sacrifice found in a Mycenaean palace. Finds from the new excavations since 2015 have yielded abundant new information that sheds light on the period in the 15th c. B.C., when the Mycenaean Bronze Age civilization was being created on the Greek mainland as a result of intense interaction with the older Minoan civilization of Crete. During the course of the first campaign in 2015, the so-called grave of the “Griffin Warrior” was discovered a few hundred meters from the Palace. Other discoveries from this important grave suggest that myths and legends of the sort incorporated in the Homeric poems were already in circulation at the dawn of the Mycenaean civilization. Most recently, they are in the course of excavating two enormous Mycenaean beehive-shaped tombs discovered near the Palace of Nestor in 2018.
Sharon Stocker received her doctorate in Greek prehistory from the University of Cincinnati, where she is currently employed as a Senior Research Associate. She manages the university’s excavations at the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, Greece and is co-director of the current Cincinnati excavations there. In addition to Pylos, she has directed archaeological projects in Albania. Along with archaeology, Sharon has a passion for boating. She spends most of the year in Pylos with her cat, Nestor.
Jack Davis received his doctorate in Greek prehistory from the University of Cincinnati, where he is currently employed as Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology. Jack is co-director of the current Cincinnati excavations. In addition to the Palace of Nestor excavations, Jack has directed archaeological projects at Nemea in Greece and in Albania. Jack spends as much time in Greece as possible.
RSVPs are required to attend, whether you are eating lunch or not, so if you would like to attend, please click HERE by 5:00 p.m., Friday, August 25, 2023, or contact [email protected].
This week we will serve a Classic Buffet including The Phoenix Salad, Garden Vegetable Soup, Farm Raised Salmon, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Potato Puree and Seasonal Vegetables.
