You are invited to an online lecture on Thursday November 13, 2025 at 19.00 pm (Greek time) 17.00 pm (Ireland time), 12.00 pm (Standard Eastern Time) by Dr Shannon LaFayette Hogue on ‘Floor Plaster Production Technologies in the Palace of Nestor at Pylos’.

Abstract: During the 1953 season, while supervising an excavation area in the Main Building of the Late Helladic IIIB Palace of Nestor at Pylos, Marion Rawson encountered substantial evidence of an upper floor collapse. Her documentation of the collapse contexts and collection of the plaster floor fragments that fell from the upper story form the basis for my new analysis of floor plaster production technologies at Pylos. This paper begins with a tour of the Main Building rooms whose excavation Rawson oversaw in 1953 and illustrates her remarkably consistent recording practices regarding the upper floor collapse. It turns then to observations regarding the floor plaster fragments, which on the surface presented a standardized appearance as polished, white pavements. Macroscopic fabric analysis, however, reveals that their internal fabric composition varied. Examples are presented to illustrate how certain fabric variations in the floor plaster indicate different choices made during the plaster production process. Rawson’s instincts to record and retain plain floor plaster yielded a body of evidence that is now contributing

Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/DxRTPO-xQAq503gk3NrtEg