In spring 1939, as the prospect of war loomed, a joint Greek-American archaeological expedition began excavation on the hill of Epano Englianos, high above the modern town of Pylos in southwest Greece. Almost immediately more than 600 tablets bearing inscriptions in Linear B script were uncovered, as well as stone walls, fragments of frescoes, and stucco floors. The discoveries were kept secret during the war years and it was only in 1952 that the project could return to uncover, over 15 seasons, the Mycenaean building now know as the Palace of Nestor. This beautifully illustrated color guide surveys the buildings and objects discovered and reconstructs life in the citadel and its associated tombs. It also describes the surrounding landscape, using evidence uncovered by the Pylos Regional Archaeology Project which surveyed the wider area around the palace between 1992 and 1995.

"Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600 BC? c. 1100 BC) was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important sites of this period. The last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, it is the historical setting of much ancient Greek literature and myth, including the epics of Homer."--Wikipedia.

The physical evidence shows that Bronze Age highways were more important in helping to bind regions together than in promoting long distance overland communications.

This study presents the material assemblage of the Neolithic and Early Helladic strata from the excavations at Ayios Dhimitrios, ancient Triphylia in the SW Peloponnese, Greece. One aim of the work is to determine whether and to what extent the finds from Ayios Dhimitrios can first contribute to the building of the missing chronological and cultural bridges connecting western Peloponnese with other areas where similar cultures are identified, and second, furnish the missing evidence that would enable one to conclude that western Peloponnese was not left outside the cultural evolution of the adjacent northern areas, but was involved in and contributed to this evolution. A further goal is to try to identify which cultural subsystems are reflected in the archaeological assemblages of the various chronological stages represented at Ayios Dhimitrios, and whether or not these subsystems or cultural phenomena, like subsistence economy and technology, are in agreement with the corresponding phenomena observed at other sites, where the same artifacts occur. Chapter two gives a description of the site and a short history of the previous investigations into the prehistory of Triphylia. Chapter three deals with the deposits and the pottery of Period I (LN II) at the site. Chapter three also provides a discussion and catalogue of selected small finds found within the Neolithic deposit. In chapter four an attempt is made to relate Period I of Ayios Dhimitrios to contemporary sites in the Peloponnese, and to fix its position within the Peloponnesian sequence, and the sequence of mainland Greece, the Balkans and the Aegean. Chapter five summarizes the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the site. Chapter six begins with a description of the deposits of Period II (EH) and the architectural remains of both phases of this period. The pottery of both phases is subsequently discussed. Chapter six also deals with tools and implements of Period II. Chapter seven correlates the material assemblage from both phases with material from western Peloponnesian and Ionian Sea sites, and also with sites of the rest of the Peloponnese and beyond. Chapter eight deals with conclusions regarding the dimension of the site, its population and economy, and the settlement patterns of the region. There are appendices from Christina Rushe and Paul Halstead on faunal remains, and one from Antikleia Moudrea-Agrafioti on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age flaked stone industries.