Participants

Messenia, as it appears in early traveler's descriptive accounts and later is depicted on various engravings, influenced and gradually increased the interest of an international array of scholars. As a result, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries found Messenia to be rich in historical and archaeological evidence as numerous researches were carried out by individual scholars and members of interdisciplinary projects.

Pylos, one of the four modern Messenian districts and the most picturesque due to its unique landscape and because of its diachronic presence - from the time of Homer's Nestor up to the present - early on received special attention. Heinrich Schliemann was the first visitor to the Nestor's cave in 1874 and in 1888 he conducted "spade research" at Palaionavarino in an attempt to find the capital of Nestor's kingdom. Since then, many Greek as well as foreign archaeologists, followed him into the area, carrying out excavations and unearthing important evidence, especially of the Messenian Bronze age.

Each previous archaeological activity laid the foundations for even further researches since many topics relating to other aspects of the Mycenaean era as well as earlier periods still remained obscured.

A new epoch of intensive fieldwork began in 1990 at the Palace of Nestor with a team from the Minnesota University , headed by Professor Frederick Cooper. As had happened with the previous Minnesota Messenia Expedition (UMME ), the Minnesota Archaeological Researches in the Western Peloponnesos (MARWP) investigations at Pylos carried out systematic research with many participants until 1998. The re-excavation and the production of a state plan of the palace complex - first explored by Carl Blegen - in conjunction with the topographical survey of the Englianos ridge aided by an extensive use of the GIS and GPS applications unveiled new data now on the way to final publication.

Between 1992 and 1996, under the direction of Professor Jack Davis, multidisciplinary research took place in the areas adjacent to the Palace of Nestor. The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (PRAP) conducted a systematic surface survey that focused on a broad timespan and involved a large number of specialists and natural scientists for environmental reconstructions.

The Iklaina Archaeological Project (IKAP), interdisciplinary in character, was began in 1999 under the direction of Professor Michael Cosmopoulos of the University of Manitoba at the Mycenaean site of Iklaina - a short distance from Nestor's Palace. Spyridon Marinatos had originally discovered the site in 1954. After two field campaigns, IKAP has revealed data indicating earlier periods of human habitation. IKAP will commence its third field season this summer.

During the past decade of the second millennium many team-oriented field projects focus their activities on or about Pylos together with the work of the local Ephorate of Antiquities and the University of Athens research group.

The paper focuses on the latest activity in the area, but also introduces a different perspective on the various field projects - that of a student, a volunteer, a staff member and a member of the Greek Archaeological Service.