Late Bronze Age Aegean Ships and the Pylos Tablets Vn 46 and Vn 879

Abstract

This article presents a fuller archaeological and pinacological discussion of two Pylos texts that might deal with materials for Mycenaean ship construction. It should be read in conjunction with the articles by Palaima and van Effenterre cited at the end of note, both of which made clear the need to call upon a specialist in nautical archaeology to provide an expert commentary on technical aspects of Bronze Age ship construction and to sketch out the current archaeological context for the kind of «nautical» interpretation of these two tablets first suggested as a possibility by van Effenterre.