Late Holocene palaeogeomorphic reconstructions in the area of the Bay of Navarino: Sandy Pylos

Abstract

Numerous archaeological sites dot the environs of the marine embayment at Navarino in the southwest Peloponnese. This paper presents palaeogeomorphic reconstructions necessary for the understanding of the late bronze age palace complex (“Nestor's Palace”) excavated by Blegen and provides a necessary topographic framework for the interpretation of human occupancy of the region during the last three millennia BC. Palaeoenvironmental data show that the epithet “Sandy Pylos” of Homer's Iliad, can be readily explained and justifiably attributed to this region. The pollen data presented appear to correlate well with the transgression-regression sequences developed from the geological information from subsurface boreholes.