William D. Taylour Papers

COLLECTION OVERVIEW

Collection Number: GR ASCSA WDT 009
Name(s) of Creator(s): William D. Taylour (1904-1989)
Title: William D. Taylour Papers
Date [bulk]: 1957-1959
Date [inclusive]:
Language(s): English
Summary: The collection contains material used for the publication of the various tombs excavated by W. D.Taylour in the area of Ano Englianos in Messenia (where Carl W. Blegen discovered the Bronze Age Palace of Pylos), various personal and professional letters, photographs, notes from other excavations and sites, miscellaneous research notes, and some material from the excavations at Agios Stephanos Lakonias.
Quantity: 2 linear meters
Immediate Source of Acquisition: Gift of the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust, 1991
Information about Access: The collection is available for research
Cite as: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Archives, William D. Taylour Papers (Αμερικανική Σχολή Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα, Αρχείο William D. Taylour)
Note: The colection was processed and catalogued by Rodney D. Fitzsimons.

For more information, please contact the Archives:
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
54 Souidias Street, Athens 106 76, Greece
phone: 213 000 2400 (ext.425)
Contact via E-mail

ACQUISITION

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Lord William D. Taylour was born in Headfort, County Meath, in 1904, the second son of the 4th Marquess of Headfort and British stage star, “Gaiety Girl” Rosie Boote. After his education at Harrow, Taylour worked in the world of finance, first at a Wall Street banking house and then as financial manager of an interior decorating business in London, before serving in the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry in North Africa in the Second World War, eventually attaining the rank of Captain. After the war, at the tender age of 42, Taylour enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied under Grahame Clarke and Glyn Daniel, finally publishing his dissertation, Mycenaean Pottery in Italy, in 1958.

Taylour participated in a number of excavations across the Eastern Mediterranean, working with some of the most famous archaeologists of his day - Kathleen M. Kenyon and John B. Ward-Perkins at Sarbatha in Tripolitania (1948), Joan du Plat Taylor at Myrtou Pigades on Cyprus (1950-1), Carl W. Blegen at Pylos (1953-55, 1957-59) and Alan J. B. Wace at Mycenae (1952-54) - in addition to directing his own excavations at Aghios Stephanos (1959-60, 1963, 1973-74, 1977). Upon the death of Wace in 1957, Taylour was appointed director of the British School excavations at Mycenae, a post that he held until 1969. In this capacity and together with the Greek Archaeological Society under I. Papademitriou and then George E. Mylonas, Taylour conducted additional excavations at the site (1959-60, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968-69), concentrating his efforts on the lower slopes of the Citadel south of the South House, where, amongst other things, he unearthed a complex of rooms now known as the Cult Center. Taylour continued to work and visit Greece until 1988, and died the following year in Cambridge at the age of 85.

In addition to his academic endeavors, Lord Taylour was also an active participant in a number of outside organizations. He served as Treasurer of the Cambridge University Catholic Association and as President of both the Strafford Club and the Monarchist League, and was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. Finally, he founded the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust, which has helped fund a number of excavations throughout Greece.

The present archive pertains mainly to Lord Taylour’s work with Carl W. Blegen at Pylos, in particular, to his excavation of a number of sites at Pylos - both settlement and funerary in nature - conducted in 1953 and 1957-9 on five different properties around the Bronze Age palace (Dheriziotis, Kanakares, Kokkevis, Kontos and Vagenas); as well as some material from Agios Stephanos Lakonias. Detailed descriptions of the material contained herein, together with references to their final publication, can be found below in the Scope and Content section of this archive.

1904 Born January 3 to the 4th, Marquess of Headfort and Rosie Boote. Attended Harrow

1939-1945 Served in the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry in North Africa, attaining the rank of Captain

1946-1950 Read for the Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos at Trinity College

1948 Participated in excavations at Sabratha in Tripolitania with Kathleen M. Kenyon and John B. Ward-Perkins

1950-1954 Studied for Ph.D. at Cambridge University under Drs. Grahame Clarke and Glyn Daniel

1950-1951 Participated in excavations at Myrtou Pigadhes on Cyprus with Joan du Plat Taylor

1952-1954 Participated in excavations at Mycenae with Alan J. B. Wace

1953-1955 Participated in excavations at Pylos with Carl W. Blegen

1957-1959 Participated in excavations at Pylos with Carl W. Blegen

1958 Completed his dissertation, entitled ‘Mycenaean pottery in Italy.’ Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries

1959-1969 Conducted excavations at Mycenae

1959-1977 Conducted excavations at Agios Stephanos

1989 Died December 2 at Cambridge

Bibliography

1955 “Mycenae 1939-1954. Part IV. The Perseia Area”, BSA 50: 199-237.

1957 “The Iron Age Pottery”, 60-74 in Joan du Plat Taylor (ed.), Myrtou-Pigadhes: A Late Bronze Age Sanctuary in Cyprus, Oxford

1958 Mycenaean Pottery in Italy and Adjacent Areas, Ph.D. Dissertation - Cambridge University.
Review of George E. Mylonas, Ancient Mycenae: The Capital City of Agamemnon (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957) in Antiquity 32: 132-133.

1960 “Mycenae Excavations, 1959”, ArchDelt 16 B1: 89-91 [with I. Papademitriou].
“Mycenae, 1960”, ArchDelt 16 B1: 91-92 [with I. Papademitriou].
“New Linear B Tablets from Mycenae”, ArchDelt 16 B1: 92-93.

1961 “New Linear B Tablets from Mycenae”, Antiquity 35: 57-58.
“The Last Days of Mycenae: Tablets and Houses Revealed in the Resumption of the Late Professor Wace’s Excavations”, ILN (23 September) [with I. Papademitriou].

1963 “Mycenae, Citadel House”, ArchDelt 18 B1: 82-84 [with I. Papademitriou].

1964 The Mycenaeans, London
“Laconia. Hagios Stephanos”, ArchDelt 19 B1: 146-147.

1965 “Mycenae: Citadel House”, ArchDelt 20 B1: 164-165.
Review of Vincent d’A. R. Desborough, The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964) in Antiquity 39: 304-305.

1966 I Miceni: Uomo e mito, Milan: Il Saggiatore.
Review of Richard Hope Simpson, A Gazetteer of Mycenaean Sites (London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1965) in Antiquity 40: 243-244.

1969 “Mycenae, 1968”, Antiquity 43: 91-97.
“A Note on the Recent Excavations at Mycenae, and the Scheme Proposed for Their Publication”, BSA 64: 259-260.
“The Strange Idols from Mycenae”, ILN (4 January): 25-27.
“Mycenae’s First Temple”, ILN (27 December): 24-25.

1970 “Mycenae 1968 and 1969”, AAA 3: 72-80.
“New Light on Mycenaean Religion”, Antiquity 44: 270-280.
“Ivories from Mycenae”, ILN 256 (10 January): 26-27.

1971 “The House with the Idols, Mycenae, and its Chronological Implications”, AJA 75: 266-268.

1972 “New Aspects on Mycenaean Religion”, 76-81 in Elly Arditis (ed.), Acta of the 2nd International Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory: The First Arrival of Indo-European Elements in Greece, Athens
“Excavations at Ayios Stephanos”, BSA 67: 205-270.

1973 The Palace of Nestor in Western Messenia III: Acropolis and Lower Town; Tholoi, Grave Circle, and Chamber Tombs; Discoveries outside the Citadel, Princeton [with Carl W. Blegen, Marion Rawson and William P. Donovan].
Review of Niki C. Scoufopoulos, Mycenaean Citadels (Goteborg: Paul Astroms Forlag, 1971) in Antiquity 47: 83.

1976 “The Strange Idols from Mycenae”, 411-413 in Edward Bacon (ed.), The Great Archaeologists, London
“Ivories from Mycenae”, 416-417 in Edward Bacon (ed.), The Great Archaeologists, London

1981 Well-Built Mycenae: The Helleno-British Excavations within the Citadel at Mycenae, 1959-1969 I: The Excavations, Warminster [with Elizabeth B. French and Kenneth A. Wardle].

1986 “Bronze Hairpins from a Tholos in Messenia?”, 126 in Φίλια έπη εις Γεώργιον Ε. Μυλωνάν δια τα 60 έτη του ανασκαφικού του έργου, Athens.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection includes material used for the publication of the various tombs excavated by Taylour in the area of Ano Englianos (the site of the Bronze Age Palace of Pylos), various personal and professional letters, photographs and notes from other excavations and sites and miscellaneous research notes. It is divided into twelve series: Series I. General Notes on the Excavation of the Tombs at Pylos; Series II. Notes on the Excavation of the Kanakares Site (Tholos Tomb IV); Series III. Notes on the Excavation of the Vagenas A Site (Tholos Tomb V/Grave Circle); Series IV. Notes on the Excavation of the Kokkevis A Site (Tholos Tomb VI); Series V. Notes on the Excavation of the Kokkevis C Site (Chamber Tomb K-2); Series VI. Notes on the Excavation of the Kontos Site (Chamber Tomb K-1); Series VII. Notes on the Excavation of the Dheriziotis Site (EH Settlement); Series VIII. Notes on the Excavation of the Ano Englianos Site (Palace); Series IX. Miscellaneous; Series X. Personal and Professional Correspondence; Series XI: Slides; and Series XII: Agios Stephanos Lakonias.

Series I: General Notes on the Excavation of the Tombs at Pylos contains material relating to the excavations that took place in and around the Ano Englianos site. This material includes Taylour’s three field notebooks from the 1957, 1958, and 1959 campaigns and various photographs and illustrations of his sites that do not receive their own Series below, for example, Kokkevis B and Vagenas B΄or that cannot be separated into individual entries, for example, photographs of material from multiple sites. In addition, there are notes and photographs relating to the excavation of other sites in the area of the Palace that were not conducted by Taylour, specifically, notes and photographs of Tholos Tomb III (excavated by Carl W. Blegen and published in Palace of Nestor III (1973) pp. 73-95 and fig. 160-174, 319-320) and photographs of Chamber Tombs E.4 and E.6 (excavated by William P. Donovan and published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 180-192 and figs. 237-244, 338-339). Finally, there are contact sheets and negatives for some of the photographs in this collection.

Series II: Notes on the Excavation of the Kanakares Site (Tholos Tomb IV) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, illustrations and photographs relating to the excavation of the tholos tomb (Tholos Tomb IV) situated on the property of the Kanakares family, ca. 145 m. northeast of the palace. The tomb was excavated from May 25 to July 23, 1953, and was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 95-134 and figs. 175-196, 321-326.

Series III: Notes on the Excavation of the Vagenas A Site (Tholos Tomb V/Grave Circle) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, illustrations, photographs and slides relating to the excavation of the tomb, variously interpreted as a tholos tomb or grave circle, on the property of the Vagenas family, ca. 145 m. south of the palace. The tomb was excavated from May 25 to July 15, 1957, and was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 134-176 and figs. 197-235, 327-335.

Series IV: Notes on the Excavation of the Kokkevis A Site (Tholos Tomb VI) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, illustrations, photographs and slides relating to the excavation of the tholos tomb (Tholos Tomb VI) situated on the property of the Kokkevis family, ca. 3 km. south of the palace. The tomb was excavated from July 17 to July 30, 1958 and was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 237-242 and figs. 294-298, 355-356.

Series V: Notes on the Excavation of the Kokkevis C Site (Chamber Tomb K-2) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, illustrations, photographs and slides relating to the excavation of the chamber tomb (Chamber Tomb K-2) situated on the property of the Kokkevis family, ca. 3 km. south of the palace and 17 m. east of Tholos Tomb VI. The tomb was excavated from July 23 to July 30, 1958 and again from July 1 to July 9, 1959. It was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 224-237 and figs. 280-293, 347-350.

Series VI: Notes on the Excavation of the Kontos Site (Chamber Tomb K-1) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, illustrations, photographs, and slides relating to the excavation of the chamber tomb (Chamber Tomb K-1) situated on the property of the Kontos family, ca. 500 m. west of the palace. The tomb was excavated from July 16 to July 24, 1957, and was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973), pp. 208-215 and figs. 266-274, 343-346.

Series VII: Notes on the Excavation of the Dheriziotis Site (EH Settlement) contains chapter drafts, catalogue drafts, photographs and slides relating to the excavation of the Early Helladic settlement discovered on the property of the Dheriziotis family, ca. 500 m. southwest of the palace. The site was excavated from July 7 to July 16, 1958 and was published in Palace of Nestor III (1973) on pp. 219-224 and figs. 275-279, 347-350.

Series VIII: Notes on the Excavation of the Ano Englianos Site (Palace) contains photographs and slides taken during the excavation and cleaning of the palace (1939, 1952-1958, 1960-1965, 1970), photographs of some of the small finds and pottery recovered during these excavations and copies of the paintings made of the architecture, frescoes and pottery from the site.

Series IX: Miscellaneous contains photographs and slides of miscellaneous sites and geographical areas, notes and illustrations of pottery from an unidentified site, notes taken at conferences that Lord Taylour attended, lists of equipment and artifacts stored in Taylour’s house and in the Chora museum, a number of seal impressions and various miscellaneous personal items.

Series X: Personal and Professional Correspondence contains letters written by and to Taylour. Most of this correspondence concerns the publication of the Pylos tombs he excavated, although there is also the occasional personal letter to/from one of his friends in the scholarly community. Because of the bulk of this material involves Marion Rawson and Carl W. Blegen, the letters addressed to and received from these two people are contained in the first folder. The rest of Taylour’s correspondence is arranged in alphabetical order according to the creator agency.

Series XI: Slides contains slides of the following sites: Vagenas A and B, Kokkevis A and C, Kontos, Dheriziotis and Ano Englianos, as well as additional miscellaneous slides.

Series XII: Agios Stephanos Lakonias (sketch blocks with pencil and ink drawings of pottery; pottery reports)

CONTAINER LIST

SERIES I: GENERAL NOTES ON THE EXCAVATION OF THE TOMBS AT PYLOS

Box 1

Folder
1 Excavation Notebooks: (25/05/57-09/07/57) Vagenas A.
(10/07/57-30/07/57) Vagenas A, Kontos.
(03/07/58-09/07/59) Vagenas B, Dheriziotis, Kokkevis A, B and C.
Three photocopied pages of miscellaneous notes.

2 Miscellaneous Notes concerning the publication of and material from the Pylos Tombs.

3 Draft of Manuscript for Chapter on Tholos Tomb III, by Carl W. Blegen.

4 Photographs of Other Sites around the Palace:
Kokkevis B
Vagenas B
Tholos Tomb III

5 Illustrations of Material from Other Sites around the Palace:
Chamber Tomb E.4
Chamber Tomb E.6
Kokkevis A and C
Vagenas Chamber Tomb and Kontos K-1
Seals from Unidentified Locations

6 Contact Sheets and Negatives for the photographs associated with the Pylos Tombs.

SERIES II: EXCAVATION OF KANAKARES SITE (THOLOS TOMB IV)

Box 2

Folder
1-2 Various Drafts of Text.
3 Various Drafts of Catalogue.
4 Miscellaneous Notes.
5 Illustrations.
6 Photographs.

SERIES III: EXCAVATION OF VAGENAS SITE (THOLOS TOMB V/GRAVE CIRCLE)

Box 3

Folder
1-2 Various Drafts of Text.
3 Various Drafts of Catalogue.
4 Miscellaneous Notes.
5 Illustrations.
6 Photographs (Slides stored separately in pages 1-6 of Box 12).

SERIES IV: EXCAVATION OF KOKKEVIS A SITE (THOLOS TOMB VI)

Box 4

Folder
1 Various Drafts of Text.
2 Various Drafts of Catalogue.
3 Miscellaneous Notes.
4 Illustrations.
5 Photographs (Slides stored separately in pages 7 and 14 of Box 12).

SERIES V: EXCAVATION OF KOKKEVIS C SITE (CHAMBER TOMB K-2)

Box 5

Folder
1 Various Drafts of Text.
2 Various Drafts of Catalogue.
3 Miscellaneous Notes.
4 Illustrations.
5 Photographs (Slides stored separately in pages 8-10 and 14 of Box 12).

SERIES VI: EXCAVATION OF KONTOS SITE (CHAMBER TOMB K-1)

Box 6

Folder
1 Various Drafts of Text and Catalogue.
2 Miscellaneous Notes.
3 Photographs (Slides stored separately in pages 11-12 and 14 of Box 12).

SERIES VII: EXCAVATION OF DHERIZIOTIS SITE (EH SETTLEMENT)

Box 7

Folder
1 Various Drafts of Text and Catalogue.
2 Miscellaneous Notes.
3 Illustrations.
4 Photographs (Slides stored separately in page 13 of Box 12).

SERIES VIII: EXCAVATION OF ANO ENGLIANOS SITE (PALACE)

Box 8

Folder
1 Aerial Photographs of Site.
Photographs of Excavation Team Members.
Unlabelled Photographs.
Slides (Stored separately in page 14 of Box 12).
Photographs of Excavations (1939, 1952 -1954).
2 Photographs of Excavations (1955).
3 Photographs of Excavations (1956-1957).
4 Photographs of Excavations (1958).
5 Photographs of Excavations (1960).
6 Photographs of Excavations (1961-1962).
7 Photographs of Excavations (1963-1965, 1970).

Box 9

Folder
1 Paintings of Architectural Reconstructions by G. A. Papathanasopoulos and Piet de Jong (et al.?).
2 Paintings of Fresco Reconstructions by Piet de Jong.
3 Paintings of Pottery and Small Finds by Piet de Jong (et al.?).
4 Photographs of Pottery and Small Finds.

SERIES IX: MISCELLANEOUS

Box 10

Folder
1 Photographs of Miscellaneous Sites and Geographical Features:
Chora
Itea
Kephalovryson
Langadha Pass
Makrysia
Methone
Mount Aigalion
Mount Lykodemos
Pappoulia
Unidentified Locations
Photographs of Excavation Team Members.
Slides (Stored separately in page 14 of the album).
2 Notes on Pottery from Unidentified Site.
3 Miscellaneous Notes from Conferences Attended.
4 Miscellaneous Lists.
5 Miscellaneous Personal Items.
6 Various Seal Impressions from Unidentified Sites.

SERIES X: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE

Box 11

Folder

1 Blegen, Carl W.
Blegen, Carl W. and Marian Rawson
Rawson, Marion

2 Allsworth, W. K.
Anderson, Harriet
Androutsakis, Nionio
Angel, J. Lawrence
Beck, Curt W.
Boulter, Pat
Buchholz, Hans-Gunter
Bull, J. M.
Bunbury, Gillian
Carr, Hugh
Caskey, John L.
Catling, Hector
Clayton, P. A.
Collantes de Teran, Francisco
Desborough, Vincent R. d’A.
Evans, Angela Care

3 Harding, Anthony
Hirmer, Max
Hughes-Brock, Helen
de Jong, Piet
Kenna, Victor E. G.
Lang, Mabel
Mensch, J.
Muller-Karpe, H.

4 Rawson, Dorothy
Sandars, Nancy
Shelley, H. A.
Stubbings, Frank H.
Touloupa, Evi
University of Cincinnati
Waterhouse, Helen
Warren, Peter M.
Young, Patricia

SERIES XI: SLIDES

Box 12

Page
1-6 Slides of Vagenas A Site (Tholos Tomb V/Grave Circle).
7 Slides of Kokkevis A Site (Tholos Tomb VI).
8-10 Slides of Kokkevis C Site (Chamber Tomb K-2).
11-12 Slides of Kontos Site (Chamber Tomb K-1).
13 Slides of Dheriziotis Site (EH Settlement).
14 Slides of Kokkevis A Site (Tholos Tomb VI), Kontos Site (Chamber Tomb K-1), Ano Englianos Site (Palace), Vagenas B Site and Miscellaneous Slides.

SERIES XII: AGIOS STEPHANOS LAKONIAS

Box 13

Nine sketch blocks with ink and pencil pottery drawings, pottery report from 1959, and three letters from Taylour to Lisa French (1960).

PROCESSING HISTORY

The material included in this collection was donated by the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1991, following the death of Taylour in 1989. Following its arrival in the American School Archives, the collection was partially processed by Dr. Carol Zerner. Finally, Rodney D. Fitzsimons completed the processing of the Taylour papers and the composition of the present catalogue.