The Mycenaean palace at Pylos, Messenia, is conventionally named 'the Palace of Nestor' after the elderly king of Pylos who participated in the Trojan war and was much respected for his wisdom. The excavations, which the American archaeologist Carl W Blegen (1887-1971) began in 1939, uncovered a Mycenaean palace on the leveled peak of the Ano Eglianos hill, near modern-day Chora. This palace, which flourished in the thirteenth century BC, had a central courtyard with adjacent utility rooms. A small room near the external entrance to the courtyard contained the Linear B archive, which illustrates vividly the importance of the palace as an