Five-year Report on the Activities of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP) at the University of Texas at Austin (1986-1991) presented to the Comité International Permanent des Études Mycéniennes (CIPEM) on October 6, 1990 in Athens, Greece

Acknowledgments: I wish here to thank the members of CIPEM and the following individuals and institutions for their cooperation in these first years of setting up PASP: Vassilis Aravantinos, John Bennet, Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., Phil Betancourt, John Chadwick, Ernesto De Miro, Jan Driessen, Mark Edwards, Deborah Fuller, Karl Galinsky, Louis Godart, Erik Hallager, Nicolle Hirschfeld, James Hooker, Petar Ilievski, Vassos Karageorghis, John Killen, Robert D. King, Mabel Lang, Emilia Masson, Olivier Masson, Standish Meacham, José Melena, Ino Nicolaou, Jean-Pierre Olivier, Cynthia Shelmerdine, Joanna Smith, Myrna Smith, Daniel Ortiz, Frank Stubbings, Vicky Walsh and Malcolm Wiener; the American School of Classical Studies and the École Française in Athens, the Ashmolean Museum, the Cypriote Department of Antiquities, the Institute of Classical Studies University of London, the Istituto per gli Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici in Rome, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Minnesota, the Universtity of Skopje, and the University of Wisconsin; the National Endowment for the Humanities, the MacArthur Foundation, the Dickson Professorship Fund and the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Texas. These and others all assisted in the planning of PASP, the acquisition of materials for PASP, and the work done by PASP in its first four years. I was assisted in the initial computing aspects of this project by Dr. Vicky A. Walsh, an archaeological computing consultant and administrative director of Humanities Computing at UCLA. I have been helped recently by Daniel Ortiz, computer specialist for the College of Liberal Arts. To promote our work in Cyprus and Turkey, UT Austin became a member of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) consortium in fall 1989.

Special thanks are reserved for my research assistants and administrative coordinator during these first five years, especially: Jean Alvares, Kathleen Cox, Leslie Crooks, Jeanine Edson, Bruce LaForse, Leah Himmelhoch, and Yuri Weydling. I hope that PASP will be visited and used in the years ahead by scholars interested in Aegean-Cypriote writing systems and inscriptions and the information they provide about Aegean prehistory

I remind Mycenologists and Aegean prehistorians of the necessity to send offprints (new or old) to PASP and to alert me of the existence of any scholarly papers dealing with Aegean-Cypriote scripts that should be acquired or catalogued by PASP.

Description: PASP is part of the largest Department of Classics in the United States. This has real advantages in terms of interested faculty and research facilities.

Facilities: The PASP complex of three large offices and a foyer (all security alarmed and climate-controlled) is located in the northwest corner of the ground floor of Waggener Hall. On the same floor are the following resources of the Classics department: 1. an extensive slide library; 2. the Classics library which contains over 20,000 volumes and has a separate reference room and archaeological seminar in which nearly all journals (archaeological, linguistic, philological) pertinent to Classical antiquity and the Greek Bronze Age are housed — the chief exception being BCH! — along with major reference works and monograph series (e.g., Chantraine, Inscriptiones Graecae and other corpora of inscriptions, Études Crétoises, SIMA, CMS, etc.). The main graduate research library (the sixth largest in North America) houses BCH and is a five-minute walk away.

Within the PASP complex two offices are reserved for graduate research assistants and visiting scholars. Research resources will be described below. Practical resources include a microform reader-printer, a linked system of three Macintosh IIci computers, AST-4000 hard disk, laser printer and optical scanner, plus ample space for using photographs and other unwieldy materials. The area is completely under my control, so the atmosphere is free of oppressive bureaucratic regulations and is generally welcoming and conducive to humanistic study.

The program is supported through the Dickson Centennial Professorship No. 2 in the College of Liberal Arts, which also funds two graduate assistants per year. The College of Liberal Arts has been generous in supporting the initial costs for materials and equipment and the more recent acquisition of equipment (e.g., a portable Macintosh computer and an optical scanner last summer). In addition PASP has a reserve fund of accumulated grants from the MacArthur Foundation, which is now being used as a modest endowment providing modest supplemental summer fellowships for graduate students interested in Aegean prehistory.

Faculty: At the University of Texas are the following faculty with interests related to the research activities of PASP: Cynthia Shelmerdine (Mycenaean studies and Homer), Edgar Polomé (Indo-European linguistics), Sara Kimball and Andrew Garrett (Hittite), Denise Schmandt-Besserat (early Mesopotamian and Anatolian token systems), Linda Schele (Mayan studies), Gregory Schopen (Sanskrit and Buddhism), Paula Perlman (Greek epigraphy and Cretan history), Jack Kroll (epigraphy, numismatics and sealings of the Greek historical period), Erwin Cook (Homer). Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. has been a visiting research fellow at PASP in fall semester 1989 and spring semester 1991. At the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M (110 miles away) are: George Bass (director of INA, director of the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, expert on Bronze Age trade), Cemal Pulak (director of the Ulu Burun Bronze Age shipwreck excavation), Richard Steffy and Fred Hocker (ship reconstruction), Shelley Wachsmann (Near Eastern studies, especially trade and other interaction with the Aegean area). At Southwestern University (40 miles away): Halford Haskell (Aegean archaeology and stirrup jars). At University of Texas—Arlington (200 miles away): Karl Petruso (Bronze Age archaeology; Aegean weights and measures).

Project: PASP, begun at UT Austin in June 1986 under the auspices of the CIPEM resolution at the Ohrid Colloquium, has shown good local results in terms of research and scholarship, especially by graduate students at UT Austin and the cooperating program in Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M. It has already become known as a functioning center for research on Aegean-Cypriote scripts, a fact which was certainly helpful in obtaining grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory for a research conference on Aegean Seals, Sealings and Administration in January 1989. Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. plans to be regularly in residence as a visiting scholar at PASP one semester per year. We hope to have other visiting scholars in the future. We have had graduate student visitors for a few weeks or an entire semester from University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr College, and University of Minnesota using the research resources of PASP.

Research Materials: The research resources of PASP are: (1) an archives of 1:1 scale photographs (nearly 10,000) of nearly all Aegean Bronze Age inscriptions (Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan) and historical Cypriote Syllabic; (2) a computer data base for epigraphical, archaeological, linguistic and historical information pertaining to the texts; (3) a collection of primary reference works and microfilm copies of excavation notebooks necessary for firsthand work with the data base and photographs — these supplement the holdings of the Classics library, reference room and archaeological seminar; (4) an extensive archives of papers and offprints on Aegean scripts and prehistory; (5) a collection of slides and instructional materials pertaining to Aegean-Cypriote prehistoric scripts and archaeology.

1. Photographic Archives: Since 1986 with the kind cooperation of the École française d’Athènes, the Istituto per gli Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici in Rome, and José L. Melena we have acquired and catalogued a nearly complete set of 1:1 scale photographs of Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B inscriptions. In addition to these 1:1 scale photos, we have many photos of particular details of tablets, e.g., individual ideograms, tablet versos and cross-sections, and other fragments and joins. We also possess the Ernst Grumach photographs of Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphic inscriptions and seals. Most recently we have acquired photographs of Cypro-Minoan and Cypriote Syllabic texts from Cypriote museums and from Profs. Emilia and Olivier Masson in Paris. Researchers are asked to continue to notify PASP of new finds and joins, and to send photographs of these with essential information about find circumstances, if possible.

2. Data base: Texts of all the Linear B inscriptions (some 5000) have been entered into a Double Helix data base. We are currently experimenting with entering other information: epigraphical, archaeological and text-analytical. We soon hope to begin our first experiments with the linguistic side of the data base. We plan to enter the Linear A texts according to the new GORILA signary. We are waiting for the forthcoming Corpus of Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Crete (CHIC) in order to enter the 300 texts of this class into the data base. In 1989-90, Leah Himmelhoch compiled a rough version of the first analytical data base of Cypriote syllabic and alphabetic inscriptions. This was used extensively in a seminar on Cypriote epigraphy in spring 1990 and formed the basis for a paper on the interaction of the Cypriote Syllabic script and the Greek alphabet delivered at the Phoinikeia Grammata conference in Liège in November 1989. The data base is now being revised and completed by Bruce LaForse and Nicolle Hirschfeld.

3. Reference works and microfilms: Available at PASP are: some annotated texts of Leonard Palmer; a full set of publications of Mycenological colloquia and Festschriften; and all the primary corpus volumes, lexica, indices and bibliographical surveys. Thus one can work conveniently with the photographs. The Classics library and reference room, also on the ground floor of Waggener, contain important monograph series such as Études Crétoises and CMS and journals such as Kadmos, Minos, BSA, AJA. In November 1989, Ernesto De Miro and I set up a cooperative arrangement between PASP and the Istituto per gli Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici of the CNR in Rome whereby we shall exchange copies of publications. As book review editor of Minos, I now receive many publications on Aegean prehistory.

We have acquired microfilms of the Evans/MacKenzie Knossos excavation notebooks from the Ashmolean; the Pylos excavation notebooks from the University of Cincinnati; and the Michael Ventris work notes from the University of London.

4. Archives of papers and offprints: PASP houses a comprehensive collection of offprints. The core is formed by two major collections: (1) that of Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. of the University of Wisconsin—Madison: this is a virtually complete collection of articles and reviews on Mycenaean-Minoan-Cypriote texts and archaeology from the 1950’s through the early 1980’s; (2) that of Frank Stubbings of Cambridge University, which extends back to the turn of the century and includes many signed offprints of real historical value. This past summer, I also acquired most of the offprints on Bronze Age subjects from the collection of T.B.L. Webster. PASP also houses the research files and notes of Alice Kober, a researcher on Minoan-Mycenaean scripts before the decipherment of Linear B; the letters of Michael Ventris to Emmett Bennett; copies of some of the correspondence of Carl Blegen; copies of papers presented at the seminar of Prof. Beattie of University of Edinburgh; and a growing collection of books, articles, and privately circulated typescripts or manuscripts on decipherments and pseudo-decipherments. We are negotiating to receive other materials pertinent to the early stages of research on the Mycenaean Linear B script.

5. Slide collection and instructional materials: PASP houses my own large collection of slides of Aegean inscriptions, archaeological sites, and special plans, maps and tables. These include color slides of Linear B tablets from Knossos (from John Bennet of University of Wisconsin); a complete set of color slides of the inscribed Khania stirrup jars (from Erik Hallager); and slides of Cypriote sites and artefacts (from Vassos Karageorghis, former director of the Cypriote Archaeological Service). Instructional materials include casts and facsimiles of Aegean-Cypriote tablets and original Minoan-Mycenaean seals.

Graduate research: Since 1986 a number of graduate assistants, trained in Aegean and Cypriote epigraphy and Greek linguistics, have provided and continue to provide significant help on this project. Three students completed M.A. theses in spring 1989 related to this research. Philip Freeman on labiovelars in early Greek (an abridged version is now published in Journal of Indo-European Studies); Kathleen Cox on the textual and archaeological evidence for the use of ivory in the Mycenaean period; and Bruce LaForse on the meaning of the Mycenaean social-political terms qa-si-re-u and ke-ro-si-ja. Nicolle Hirschfeld, first at the Institute for Nautical Archaeology of Texas A&M and now at PASP, has worked in Cyprus and in Greece on Cypro-Minoan pot-marks. In addition, Ruth Palmer at University of Cincinnati has finished a dissertation, under my co-direction, on textual and archaeological evidence for the Mycenaean use of wine; and she has published a lengthy paper on Mycenaean ration allotments in Minos 24 (1989). Fred Schwink in Germanic Studies has published a survey article in Journal of Indo-European Studies on the –toi/-tai question in Mycenaean and Indo-European. He has an article on the representation of double consonants in Linear B, Cypriote Syllabic and Greek alphabetic forthcoming in Kadmos. William Hutton is now revising a paper on Mycenaean economic vocabulary, especially qe-te-o, for Minos.

Symposia, Conferences and visiting lecturers: PASP has regularly organized symposia and research conferences in conjunction with courses being taught at the graduate level.

In spring 1988, we held a seminar on Mycenaean economy and decipherment featuring John Bennet (Wisconsin), Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. (Wisconsin) and V. Aravantinos (Greece). Maurice Pope (Oxford) also lectured on Minoan Linear A.

In January 1989, PASP organized an NEH research conference at which 11 experts in Aegean and Near Eastern sealings and administration presented papers examining the characteristic uses of seals and sealings together with formal written records in the main periods and regions of Minoan-Mycenaean civilization. This conference was attended by 30 scholars from Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, W. Germany and the United States. Publication of this conference appeared as volume 5 of the series Aegaeum in April 1990.

In spring 1990, the former director of the Cypriote Department of Antiquities Vassos Karageorghis and an American specialist in Cypriote archaeology John Coleman spoke on Cypriote prehistory and discussed research projects with graduate students. In addition Jan Driessen of the École française d’Athènes and Barry Powell of University of Wisconsin lectured on problems connected with Linear B and Greek alphabetic scripts.

In September 1990, Henri and Micheline van Effenterre (Paris) visited to speak on Minoan archaeology.

In September 1991, we held a conference on trade with and within the Mycenaean Aegean. Speakers included Robert Laffineur (University of Liège), Eric Cline (University of Pennsylvania), and Shelley Wachsmann and Fred Hocker (Texas A&M) and Leah Himmelhoch and Nicolle Hirschfeld (PASP).

PASP publications: Because we have an established computer network and assistants trained in Aegean scripts and archaeology, we have been able undertake editing and producing extremely accurate diskette versions of texts on subjects requiring very complicated fonts and formatting. Works like the Studies Bennett (1988), Studia Mycenaea (1988), Problems in Decipherment, and Aegean Seals, Sealings and Administration would otherwise have been virtually impossible in terms of time and consequent cost of production. These were published in the following series: Minos Supplement; Ziva Antika Supplement; Bibliothèque des Cahiers de l’Institut de Linguistique de Louvain; and Aegaeum.

Archaeological field projects: In July-August, 1990 in cooperation with the Bronze Age shipwreck excavation of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M, Kathleen Cox and I conducted a three-work epigraphical survey project in the territory of Lycia (S. Turkey) near the modern town of Kaß, ancient Antiphellos. We rediscovered and carefully studied 11 inscribed sarcophagi noted by earlier scholars and travelers in the area (Spratt, Benndorf, Bean) but left unpublished or imperfectly published. In addition we found four other Greek inscriptions (a dedication to Artemis, a dedicatory statue base, and two fragments) and mapped out the surrounding areas, noting for the first time many ancient farm houses, settlements and fortifications.

Conclusion: I thank all the persons and institutions who have helped us to proceed so far so quickly. I encourage all participants in this colloquium to think about visiting and working at PASP. We certainly welcome applications from foreign students to our graduate program in Classics.