Department of Classical Studies

• Archaeology of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean
• The Aegean Bronze Age
• Ancient Technology and Craftsmanship
• Cross–Cultural Interactions

I am a classical archaeologist whose research explores the archaeology, art, and architecture of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. I study ancient technology, particularly stone working and metallurgy, to assess local, trans-regional, and intercultural craft connections throughout the latter half of the second millennium BC. My study of the tool marks and construction methods of the Lion Gate Relief at Mycenae, for instance, highlighted a technological link between Mycenaean Greece and Hittite Anatolia. My current book project, Elite Mycenaean Stone Work: Investigating Craft Interaction and Geopolitical Relations in the Aegean Bronze Age, draws upon physical tools and tool marks on worked stone to assess potential craft and political relations throughout the Greek Mainland during the Late Bronze Age (1600-1050 BC). I have extensive archaeological field work experience in Greece and Cyprus and recently joined an international team restudying the metal cargo from the Late Bronze Age Cape Gelidonya shipwreck.  Prior to coming to Indiana University, I served as the Assistant Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) and later held a postdoctoral teaching position in the Department of History at North Carolina (NC) State University.

• Ancient Athletics
• Art and Archaeology of Greece
• Art and Archaeology of the Aegean
• Classical Art and Archaeology
• Classical Mythology
• Greek Sanctuaries: Archaeology of Religious Space
• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Topography and Monuments of Athens

Articles

“Exploring Late Bronze Age Stoneworking Connections through Metal Tools: Evidence from Crete, Mainland Greece, and Cyprus” in ASHLAR: Exploring the Materiality of Cut-Stone Masonry in the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age (Aegis 17), edited by M. Devolder and I. Kreimerman, 215-240. (Louvain-la-Neuve, 2020)

“Tools,” in A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, edited by I.S. Lemos and A. Kotsonas, 523-537 (Hoboken, NJ, 2020).

Palaima, T.G. and N.G. Blackwell. “Pylos Ta 716 and Mycenaean Ritual Paraphernalia: A Reconsideration,” Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici. Nuova Serie 6 (2020), 67-95.

"Contextualizing Mycenaean Hoards: Metal Control on the Greek Mainland at the End of the Bronze Age," American Journal of Archaeology 122.4 (2018): 509-539.

"Experimental Stonecutting with the Mycenaean Pendulum Saw," Antiquity 92.361 (2018): 217-232.

"Making the Lion Gate Relief at Mycenae: Tool Marks and Foreign Influence," American Journal of Archaeology 118.3 (2014): 451-488.

"Mortuary Variability at Salamis (Cyprus): Relationships between and within the Royal Necropolis and the Cellarka Cemetery," Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 23.2 (2010): 143-167.