Jack L. Davis

Jack L. Davis is Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology. In 1993 he came to the University of Cincinnati from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he had taught since 1977. In Greece Professor Davis has directed archaeological regional studies projects on the island of Keos, in the Nemea Valley, and in the area of the Palace of Nestor in Messenia. Other research interests include the history and archaeology of Ottoman and early modern Greece and the history of Classical archaeology, in particular its relationship to nationalist movements in the Balkans.  Davis has co-directed regional studies and excavations in Albania, in the hinterlands of the ancient Greek colonies of Durrachium/Epidamnos and Apollonia.
His books include: Sandy Pylos: An Archaeological History from Nestor to Navarino (University of Texas Press 1998); A Guide to the Palace of Nestor, Mycenaean Sites in Its Environs, and the Hora Museum (American School of Classical Studies at Athens 2001); An Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece: The Southwestern Morea in the Early 18th Century (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2005); Between Venice and Istanbul: Colonial Landscapes in Early Modern Greece (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2007); Philhellenism, Philanthropy, or Political Convenience (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2013), coedited with Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan; Carl W. Blegen: Personal and Archaeological Narratives (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2015) with Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan and Vivian Florou, and Mycenaean Wall-Painting in Context (Paris and Athens, 2015), edited with Hariclia Brecoulaki and Sharon Stocker. More recent is The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2017), edited with John Bennet.  He has published collaborative excavations of a previously unknown Greek temple at Apollonia in Albania (Lockwood Press); his Sather Lectures (University of California Press); and co-edited the catalogue of the recent Pylos exhibition at the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Davis served as Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens from 2007 until 2012.  Since 2015 he has been codirecting renewed excavations at the Palace of Nestor, together with Sharon Stocker.
In 2017 Davis received the Special Civic Merits  Award from the President of Albania.
in 2019 he delivered the prestigious Sather Lectures at the University of California Berkeley, where he held the Sather Professorship. 
In 2020 Davis received the Gold Medal for achievement from the Archaeological Institute of America, the highest award granted by his professional organization.
In 2021 he was named a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of the Hellenic Republic.
For a full cv, see: https://classics.uc.edu/cv/vita_jld_May-2025.pdf

PhD: University of Cincinnati 1977

Aegean prehistory, survey archaeology, and modern Greek history.

Grant: #011061-002 Investigators:Davis, Jack 07-01-2017 -12-31-2017 J. F. Costopoulos Foundation Preservation of Findings from the Tomb of the Warrior in Pylos Role:PI $8,459.25 Closed Level:Private Non-Profit

Grant: #SRS 011393 Investigators:Davis, Jack 05-01-2018 -04-30-2019 J. F. Costopoulos Foundation Preservation of Findings from the Tomb of the Warrior in Pylos (Year 2) Role:PI $8,860.00 Closed Level:Private Non-Profit