Mycenaean Floors
raettawy shared with me this insightful article on the unusual floor patterns at the Palace of Nestor, Pylos, and on Mycenaean floors in general.
Mycenaean rulers often had the floors in their megarons (and perhaps elsewhere) painted to represent stone or carpet. The megaron of Pylos incorporates patterns of both stone and carpet. Ancient patchwork shows that repairs had been carried out sometime before the destruction and abandonment of the palace around 1200 B.C. To create the colored, patterned squares, the artists used a grid system of pigment and snapped string like that used on tomb walls in Egypt.
While familiar with the Piet de Jong exaggerated reconstruction of the Pylos megaron (above, first image), I can't remember the last time I'd seen the eagle's-eye view of the floor--though I know I have seen it before. I certainly hadn't considered how the squares affected how court officials and visitors to Nestor's palace in Mycenaean times would have negotiated the space. People would have followed the white squares around the central hearth, a bit like moving around a game board.
As to the skewing of the grid's lines, I refer you to the original article. The author does a far better job explaining the function of the skewing than I can.