The Neolithic Settlement (Lerna: a Preclassical Site in the Argolid)

This volume complements Lerna V: The Neolithic Pottery of Lerna, by K. D. Vitelli, and completes the primary publication of the results of the Neolithic remains retrieved during the excavations conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens from 1952 through 1958 at Lerna in the Argolid. It presents the buildings and other features of the Neolithic settlement with listings of related pottery, minor objects, lithics, fauna, and a catalogue of the minor objects. The study reveals a small agricultural community of Middle Neolithic date with houses of mud brick on stone foundations and various storage and thermal installations with a few burials scattered among them. A small Final Neolithic presence is documented by two graves and a group of “ash pits” of uncertain use. A catalogue of the minor objects includes mostly utilitarian objects of typical forms in stone, bone, and terracotta, and a few objects of decorative (e.g., ear studs) and symbolic significance (terracotta “tangas” and figurines). Appendixes include lists of walls and pottery lots, the inventory/lot numbers of the lithics published elsewhere by J. Kozlowski et al. (1996), and a summary of the fauna by D. S. Reese that clarifies and amplifies the earlier faunal study by N.-G. Gejvall (Lerna I).

Elizabeth C. Banks is Associate Professor Emerita of the University of Kansas.