Lerna in the Early Bronze Age

Author(s): J. L. Caskey
Reviewed work(s):
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp. 313-316
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
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1968]
CHRONOLOGIES: IRAN 313
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R. H.
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Lerna in the
Early
Bronze
Age
J.
L. CASKEY
The site is on the western shore of the
Argolic
gulf,
across from
Nauplia,
about io km. south of
Argos.
Here the coastal
strip
is narrowed
by
foot-
hills of the Arcadian
mountains,
and the ancient
settlement commands the main land route. The
low mound is beside the Lernaean
springs
and
marshes,
haunts of the
Hydra.
Excavations were carried out in annual cam-
paigns, 1952
to
1958, by
the American School of
Classical Studies.
Preliminary reports
and
studies,
illustrated in some
detail, appear
in
Hesperia 23-29
(1954-I960),
CAH
12,
fasc. 24 (1964),
and Charis-
terion Orlandos 3 (1966).
Definitive
reports
will
be
published
in a series of
volumes,
the first two
of which
(N-G. Gejvall
on the animal
bones, J.
L.
Angel
on the human
remains)
are in
press.
The
present account,
given orally
in March
1967,
describes in
summary
certain of the
prin-
cipal
features of the Third and Fourth Settlements
(Early
Helladic II and
III), pointing
out related
problems
of
chronology
and
foreign relationships.
The
accompanying
chart was intended to
guide
those who were not
specialists
in
Aegean
archae-
ology;
it should be noted that the horizontal divi-
sions
inevitably appear
more
regular
and
precise
than the evidence in fact can warrant.
Deep
Neolithic
deposits
underlie the remains of
the
Early
Bronze
Age
at Lerna.
PERIOD I. The first
strata,
on and near
virgin soil,
contain
very
few
sherds; they may represent
a
time when
pottery-making
was new. Above these
are habitation
deposits
with Rainbow
ware,
a few
sherds with linear
painted patterns,
and much
spongy
semi-coarse
ware,
all characteristic of
Early
Neolithic settlements in southern and central
Greece
(e.g.
at
Nemea, Corinth,
and Drachmani-
Elateia; Weinberg,
CAH
12,
fasc.
36, 1965).
Few
traces of house walls were
discovered;
enough,
however,
to show that some had stone foundations.
There were
pit graves
in the inhabited area. Ob-
sidian was abundant.
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314 J.
L. CASKEY
[AJA
72
PERIOD II. Houses with one or more small rooms
are
common, having
been rebuilt and
replaced
in
sequence through many phases.
Much of the
pot-
tery
is
glazed,
either
wholly
coated, usually
red-
brown,
or decorated with rectilinear
patterns
of
Middle Neolithic
types,
as in
Arcadia,
elsewhere in
the
Argolid,
and at Corinth. There are small ter-
racotta
figurines (one
of
very
fine
quality, Hesperia
25
[I956])
and
implements
of bone and stone. Pit
graves
are found
throughout
the
layer.
At the
very
top,
two contained
pots
with brick-red
powdery
surfaces of a sort found also at
Kephala
in Keos,
where a
C-I4
date of
3021
"
58 B.C.
was obtained
in
1966.
It is
probable
that these
graves
and a scat-
tering
of sherds of dark burnished and
dull-paint-
ed wares in the
uppermost
stratum of Lerna II
are remnants from a Late Neolithic
occupation.
PERIOD III. This coincides with the middle
stage
of
the
Early
Helladic
period,
EH
II,
the time of the
sauceboat. No remains of an EH I settlement
(as
known,
e.g.,
at
Asine, Zygouries,
and
especially
Eu-
tresis)
have
appeared
at
Lerna,
and one must
sup-
pose
that the site was
unoccupied
for some time.
The new settlers
graded
and leveled the
mound,
removing
some of the latest Neolithic
strata,
to
make
place
for their
big
substantial
buildings.
The
whole area was then surrounded
by
fortifications:
a double wall with habitable rooms inside it and
towers
flanking
at least one of the
gateways. Only
the southeastern
segments
of this wall have been
excavated.
Within,
there stood one or more monu-
mental
structures,
in the middle
phases Building
BG
(Hesperia
28
[1959]),
then
finally
its
successor,
the House of the Tiles. This was
tidily rectangular,
about
25
m.
by
12
m.,
and
comprised large
and
small
rooms, corridors,
and staircases to the
upper
storey
or
storeys.
The main entrance was on the
east. There were benches outside on the north and
south,
toward the rear. Some inner walls were
coated with lime
plaster;
others were
being pre-
pared
for
plastering. Evidently
the
building
was
incomplete
when it was
destroyed
in a
great
fire.
The debris contained thousands of terracotta tiles
and slabs of slate which had fallen from the roof
(Archaeology
8
['955]).
The House of the Tiles
belonged
to the latest of
seven or more architectural
phases
in Lerna III,
each of which
may
have lasted
through
several
gen-
erations.
Carbon-14
dates indicate that the final de-
struction was in the
twenty-second century B.c.
(Kohler
and
Ralph, AJA 65 [1961]). Copper
blades
and other tools were found in most of the
strata,
but were not
plentiful.
Distinctive
pot shapes-
asymmetrical
sauceboats and
askoi, many
bowls
and
saucers,
beaked
jugs,
ovoid
jars--occur through-
out these
deposits (Hesperia 29 [1960] 289-293).
Glaze,
"E.H.
Urfirnis,"
of
good quality
is found
especially
in the
early
and middle
phases.
Toward
the end of the
period pithoi, jars,
and wooden
chests,
which
presumably
held valuable
substances,
were closed with
lumps
of
clay
marked with
stamp
seals
(Hesperia 27 [1958]).
Certain of the
designs
on these resemble Middle Minoan
types;
D. Levi
and S. Hood see the Lerna seals as derived from
Crete,
whereas M. Heath and A. Sakellariou ob-
serve basic differences. The
stratigraphical sequence
of Lerna
III, IV,
and V indicates that EH II is
appreciably
earlier than MM I.
PERIOD
IV.
Probably
not
long
after the
burning
of
the House of the Tiles the
great
mass of fallen
crude brick and
roofing
was
partly
cleared
away
in such a manner as to leave a low convex tumulus
over the site of the
building.
Rounded stones were
set in a
circle,
about
19
m. in
diameter,
as a border
of this mound of debris. The reasons for
making
a monument of this kind are not
apparent.
One
guesses
that the motive was fear rather than tri-
umph.
The area within the circle was left un-
touched for some time thereafter. Houses of
phase
IV A were built
nearby,
but outside.
The Fourth Settlement marks the arrival of a
new material culture. Most of the new
buildings
were
apsidal,
with
porch,
main
hall,
and inner
room
(Charisterion Orlandos 3 [1966]).
One small
oblong megaron
was found. There were no fortifi-
cations.
Among
the domestic
implements also,
new
types
occur:
e.g.,
bored stone
hammer-axes,
small
anchor-shaped
double hooks of
terracotta,
and a
bone
object
with
hemispherical
knobs
along
one
side,
like those found at
Troy
and in
Italy, Sicily,
and Malta
(J. Evans,
Antiquity 30 [1956]).
The
pottery
too is
quite
different from that of Lerna
III,
comprising
wares with
painted patterns,
dark
slipped
and burnished wares, and a
gray
ware in-
distinguishable
in fabric from
Minyan.
Some of
the
pots
were turned on a wheel. The
shapes, gen-
erally symmetrical,
include small
cylindrical cups
without handles, two-handled tankards, two-han-
dled
bowls with everted rims, and
large jars
with
flaring
necks. One
jar
with
cylindrical neck and
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EGYPT LERNA CYCULAES TROY
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316
J.
L. CASKEY
[AJA
72
winglike
attachments
rising
from either side of the
globular body
is almost
certainly
an
import
from
the
region
of
Troy, probably
from
Troy
IV. It is
exceptional;
there is
relatively
little evidence of
foreign
trade in this
period.
PERIOD V. The transition from Lerna IV to Lerna
V occurred without a serious break in
continuity.
Apsidal
house
plans persisted,
often
appearing
di-
rectly
above the
place
of an older
building. Gray
Minyan
ware was made in canonical Middle
Hel-
ladic
shapes,
the kantharos and the
ring-stemmed
goblet.
Some stone
implements
are like those of
Period IV. Innovations include dark
Argive
and
light yellow Minyan wares, Matt-painted pots,
and
a class of vessels with decoration in lustrous
paint
(not
well known before Lerna was
excavated).
Intramural burials in cist
graves
became
very
com-
mon
suddenly.
Bones of horses and domestic fowl
are now found for the first time. Much wider for-
eign
contacts are attested
by
the
appearance
of
small handmade
flasks, possibly
from the
Balkans,
and
imported
Middle Minoan IA
pottery
in the
first
phase
of Lerna V. As the
period progresses,
with
many
successive
building levels,
there are
examples
of MM
II
and MM III ceramic
styles
and
corresponding types
of
Cycladic pottery.
The latest Middle Helladic strata have been
lost
by
erosion in most
parts
of the site, but there
is no reason to doubt that the transition to the
Mycenaean period
was
gradual,
as elsewhere in the
Argolid.
Two
large
shaft
graves,
much like those
of Circle B at
Mycenae,
were found to have been
emptied
and refilled in
antiquity.
In the
filling
were
great quantities
of
potsherds reflecting
late
MH
styles
and those of LH
I.
We call this
period
Lerna VI.
In final
summary:
the
major
breaks in continu-
ity
at Lerna occurred at the end of the Neolithic
period
and at the destruction of the House of the
Tiles. Between these
turning points
a
long
and
prosperous period
of habitation in EH
II
is set
apart.
From the time when the site was reoccu-
pied
in EH III there was continuous
development,
affected
by
new elements at the
beginning
and end
of the MH
period
but not
subject
to violent in-
terruption.
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Chronological
Problems
of the
Early
Bronze
Age
Early
Bronze
I-II:
The
City
of Arad
Early
Bronze III: The Khirbet Kerak Ware
RUTH AMIRAN
In view of
Albright's presentation
of the main
points
in "Some Remarks on the
Archaeological
Chronology
of Palestine before about
1500 B.C.,"
in
Chronologies (1965) 47-60,
and in view of De
Vaux' two issues of the
CAH, nos.
47
and
46'
in
1966,
each of which contains a detailed con-
spectus
of the
present knowledge
of the
Neolithic,
Chalcolithic,
and
Early
Bronze
Age periods
with
exhaustive
bibliographies,
it seems
imperative
to
concentrate here
only
on some additional facts
and
interpretations
which
might
elucidate some of
the
problems
left
open by
these recent studies.
PLATES 101-102
Of the two
topics
here
chosen,
the first
(a),
deals
with the
chronological
correlation of
Early
Bronze
I-II
Arad with First
Dynasty Egypt,
and its im-
plications.
The second
topic (b)
deals with the
Khirbet Kerak
Ware,
some of its
morphological
aspects,
its
diffusion,
and with some
chronological
deductions based on this evidence
(pl. 101, fig. i).
a)
Our first
topic
touches
upon
the vexed
prob-
lem of
Early
Bronze
I,
i.e. those cultures which
existed between the Ghassulian cluster of cultures
(in
themselves a uniform
phenomenon)
and the
appearance
of walled and
large
settlements
(justi-
1
R. de
Vaux, O.P. "Palestine in the
Early Bronze
Age,"
CAH I
(rev.
ed.
1966)
ch.
XV,
no.
46.
"Palestine
During
the Neolithic and Chalcolithic
Periods,"
CAH
I,
ch.
IX(b) ## V-VIII,
no.
47-
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