caskey 1968 lerna bronze

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Lerna in the Early Bronze AgeAuthor(s): J. L. CaskeyReviewed work(s):Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp. 313-316Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/503823.

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1968] CHRONOLOGIES:IRAN 313Ehrich (Chicago: University of ChicagoPress).1968 "The ArchaeologicalEvidenceof the SecondMillennium B.C. on the Persian Plateau,"CAH, Fasc. 66 (rev. ed., Cambridge:Cam-bridgeUniversityPress).

Dyson, R. H. Jr.,and Young, T. C. Jr.I96O "The Solduz Valley, Iran: Pisdeli Tepe,"Antiquity 34:19-28.Hole, F. and Flannery,K. V.1962 "Excavations at Ali Kosh, Iran i961," IranicaAntiqua II:97-148.i967 "The Prehistoryof SouthwesternIran: APreliminary Report," Proceedings of thePrehistoric Society 33 (in press).Hole, F., Flannery,K. V., and Neely, J. A.i965 "Early Agricultureand Animal Husbandryin Deh Luran, Iran," Current Anthropology6:105-106.n.d. Excavations in Deh Luran, Iran ("Smith-sonian Contributions o Anthropology," npress).Hole, F., and Shaw, M.1967 Computer Analysis of Chronological Seria-tion ("Rice University Studies,"No. 53:3,Houston).Le Breton,L.1957 "The Early Periods at Susa, MesopotamianRelations," Iraq I9(2):79-i24.

Meldgard,J., Mortensen,P., and Thrane,H.1964 "Excavations at Tepe Guran, Luristan,"Acta Archaeologica 4:97-133-Mortensen,P.1964 "AdditionalRemarkson the ChronologyofEarly Village-farmingCommunities in theZagrosArea,"Sumer20(1-2):28-36.Oates, .L.

I96O "Ur and Eridu, the Prehistory," raq 22:32-50.

1966 "The Baked Clay Figures of Tell es-Saw-wan,"Iraq 28(2):146-153.Smith,P. E. L.1967 "Ghar-i-Kharand Ganj-i-Dareh," ran 5:138-39-i968 "GanjDareh,"Iran 6 (in press).Thomas,H. L.1967 Near Eastern,Mediterranean,nd European

Chronology ("Studiesin MediterraneanAr-chaeology,"xvuI:2Lund: Solvegatan).Young,T. C. Jr.i966 "Survey n Western Iran, i96I," JNES 25:228-239.1967 "GodinTepe,"Iran5:139-140.Young, T. C. Jr.,and Smith, P. E. L.1966 "Researchn the Prehistory f CentralWest-ern Iran,"Science 153:386-391.

Lernan the EarlyBronzeAgeJ. L. CASKEY

The site is on the western shore of the Argolicgulf, across from Nauplia, about io km. south ofArgos. Here the coastal strip is narrowed by foot-hills of the Arcadian mountains, and the ancientsettlement commands the main land route. Thelow mound is beside the Lernaean springs andmarshes, haunts of the Hydra.Excavations were carried out in annual cam-paigns, 1952 to 1958, by the American School ofClassical Studies. Preliminary reports and studies,illustratedin some detail, appearin Hesperia 23-29(1954-I960), CAH 12, fasc. 24 (1964),and Charis-terion Orlandos 3 (1966). Definitive reports willbe published in a series of volumes, the first twoof which (N-G. Gejvall on the animal bones, J. L.Angel on the human remains) are in press.The present account, given orally in March1967, describes in summary certain of the prin-cipal features of the Third and Fourth Settlements(Early Helladic II and III), pointing out relatedproblems of chronology and foreign relationships.

The accompanying chart was intended to guidethose who were not specialists in Aegean archae-ology; it should be noted that the horizontal divi-sions inevitably appear more regular and precisethan the evidence in fact can warrant.Deep Neolithic deposits underlie the remains ofthe Early Bronze Age at Lerna.

PERIOD I. The first strata,on and nearvirgin soil,contain very few sherds; they may represent atime when pottery-making was new. Above theseare habitation deposits with Rainbow ware, a fewsherds with linear painted patterns, and muchspongy semi-coarseware, all characteristicof EarlyNeolithic settlements in southern and centralGreece (e.g. at Nemea, Corinth, and Drachmani-Elateia; Weinberg, CAH 12, fasc. 36, 1965). Fewtraces 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 72PERIOD I. Houses with one or more small roomsare common, having been rebuilt and replaced insequence through many phases. Much of the pot-tery is glazed, either wholly coated, usually red-brown, or decorated with rectilinear patterns ofMiddle Neolithic types, as in Arcadia,elsewhere inthe Argolid, and at Corinth. There are small ter-racottafigurines (one of very fine quality, Hesperia25 [I956]) and implements of bone and stone. Pitgraves are found throughout the layer.At the verytop, two contained pots with brick-red powderysurfaces of a sort found also at Kephala in Keos,where a C-I4 date of 3021 " 58 B.C.was obtainedin 1966.It is probablethat these graves and a scat-tering of sherds of dark burnished and dull-paint-ed wares in the uppermost stratum of Lerna IIare remnants from a Late Neolithic occupation.PERIOD II. This coincideswith the middlestageofthe Early Helladic period, EH II, the time of thesauceboat.No remains of an EH I settlement (asknown, e.g., at Asine, Zygouries,and especiallyEu-tresis) have appearedat 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, tomake place for their big substantialbuildings. Thewhole area was then surrounded by fortifications:a double wall with habitable rooms inside it andtowers flanking at least one of the gateways. Onlythe southeastern segments of this wall have beenexcavated.Within, there stood one or more monu-mental structures, in the middle phases BuildingBG (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 andsmall rooms, corridors,and staircases to the upperstorey or storeys. The main entrance was on theeast. There were benches outside on the north andsouth, toward the rear. Some inner walls werecoated with lime plaster; others were being pre-pared for plastering. Evidently the building wasincomplete when it was destroyed in a great fire.The debris contained thousands of terracotta tilesand slabs of slate which had fallen from the roof(Archaeology 8 ['955]).The House of the Tiles belonged to the latest ofseven or more architectural phases in Lerna III,each of which may have lastedthrough severalgen-erations.Carbon-14dates indicate that the final de-struction was in the twenty-second century B.c.

(Kohler and Ralph,AJA 65 [1961]). Copperbladesand other tools were found in most of the strata,but were not plentiful. Distinctive pot shapes-asymmetrical sauceboats and askoi, many bowlsand saucers,beakedjugs,ovoid jars--occur through-out these deposits (Hesperia 29 [1960] 289-293).Glaze, "E.H. Urfirnis," of good quality is foundespecially in the early and middle phases. Towardthe end of the period pithoi, jars, and woodenchests, which presumablyheld valuable substances,were closed with lumps of clay marked with stampseals (Hesperia 27 [1958]). Certain of the designson these resemble Middle Minoan types; D. Leviand S. Hood see the Lerna seals as derived fromCrete, whereas M. Heath and A. Sakellariou ob-servebasic differences.The stratigraphical equenceof Lerna III, IV, and V indicates that EH II isappreciablyearlier than MM I.PERIOD IV.Probably not long after the burning ofthe House of the Tiles the great mass of fallencrude brick and roofing was partly cleared awayin such a manner as to leave a low convex tumulusover the site of the building. Rounded stones wereset in a circle,about 19 m. in diameter,as a borderof this mound of debris. The reasons for makinga monument of this kind are not apparent. Oneguesses that the motive was fear rather than tri-umph. The area within the circle was left un-touched for some time thereafter. Houses of phaseIV A were built nearby, but outside.The Fourth Settlement marks the arrival of anew material culture. Most of the new buildingswere apsidal, with porch, main hall, and innerroom (CharisterionOrlandos3 [1966]). One smalloblong megaron was found. There were no fortifi-cations.Among the domestic implements also, newtypes occur: e.g., bored stone hammer-axes, smallanchor-shaped double hooks of terracotta, and abone object with hemispherical knobs along oneside, like those found at Troy and in Italy, Sicily,and Malta (J. Evans, Antiquity 30 [1956]). Thepottery too is quite different from that of LernaIII, comprising wares with painted patterns, darkslipped and burnished wares, and a gray ware in-distinguishable in fabric from Minyan. Some ofthe pots were turned on a wheel. The shapes,gen-erally symmetrical, include small cylindrical cupswithout handles, two-handled tankards, two-han-dled bowls with everted rims, and large jars withflaring necks. One jar with cylindrical neck and



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316 J. L. CASKEY [AJA 72winglike attachmentsrising from either side of theglobular body is almost certainly an import fromthe region of Troy, probably from Troy IV. It isexceptional; there is relatively little evidence offoreign trade in this period.PERIODV. The transitionrom LernaIV to LernaV occurred without a serious break in continuity.Apsidal house plans persisted, often appearing di-rectly above the place of an older building. GrayMinyan ware was made in canonical Middle Hel-ladic shapes, the kantharos and the ring-stemmedgoblet. Some stone implements are like those ofPeriod IV. Innovations include dark Argive andlight yellow Minyan wares, Matt-paintedpots, anda 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 fowlare now found for the first time. Much wider for-eign contacts are attested by the appearance ofsmall handmade flasks,possibly from the Balkans,and imported Middle Minoan IA pottery in thefirst phase of Lerna V. As the period progresses,with many successive building levels, there are

examples of MM II and MM III ceramic stylesand correspondingtypes of Cycladicpottery.The latest Middle Helladic strata have beenlost by erosion in most parts of the site, but thereis no reason to doubt that the transition to theMycenaeanperiod was gradual,as elsewhere in theArgolid. Two large shaft graves, much like thoseof Circle B at Mycenae, were found to have beenemptied and refilled in antiquity. In the fillingwere great quantities of potsherds reflecting lateMH styles and those of LH I. We call this periodLerna VI.

In final summary: the major breaks in continu-ity at Lerna occurred at the end of the Neolithicperiod and at the destructionof the House of theTiles. Between these turning points a long andprosperous period of habitation in EH II is setapart. From the time when the site was reoccu-pied in EH III there was continuous development,affectedby new elements at the beginning and endof the MH period but not subject to violent in-terruption.

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

ChronologicalProblemsof the EarlyBronzeAgeEarlyBronzeI-II:The Cityof AradEarlyBronzeIII:The KhirbetKerakWare

RUTH AMIRAN

In view of Albright's presentation of the mainpoints in "Some Remarks on the ArchaeologicalChronology of Palestine before about 1500B.C.," nChronologies (1965) 47-60, and in view of DeVaux' 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 withexhaustive bibliographies, it seems imperative toconcentrate here only on some additional factsand interpretationswhich might elucidate some ofthe problems left open by these recent studies.

PLATES 101-102Of the two topics here chosen, the first (a), dealswith the chronologicalcorrelationof Early Bronze

I-II Arad with First Dynasty Egypt, and its im-plications. The second topic (b) deals with theKhirbet Kerak Ware, some of its morphologicalaspects, its diffusion, and with some chronologicaldeductions 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 whichexisted between the Ghassulian cluster of cultures(in themselves a uniform phenomenon) and theappearanceof 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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