The Neolithic Settlement

by Elizabeth C. Banks
Lerna VII
408 pp, 66 b/w figs, 53 pls, 13 tables, 36 plans and sections
9" x 12"
Cloth, ISBN: 978-0-87661-307-8
Publication Date: Jan 2016
Status: Active
Retail Price $150
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 911±¬ÁÏ³Ô¹Ï 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).
About the Author: Elizabeth C. Banks is Associate Professor Emerita of the University of Kansas.
Reviews:
"Elizabeth C. Banks, having taken on the burdensome task of organising and publishing material from an old but emblematic excavation, has done so with competence and a welcome directness. This handsomely produced book is an invaluable contribution to the history of the poorly known Neolithic of southern Greece." Nikos Efstratiou, Antiquity 90 (2016), pp. 1703-1704
"This volume, with the detailed description of architecture and finds, is a contribution to the Neolithic in the Peloponnese and the whole of Greece and a worthy addition to the high-end Lerna series." Kostas Kotsakis, Journal of Greek Archaeology 1 (2016), pp. 403-405
"This long-overdue volume is essential for placing the finds from Lerna in their proper stratigraphical context and for the publication of the architectural remains. Lerna is now the best documented open-air settlement in the Peloponnese. This book is an essential volume for those working on the Neolithic period in Greece." Lily A. Bonga, BMCR 2016.11.08