Thanks to its almost uninterrupted occupational sequence spanning approximately 5000 years from the sixth to the first millennium BCE, the site of Lerna, near the shore of the Gulf of Argos in the north-east Peloponnese, is one of the type-sites of prehistoric mainland Greece. It is almost 70 years after the excavation of the settlement under the direction of John Caskey that this long-awaited tenth volume of the series appears. Michael Lindblom presents here the Late Helladic I to II material of Lerna Phase VI, broadly corresponding to the Shaft Grave and Early Mycenaean periods (c. 1680/1660–1410 BCE) representing the settlement’s final major prehistoric occupation.
Lindblom was already entrusted in 2002 with the material and acknowledges in a brief introduction the extended trajectory of the project, shaped by intervening scholarly commitments and personal circumstances. The analytical framework of the study was largely determined by Carol Zerner, who was originally responsible for the publication of the Middle Helladic (MH) and Late Helladic (LH) I–II remains. The division between MH and LH contexts imposes certain limitations on the study, as Lindblom observes: the transitional MH III/LH I period remains elusive. Contexts that may belong to early LH I but cannot be securely assigned to that phase are classified as MH III/LH I and are covered by the work of Lindsay Spencer on the MH remains of Lerna V (pottery published in 2024; contextual analysis forthcoming). This issue is particularly evident in the funerary record: in the absence of securely datable grave goods, most pit and cist burials can be only broadly dated to the MH III/LH I period. Therefore, although Eleni Milka in her study on the burial sequence of the MH period Argolid had assigned a large number of graves in Lerna to the LH I period (Milka Reference Milka2023: 3–105), only nine graves containing LH I pottery are discussed in this volume.
Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of the LH I–II material within its archaeological context. Chapter 2 focuses on the two shaft graves, while Chapter 3 discusses other LH I–II contexts, including additional graves, domestic architecture and refuse pits. Analysis of these remains and their associated pottery demonstrates that Lerna remained continuously inhabited throughout LH I, albeit with a shift of settlement activity eastwards towards the shoreline. The sparse LH IIA evidence—marked by an absence of new architectural features and only a few securely dated graves—suggests that the settlement had largely been abandoned by this time. The central area of the long-occupied MH settlement gradually transformed into a burial ground and by mid-LH I, when the two shaft graves were constructed, this area was no longer inhabited. Owing to accumulated occupational debris, it had acquired a slightly elevated position. Lindblom convincingly argues that visibility, accessibility and emotional attachment were the decisive factors in selecting the location of these elite burials, rather than a collective memory of earlier monumental structures.
Chapters 4 and 5 form the core of the volume, presenting an extensive analysis of the ceramic material recovered from the contexts discussed earlier. The sheer quantity of regionally produced and imported pottery from the shaft grave fills constitutes the largest LH I assemblage yet discovered on the Greek mainland. The relatively short period during which the fills accumulated allows detailed synchronisation of ceramic classes from different regions. To this purpose, the author constructed a database comprising approximately 2500 published vessels from over 60 sites across the north-eastern Peloponnese and neighbouring regions, organised through a three-tier classification system based on ceramic class, vessel shape and painted decoration. This fine-tuned system makes it possible to establish a system with consistent parameters for comparison with ceramic assemblages from other sites in the wider region. This methodological contribution alone will make the volume an essential reference work for specialists working on ceramic wares of the late MH to early LH periods. On the basis of this classification system, Chapter 5 presents an analysis of the various pottery classes of largely mid to late LH I date. According to the author, the introduction of a new ceramic tradition led to lustrous decorated Mycenaean (LDM) ware. This can be most likely explained by the relocation of potters previously active on Kythera, off the southern shores of the Peloponnese, who established a workshop at a coastal location in the western part of the Argive plain specialising in wheel-finished drinking and pouring vessels with highly lustrous surfaces. The ceramic analysis established a relative chronology, which sees Shaft Grave 1 slightly earlier (mature or middle LH I date) than Shaft Grave 2 (late LH I date), a sequence supported by the radiocarbon dates from the two shaft grave fills. Particularly notable is the unusually high proportion of imports from Aigina—approximately 50 per cent of the pottery in the shaft grave fills—highlighting the intensity of interregional connections during this period. Petrographic and neutron activation analyses confirmed the extensive contacts of Lerna within the wider region and beyond, and demonstrated that the analysed LH I LDM pottery was not produced in the area of Berbati (a major ceramic workshop operating from LH IIB onwards), but elsewhere in the region.
The final chapter situates Lerna within its broader cultural and social framework. The author introduces the concept of ‘orbits of engagement’, defined as overlapping spheres of interaction reconstructed archaeologically through ceramic distribution patterns. Within this model, Lerna and the Argive plain occupy a pivotal position at the intersection of multiple social networks that contributed to the emergence of what we identify as Mycenaean culture in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Further on in the chapter, the two shaft graves and the individuals associated with them are set in context, proposing a compelling reconstruction of an extended kin group, possibly closely connected with communities at Aigina-Kolonna. Lindblom tentatively reconstructs the damaged and backfilled graves as the aftermath of a violent confrontation between the elites of Mycenae and Lerna, with Mycenae emerging victorious and consolidating its dominance within the Argolid.
Caskey and his team were understandably disappointed when the Lerna shaft graves proved robbed and refilled, especially given the earlier discovery at Mycenae of Grave Circle B with its richly furnished burials. As a result, the full interpretative potential of the Lerna graves was not initially recognised. Lindblom demonstrates that these graves offer a rare opportunity to reconstruct the ceremonial practices surrounding elite burials. As he aptly notes, the Lerna shaft graves move attention away from the deceased and towards the living participants in the funerary rites. The fills, containing vast quantities of pottery fragments and terrestrial as well as marine animal remains, reveal extensive ritual activity, including mourning and funerary feasting involving large-scale consumption of food and drink. These rituals, likely extending over several days and involving hundreds of participants, constituted a powerful social statement as much as a religious ceremony.
The publication is exemplary in presentation and documentation. The analysis is richly supported by drawings and photographs of excavation contexts and of diagnostic ceramic assemblages, high-quality drawings of ceramics and other finds, and numerous tables and figures illustrating vessel shapes and decorative motifs. The appendices include faunal analyses by David Reese, petrographic descriptions by Ian Whitbread, neutron activation analyses by Hans Mommsen, volumetric calculations and ceramic reference groups comparanda for LH I wares. It is therefore well-deserved that the volume received the 2025 Anna Marguerite McCann Award for Fieldwork Reports from the Archaeological Institute of America.
Lindblom’s study of phase VI at Lerna substantially reshapes our understanding of the LH I period and the emerging Early Mycenaean period in the northeastern Peloponnese. The meticulous ceramic analysis combined with methodological clarity and interpretative ambition presents a work of enduring scholarly significance.
