Lerna

Long-lived coastal settlement site near Argos in the Peloponnese, southern Greece. Middle and Late Neolithic villages were succeeded by a fortified township of Early Helladic II (c 3000 BC, Early Bronze Age). At this stage it was a fortified township, surrounded by a stone wall with D-shaped bastions. Houses, built of mud-brick on stone foundations, include a building known as the House of Tiles, roofed with stone and terra-cotta tiles - a very early appearance of this roofing technique. Around 2400-2200 BC it burnt down and was rebuilt in Early Helladic III (Middle Bronze Age), when the first pieces of Minyan Ware appear; the radical cultural change suggests the burning was intentional. Scattered imports from Crete assist in the dating. Two rectangular shaft, royal graves contemporary with the Shaft Grave B circle at Mycenae, c 1600 BC (Middle Helladic), were the latest material on the site.

Coastal settlement in the Argolid, eastern Peloponnese (southern Greece) occupied in the Neolithic period and the Early and Middle Bronze Age. The Neolithic settlement was followed by a break in occupation and then the site was reoccupied in the Early Helladic II phase, c3000 bc. At this stage it was a fortified township, surrounded by a stone wall with D-shaped bastions. Houses, built of mud-brick on stone foundations, include a building known as the House of Tiles, measuring c25 by 12 metres and roofed with stone and terracotta tiles — a very early appearance of this roofing technique. The House of Tiles was destroyed by fire, perhaps c2400 bc; the settlement was rebuilt subsequently in the EH III phase, when Minyan ware came into use. The site remained in occupation throughout the Middle Helladic period until about 1600 bc. The latest dateable material comes from two rectangular shaft graves, approximately contemporary with the Shaft Grave B circle at Mycenae.