1953 Proven

In 1953 the diggers opened Area D right next to the Argos–Myloi railway, so trains passed only a few metres from the trench. The plates in Hesperia show both the ancient walls and the tracks.

Read the full story: The man who gave Lerna a face

Where
Archaeological site of Lerna
Who
John Langdon Caskey
Threads
Ancient Lerna, Railway
Certainty
Proven confirmed by primary sources

Pictures

  • Hesperia plate showing excavation Area D at Lerna, with the Argos–Myloi railway right beside the trench, plus pottery.

    Hesperia plate showing excavation Area D at Lerna, with the Argos–Myloi railway right beside the trench, plus pottery. J. L. Caskey / ASCSA Lerna excavation

Sources

  • J. L. Caskey, Hesperia 23 (1954), pl. 2

Also in this period

  1. 1950–1969

    Souvlaki passed up to the train windows

    Because so many trains stopped at the junction of Myloi, the village became known for souvlaki. Sellers walked along the carriages with trays of skewers and passed them up to passengers at the open windows; a magazine…

    ProbableVillage lifeRailway

  2. 1952

    John Caskey starts digging at Lerna

    In 1952 the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, led by its director John L. Caskey, opened the first trenches in the low mound by the springs, at the edge of Myloi. The work went on every year until 1958.

    ProvenAncient Lerna

  3. 1952–1953

    Caskey photographs the marshes of Lerna

    Caskey's first report shows the site from Mount Pontinos: marshes, the stream Amymone running from the spring to the gulf, orchards and the railway. It is one of the best pictures of the water landscape just before the…

    ProvenAncient LernaWater and mills

  4. 1954

    The House of the Tiles comes to light

    By the summer of 1954 a large part of the House of the Tiles was exposed: a big Early Bronze Age building (around 2500–2200 BC) whose roof had been covered with baked clay tiles. Caskey published the first photographs in…

    ProvenAncient Lerna