The postwar village · Ancient Lerna
Lerna is handed over to the Greek state
2 July 1959 Proven
On 2 July 1959 Caskey handed over the excavated site and the finds, now displayed in the museum of Argos, to the Greek Archaeological Service. He gave the key of the shelter to Ioannis Papadimitriou, in the presence of the prefect, the ephor N. Verdelis and people of Myloi; council member Angelos Diamantopoulos thanked him on behalf of the community and handed him the decision making him an honorary citizen.
Read the full story: The man who gave Lerna a face
- Threads
- Ancient Lerna
- Certainty
- Proven confirmed by primary sources
Sources
- Ελευθερία, 4 July 1959, p. 3 (photograph of the ceremony)
- Άσπις του Άργους, 5 July 1959, p. 1
- L. S. Meritt, History of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 1939–1980, ch. IX
- ASCSA Archives, Administrative Records, Box 204/18, folder 5: "The installation of the Lerna excavation finds at the museum of Argos" (1959)
Also in this period
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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.
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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…
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1953
A trench right beside the railway
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.
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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…