The People

The second volume of the publication of the excavations at Lerna (published jointly with the Smithsonian Institute) deals with the human bones that were found and gives a physical anthropological study of them. Skeletons from Neolithic to Roman times are described and measured in detail, studied against the ecological, historical, and cultural background of the area, and interpreted in terms of (1) demography, (2) health and disease status, (3) body build and posture, (4) microevolution, (5) genetic relationships or connections with other populations. Although the author had for many years been studying the physical anthropology of the bones from many areas of Greece, Lerna was the first site that offered him a sufficient number of sufficiently well-preserved skeletons over so long a range of time as to allow a type of study long recognized as desirable. The significance of this study for early periods of archaeology is as great as the soundness of method and clarity of presentation.