If the name "Lerna" brings back any memories at all, it's probably from when you learned about the Labors of Heracles (aka 'Hercules'); remember when he killed the Lernaean hydra? Yep, this is that Lerna. However, hydras are now a protected species and killing one will get you in big trouble.
After 5300 BC, the site was sporadically inhabited, eventually culminating in a truly magnificent building constructed about 2500 BC. Archaeologists have named it the 'House of the Tiles' because, well, it had a lot of roof tiles in it. Archaeologists may be the first group I've discovered with worse instincts for names than astronomers. [Astronomers, who named the largest black hole in the Galaxy, a black hole the size of the solar system whose mass is more than a million Suns, Sagittarius A*. Yes, the * is part of the name. Don't ask.]
The House of the Tiles was massive for the time. It had two stories (remnants of two staircases have been found) and a number of rooms for sleeping, dining, and storage. Apparently the folks who lived here were trading with people as far away as Crete.
Unfortunately, the building was almost but not quite completed when it was destroyed by fire. We suspect arson, after the contractor got fed up with the ever-growing punch list and torched the place.
After the fire the locals got together and erected a pile of dirt (aka a 'tumulus', which was also built over graves) over the site, abandoning it afterwards. It's not quite clear why they did this; perhaps some important people died in the fire and this was the easiest solution, and/or the contractor was really well connected and wanted to make the point that people trying to screw around on his completion bonus was a bad, bad idea.
The site was later inhabited by the Romans, and is now only about 10 minutes away from Napflio. As any real estate agent will tell you, location is everything...
HAHA! I love your comment about the contractor. People never change!
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