Book excerpt: Located on the shore of the Gulf of Argos, Lerna is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Greece, having been occupied with few interruptions over a period of some 5,000 years, from the 6th to the 1st millennium B.C. Following excavations under the direction of Professor J. Caskey from 1952 to 1958, the well-preserved, deeply stratified record resulted in Lerna becoming the undisputed "typesite" and master sequence for the Early and Middle Bronze Ages on the southern Greek mainland. However, the Middle Bronze Age settlement and material have never been comprehensively published. This volume presents a catalogue of the Middle Helladic ceramic material and an analysis of the material in terms of shape, decoration, and fabric with the objective of elucidating the changing patterns of ceramic production and consumption at a key mainland site.