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Early helladic ossuary in the cave of Limni Vouliagmenis, Perachora

• Κουμουζέλη, Μαργαρίτα

A short distance away from the Early Helladic settlement at Limni Vouliagmenis. Perachora, is a cave that came to the attention of the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleology after it was illegally excavated. Systematic investigation by the Ephorate revealed that this cave, which has the form of a pit and was unsuitable for any other purpose, was used by the settlement exclusively as an ossuary. In addition to the bones mixed with sherds, skulls were found arranged in a row along the side walls of the cave. This according of special treatment to the skull is a practice characteristic of the Cyclades in the Bronze Age. It is also found sporadically elsewhere: in Tomb 9 at Ayios Kosmas in Attica, for example, and in the Trapeza Tzermiadou cave in Crete, which is also the closest parallel for the cave-ossuary at Limni Vouliagmenis. The bones come mainly from children in their pre-teenage years, who probably fell victim to some haemolytic blood-disease caused by malaria. Archaeological research in the eastern Mediterranean, combined with examination of ancient bones, has already established that in settlements in marshy areas, like that at Limni Vouliagmenis, a sizeable proportion of the inhabitants suffered from anaemia, which, under certain conditions, leads to infant mortality.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Burial

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