The Cave of the Lakes, situated at an altitude of approximately 800 m on Mount Helmos in northeastern Peloponnese, hosted a short-lived Neolithic settlement at its natural entrance toward the end of the 5th millennium BC. This settlement effectively formed a small village extending around the cave entrance, while parts of the interior were also used for specific purposes (e.g. storage).
Prior to the 5th millennium BC, the area was unsuitable for habitation, as it was flooded by water flowing through the cave like a river. After the Neolithic period, the site was reused during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (3rd and 2nd millennia BC), with intervening occupational gaps. Among all prehistoric phases of use within the cave, the Neolithic occupation displays the greatest density, duration, and spatial extent.
Most Neolithic vessels are coarse wares, predominantly dark brown in colour. The most common forms are bowls and deep open jars, which would have served the preparation and consumption of food, and possibly certain forms of food preservation. Painted pottery and vessels with polychrome surfaces are entirely absent. However, incised decoration is present and exhibits rare characteristics: lines, cross-hatched rectangles, and triangles were executed with extremely fine, barely visible incisions, especially on bowls. Typical plastic and cord-impressed decoration of the period is also present on deeper vessels.
Coarse pottery also characterizes the Bronze Age occupation of the cave. From the Middle Helladic period, vessels with grooves and a number of fine cups stand out. Toward the end of this period, an ossuary was established in a niche immediately inside the cave entrance. The Cave of the Lakes is one of the very few caves in mainland Greece that combine high altitude with long-term prehistoric use. During the Neolithic, it was most likely used for systematic seasonal occupation by mobile groups—probably pastoralists—who spent the winter months in the lowlands of the Peloponnese. The presence of an open-air settlement of the later Bronze Age in close proximity to the cave, together with the establishment of the ossuary, may indicate that during this phase the cave’s users originated from the immediate surrounding landscape.