389-406

Early bronze age settlement at Skala Soteros on the island of Thasos

• Κουκούλη - Χρυσανθάκη, Χάιδω

An excavation was carried out in 1986 and 1987 on the Prophètes Helias hill, where the central church of the modern village of Skala Soteros of Thasos is located. A settlement of the Early Bronze Age with a perimeter wall was excavated belowa habitation layer from the 6th to the 3rd century B.C. and another layer corresponding to the use of the hill as a cemetery in the late Roman and the early Christian period. Part of the southwestern perimeter wall and two gates of the southwestern corner —probably not contemporary— were found. An apsidal (semicircular)building was partially excavated inside the perimeter wall. The floor of the building in a higher level than that of the foundation was partially revealed; many pots covered with burnt clay were found in situ. The pottery of the floor dates the latest destruction layer of the prehistoric settlement to the Early Bronze Age, contemporary with the Sitagri Vb (E. Macedonia), the late Early Bronze Age in C. Macedonia and Troy II-IV phases. Below the floor with burnt clay in the interior of the semi-circular building, the excavation yielded walls of earlier buildings contemporary with the earlier phase of the perimeter wall and the gates. This phase of the earliest habitation of the area seems to be contemporary with Sitagri Va, Dikili Tash Illb, Emporio IV-V and Troy I periods. The palaeobotanic material —burnt seeds and among them grape-seeds— of the destruction layer with the vases in situ is quite significant. The thick layers of ash found north-east of the semi-circular building containing many pieces of bones and shells yielded important palaeozoological material. The fragments of human-shaped stelae are the most important finds of the prehistoric settlement. The best preserved example is a schist human-shaped stele found on a wall of the earliest phase of the building, below the floor with the in situ pottery.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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