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The early habitation phases of the neolithic settlement at limenaria

• Παπαδόπουλος, Στρατής
• Μαλαμίδου, Δήμητρα

In previous seasons, we investigated the SW end of the Middle Neolithic settlement, discovering a peripheral zone with open-air hearths, benches, storage pits, and refuse pits on the outer perimeter. The 150 excavated this year enabled us to investigate part of the settlement towards the interior, bringing details of the urban tissue to light.We uncovered parts of at least 2 successive pile-dwellings on approximately the same site and facing the same direction. The earlier building is characterised by the presence on its exterior of a covered rectangular structure (PI. 1). A narrow building some 15 m long and similarly oriented was built shortly afterwards on the same site (Fig. 1). To the W of it was found a rectangular bench constructed of clay and defined by a row of stones (Fig. 1 : β, PI. 2). A few post-holes along the edges suggest that such rectangular or ellipsoidal structures may have been roofed.In the earlier habitation phase, the entire excavated area was open to the sky and occupied by storage pits, hearths, and stone benches (Fig. 2). This zone surrounded a well with a diameter of about 2.50 m hewn out of the bedrock and surrounded by a circular parapet, which survives to a height of 0.30 m (Fig. 2: π), the excavation of its interior progressed to a depth of 5 m, without yet reaching the bottom (PI. 4).This year, information about the Early Neolithic phases of the settlement was also provided by the geo-archaeological investigation. It was found that the Neolithic community settled at the SW end of a Middle or Upper Pleistocene terrace which was 2-3 m lower than at present. The same applies to the coastal plain and the valley of the seasonal river; so the local relief was no different during the first settlement, apart from the presence of a flat coastal strip about 600 m wide between the settlement and the shoreline. The choice of the site was based on the fact that it was located on the edge of areas of different types of terrain with soil that was easy to cultivate. In the S part of the valley and in the coastal strip, there is permanent ground water, which the prehistoric community presumably located, and exploited by digging the well.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Αρχαιολογία

Νεολιθική εποχή, Θάσος

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