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The neolithic settlement at Makriyalos in Pieria

Αρχαιολογικά χρονικά

• Μπέσιος, Μάνθος
• Παππά, Μαρία

The excavation of the Neolithic settlement at Makriyalos in Pieria is the largest excavation of any of the settlements of the flat-extended type that have been located recently in Macedonia. It is precisely because of its large size that it offers reliable information regarding the organisation of the settlements, and confirms the models suggested by scholars, according to which the great area of the settlements is due not to excessively large population concentrations, but to different forms of spatial organisation. The two phases of the settlement that have been identified are both dated on the basis of the pottery to the later Neolithic period, phase I to the beginning of that period and phase II to the end. During phase I the presence of a system of ditches enclosing the settlement is characteristic. Inside the enclosure, groups of semi-subterranean circular houses were found built fairly far apart from each other. During phase II, parts of ditches are preserved which were probably designed to organise the intra-community space. Circular semi subterranean houses are found here, too, set more closely together, and forming the first sub-phase of phase II. A second subphase was established after the discovery of the complete ground-plan of an apsidal megaron. The characteristic feature of phase I is the presence of high-quality black burnished pottery, the closest parallels for which are found in Thessaly and the Balkans. Phase II yielded some impressive quantities of painted pottery in the classical Dimini style. Among other finds of great importance are the collection of bronze objects of phase II, and nearly 250 terracotta or marble figurines. The stone tool industry made use of a wide variety of raw materials, while the large quantity of spondylus shells that have been discovered, both worked and unworked, is remarkable. The significance of the excavation at the Neolithic settlement of Makriyalos, however, lies not so much in the small finds, as in the fact that one of the flat-extended settlements has been investigated on a scale that allows us to proceed beyond the stage of hypotheses and adopt an analytical approach to the organisation of this type of settlement.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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