Sesklo settlement, Thessaly

[Ellinas]

Sesklo



Sesklo settlement developed on "Kastraki" hill and the area arround it. It was inhabited from the Middle of the 7th till the 4th millenium B.C. During the Middle Neolithic period the settlement covered a large area of at least 100.000 sq. m. The stone foundations of blocks of houses are visible on Kastraki hill.

The Neolithic settlement of Sesklo was first discovered in the end of 19th century. The findings of the excavations that followed established the settlement as one of the main Neolithic settlements in Greece, as well as in Europe. The pottery found there consists the chronological basis of the Middle Neolithic subperiods in the whole hellenic area. During the Middle Neolithic the settlement was very extended. This period is widely known as "Sesklo civilization" and is characterized from the increase of pottery and the improvement of firing techniques. The abundance of stone tools and the increased use of obsidian from Melos are characteristic. The strucrures on "Kastraki" hill are mainly of small size with narrow streets and open areas -"squares"- among them.

The first excavations of the settlement took place in 1901-1902 by Chr. Tsountas. In 1956 D. R. Theocharis started a new archaeological research on the hill and, since 1972, in the surrounding area, where an extended settlement of the Middle Neolithic period was revealed.

[Ellinas]

Sesklo location:
Longitude: 22.8275 (22°49'46") E
Latitude: 39.300833 (39°21'5") N


This settlement gives its name to the first Neolithic culture of Europe, which inhabited Thessaly and parts of Greek Macedonia. The oldest fragments researched at Sesklo place the civilization's development as far back as 6850 BC with a +/- 660 year margin of error. The first settlements, that predate the 6th millennium BCE, are known as proto-Sesklo (main group) and pre-Sesklo (secondary groups with differentiated characteristics) and they show an advanced agriculture and a very early use of pottery that rivals in age with those of the Near East. Some affinities with the culture of Hacilar seem to point to an Asian origin of these first European peasants.

The peoples of Sesklo built their villages at hillsides, near fertile valleys, where they grew wheat and barley, keeping also herds of mainly sheep and goats, though they also had cows, pigs and dogs. Their houses were small, with one or two rooms, built of wood or mudbrick in the early period. Later the construction technique becomes more homogeneous and all homes are built of adobe with stone foundations. In the 6th millennium BCE, the first houses with two levels are found and there is also a clear intentional urbanism.

The lower levels of proto-Sesklo lack of pottery, but they soon developed a very fine glazed one (cups and bowls) that they decorate with geometric paintings in red or brown colours. In the Sesklo period properly, new types of ware are incorporated. At the end of the period the decoration evolves to flame motifs.

One significant characteristic of this culture is the abundance of statuettes of women, often pregnant, what some consider to be a religious trait. Whichever the case, these abundant sculptures are present in all the Balcanic and most of the Danubian Neolithic complex form many millennia, though they can't be considered exclusive of this area.

The culture of Seklo is crucial in the expansion of Neolithic into Europe. All other Balcanic cultures (basically those of Karanovo I-II and Starcevo-Köros) originate here, and will be these which will stimulate the birth of the important Danubian Neolithic current. Also, it is thought that the differentiated settlements of pre-Sesklo can be, at least partly, at the origin of the Mediterranean Neolithic (Cardium pottery). So it can be said that, with very few exceptions, all European Neolithic originates here: in the Thessalia of Sesklo.

The "invasion theory" states that the Sesklo culture lasted more than one full millennium up until 5000 BC when it was violently conquered by people of the Dimini culture. The Dimini culture in this theory is considered different from that found at Sesklo. However, Professor I. Lyritzis provides a different story pertaining to the final fate of the "Seskloans". He, along with R. Galloway, compared ceramic materials from both Sesklo and Dimini utilizing thermoluminescence dating methods. He discovered that the inhabitants of the settlement in Dimini appeared around 4800 BC, four centuries after the fall of the Sesklo civilization (ca. 4400 BC). Lyritzis concluded that the "Seskloans" and "Diminians" coexisted for a period of time.