Location information

ALIKES (Settlement) VOLOS
There are remains of ancient walls dating to the 4th century B.C.

Dimini

DIMINI (Small town) VOLOS
Region: Magnesia
Periods: Neolithic
Type: Settlement
Summary: Defining site for Thessalian Late Neolithic cultural phase.

Physical Description:
    Ca. 4 km W of Volos on a low mound, Dimini was discovered when archaeologists were excavating a Mycenaean tholos tomb built into the mound. One megaron-type building in an oval courtyard and sheds or shelters built inside against the yard's wall are enclosed by a series of 6 or 7 fortification ring-walls. Traces of smaller buildings or houses have been found outside the fortifications at the base of the mound.
Description:
    The site of Dimini covers an area of ca. 5000 sq. m and flourished during the Thessalian Late Neolithic period (ca. 4000 - 3000 B.C.). The earlier Neolithic period is represented at Dimini by only a handful of sherds and the post Neolithic remains consists of a few cist graves of Middle Bronze Age date and the Late Bronze Age tholos tomb. The architecture of the 2nd phase at Dimini shows the same construction methods and same use of materials as seen at earlier Sesklo. Dimini, however, has a definite fortification system in the form of 6 or 7 concentric circuit walls. Some of these walls were as close together as 1 m and may have been rubble filled double-faced fortress walls. The original number of walls is unknown. They vary in thickness from 0.6 to 1.4 m, were possibly 2 to 3 m in height, and were made of rough stone set in mud. The walls follow the natural contours of the hill and have no corners or towers. At the center and highest part of the oval shaped hill there was an oval courtyard in which a megaron type building and a few smaller buildings stood. Possibly one additional megaron and several additional structures were scattered within the walls.
Exploration:
    Excavations: 1901, V. Stais; 1903, C. Tsountas.

Donald R. Keller, ed.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 33 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.

• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...

Sesklo

SESKLO (Village) VOLOS
Region: Magnesia
Periods: Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age
Type: Settlement
Summary: Defining site for Thessalian Middle Neolithic cultural phase.

Physical Description:
    Ca. 15 km SW of Volos on a low mound. The Middle Neolithic settlement was a village of closely grouped houses around a central larger megaron type building with a paved courtyard. A village fortification wall has been suggested, but is not certain. Larger and less cramped houses occupied the area below the mound.
Description:
    The low mound of Sesklo, which sits in the fork of 2 small gullies is ca 100 by 45 m in area. The prehistoric deposits which vary from 3 to 6 m in depth indicate occupation through all of the prehistoric periods, from the earliest phase of the Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. The earliest settlement at Sesklo may have had a fortification wall, but the evidence is indefinite (some traces of an unusually thick wall are found at the E end of the site). The houses of the 1st settlement were built of wattle and daub on wooden frame in rectangular plan. Houses with and without stone foundations are known. In the 2nd period, the main phase of the Thessalian Middle Neolithic, the same construction methods are used and evidence for fortification of the settlement is stronger, but still inconclusive. One large building of megaron type appears. The Middle Neolithic is the major period of the site and is characterized by the distinctive Sesklo pottery. The Middle Neolithic settlement was destroyed by fire and a 500 year hiatus in occupation followed before the site was reoccupied in the Late Neolithic. After the Middle Neolithic the remains from Sesklo are meager and unimportant.
Exploration:
    Excavations: 1901-02, C. Tsountas; 1956-7, 1962-8, 1971-6, D. Theocharis.

Donald R. Keller, ed.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 19 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.

• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...