Description of the attraction
Sesklo is one of the most important archaeological sites on the territory of modern Greece, as well as one of the oldest known Neolithic settlements in Europe. The remains of the ancient settlement are located on the Kastraki hill next to the small village of Sesklo (Thessaly), from which, in fact, the name originated, both of the settlement itself and of the Neolithic cultures that subsequently spread throughout Thessaly.
The multi-layered prehistoric settlement was discovered at the end of the 19th century by a group of archaeologists led by Christos Tsuntas. The results of archaeological excavations made it possible to establish that this area was inhabited from the early Neolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age. The first settlers arrived in Sesklo in the first half of the 7th millennium BC. during the so-called pre-ceramic Neolithic and their main occupations were agriculture and animal husbandry. It is impossible to define the clear boundaries of the first settlement, but it is safe to say that it was quite large and was characterized by small one- and two-room houses built of wood or bricks made from a mixture of sand, silt, clay, straw and water. The later settlement is distinguished by a variety of types of buildings and materials used in their construction. Over time, two-level houses and the first ceramics appeared.
The peak of Sesklo's heyday fell on 5800-5400 BC. The area of the settlement, which already occupied not only the Kastraki hill, but also its surroundings and numbering from 500 to 800 residential buildings during this period was about 100 thousand m2. All houses had stone foundations, brick walls and wooden roofs. Each house had a hearth, and there was a clear division of premises into living quarters, for cooking and storage. The ceramics of this period are distinguished by varied painting, and improved firing methods are used in their manufacture. At the end of the 5th millennium BC. the settlement was destroyed by fire, while a new one on the top of the hill was formed only 500 years later and existed until the middle of the Bronze Age.
