Dispilio (, before 1926: Δουπιάκοι – ''Doupiakoi'') is a village near

Lake Orestiada Lake Orestiada or Lake of Kastoria ({{langx, el, Λίμνη Ορεστιάδα) is a lake in the Kastoria regional unit of Macedonia, northwestern Greece. It spreads out in a natural basin, surrounded by mountains and is the remnant of a huge an ...

, in the Kastoria regional unit of

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia (, ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional units of Greece ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Near the village is an archaeological site containing remains of a Neolithic lakeshore settlement that occupied an artificial island.

Archaeology

The remains of the lakeside settlement were discovered in 1932. The lake level was especially low in 1932 owing to a dry winter and some infrastructural works around the lake, revealing the remains of piles sticking out of the lake bottom. These have been interpreted as supports for

stilt houses Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...

and walkways, similar to those found at other sites in Europe, such as the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south ...

A preliminary survey was made in 1935 by

Antonios Keramopoulos Antonios Keramopoulos (; 1870 – 13 May 1960) was a Greeks, Greek archaeologist born in Vlasti, then in the Ottoman Empire. He conducted numerous excavations studying Mycenaean Greece, Mycenean and classical Greek antiquities during the early 20t ...

. Excavations began in 1992, led by George Hourmouziadis (1932-2013), professor of prehistoric archaeology at the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about east of Thessa ...

. The site's paleoenvironment, botany, fishing techniques, tools and ceramics were published informally in the June 2000 issue of ', a Greek archaeology magazine and by Hourmouziadis in 2002. A reconstruction of the lake dwellers' settlement has been erected near the site to attract tourists from Greece and abroad, albeit the reconstruction is not based on architectural findings from Dispilio, but rather on other similar reconstructions from around Europe. According to a series of

radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

dates, the site appears to have been occupied over a long period, from around 5600-5500 BC (

Middle Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wi ...

), to around 3700-3500 BC ( Final Neolithic or

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

).Facorellis et al., 2014, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Neolithic Lakeside Settlement of Dispilio, Kastoria, Northern Greece", Radiocarbon, 2014 A new method, combining radiocarbon and dendrochronology, has been used to date the wooden structures at the site to a single calendar-year showing that the Late Neolithic construction phases have taken place between 5328 BC and 5140 BC.Andrej Maczkowski et al, "Absolute dating of the European Neolithic using the 5259 BC rapid 14C excursion", Nature Communications, 2024 After a potential hiatus, another occupation phase is detected later, around 2400-2100 BC during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The identification of

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; ; or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines, Greece, Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos; and sou ...

an pottery also points to an occupation phase in the Late Bronze Age (second half of 2nd millennium BC). A number of artifacts have been found during the excavations spanning more than 20 years, including pottery, wooden structural elements, seeds, bones, figurines, personal ornaments,

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(some made on human bones), and many other objects. Like other waterlogged sites, Dispilio is particularly important for its excellent preservation of organic materials, such as wood, seeds, plant fibre and similar. Public interest was especially attracted after the discovery of " Dispilio Tablet", a wooden object with linear markings on its surface, conjectured by some to be an early

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

References

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

)
Dispilio Excavations Official Website, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece

fro
museumsofmacedonia.gr
(in English) * The excavation's journal, ''Anaskamma'', is available at anaskamma.wordpress.com
The Neolithic Settlement of Dispilio
fro
istorikakastorias.blogspot.com
(in

) Populated places in Kastoria (regional unit) Kastoria Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC Neolithic settlements in Macedonia (region) Pre-Indo-Europeans Populated places in ancient Greece Ancient artificial islands in Greece Former populated places in Greece Populated places disestablished in the 3rd millennium BC 3rd-millennium BC disestablishments Archaeological sites in Macedonia (Greece) {{WMacedonia-geo-stub

Archaeology

See also

References

Further reading

External links