Ancient site · Settlement
Sesklo
Sesklo, near Volos in Thessaly, gave its name to one of Europe's earliest farming cultures. Its people grew wheat and barley and herded sheep, goats, cattle and pigs.
The oldest levels have no pottery, but villagers soon made fine painted ware with red and brown geometric patterns. Houses of mudbrick on stone foundations were laid out with some planning, and a few had two floors. At its peak, around 5000 BCE, the settlement may have covered about 20 hectares, though population estimates of up to 5,000 people are uncertain.
- Dates
- c. 7000–4400 BCE (earliest levels possibly older)
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 39.35° N, 22.84° E
How we know
No writing existed; the dates come from excavated layers and radiocarbon, and the oldest pre-pottery levels are still debated.
Nearby sites
- Acropolis of Athens (Parthenon) Parthenon 447–432 BCE; damaged 1687
- Mycenae citadel c. 1600–1100 BCE (Lion Gate c. 1250 BCE)
- Olympia Games c. 776 BCE (traditional) – 390s CE
- Troy (Hisarlik) c. 3600 BCE – c. 500 CE
- Akrotiri settled by c. 4500 BCE; buried c. 1600 BCE
- Knossos (Palace of Minos) palace c. 1900–1350 BCE (hill settled from c. 7000 BCE)
Related
- Sesklo culture (early farmers of Greece) archaeological culture