Mount Penteli - River Kephissos - 2013

Mount Penteli - River Kephissos. Dimitrios Palaiologos (Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica), Maria Stefanopoulou (Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica) report the following:

During the course of salvage excavations and surface surveys in northern Attica conducted by the Ephorate for the Antiquities of Eastern Attica and the Ephorate for the Antiquities of Athens in 2008-2013, the authors located 36 new prehistoric sites.

The sites are situated on the hills of Mount Penteli and on flat land next to the river Kephissos. Nine of these sites, ranging from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, are described in the present article, adding new elements to the topography of the Greek mainland in prehistory, and plotting in the archaeological map regions that were up to now unknown for being inhabited during these periods.

More specifically, the Early Neolithic is represented by small settlements which were discovered mainly in flat areas. They were inhabited by small scattered groups, and were either abandoned before the Middle Neolithic or shrank, leaving only sporadic remains which may date as late as the Late Neolithic. The sites of the Final Neolithic are situated on the hills of Mount Penteli and consist of small settlements, which are sometimes protected with enclosures. During the Early Bronze Age larger settlements appear mainly on flat areas. In EH II there seems to be an increase in the number of sites.

As far as architecture is concerned, we observe a prevalence of the post-hole kind of circular and rectangular hut, with floors paved by stones or earth. The finds consist of a great amount of pottery, including whole pots, as well as ground and chipped stone tools and pieces of jewellery.