Lecture by Antikleia Moundrea-Agrafioti, University of Thessaly

The prehistoric site Magoula Zerelia is an impressive mound situated in the south western part of the Almyros valley, in the Magnesia prefecture. It’s a high tell site, 120m long by 75 m wide, and 7m high, with a flat top at +160,83m asl, in a distance of 4 km from the sea. It was originally excavated by Wace and Thompson in the beginning of the 20th century (1908). The site was occupied from the Middle Neolithic period (“Sesklo culture”) until the Late Bronze Age, while remains of the Hellenistic, medieval, and modern periods were identified in the surface layers.

A new research programme of the University of Thessaly and the Magnesia Ephorate began in 2005 by a systematic survey on the top of the Magoula (2005) and on the fields around the site (2007). A geophysical prospection of the same area (2010) is complementing the results of the archaeological survey with new information about the underground features in the periphery of the site, between the mound and the lakes of Zerelia, two small circular lakes very close to the prehistoric mound.

The excavation at the site with a stratigraphic section, on the west slope of the mound (Section Beta) has given the opportunity to reassess the last occupation layers (Middle Bronze Age) and explore the strata of the Middle Neolithic occupation in the lower part of Section Beta. We have found some habitation features, plain and painted pottery, clay figurines, clay tokens and a restricted number of stone and bone tools. Moreover, we have found a large refuse-pit with deposits from the Middle Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period. Finally under the Middle Neolithic occupation, layers of red compact clay with a series of successive small hearths were identified down to the bedrock, which was located at about 7,50m from the top. These hearths have been dated by C14 to the middle of the 7th millennium BC. Zerelia seems to be one of the very few early neolithic sites of this period in Thessaly, contemporary to the first occupation at Sesklo and Argissa. Magoula Zerelia provides important new evidence regarding the first neolithic occupation of the coastal plain, and the earliest settlements of the first farmers/stockbreeders of SE Thessaly.