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This paper presents the results of a study exploring the potential of magnetic-susceptibility and phosphate soil analyses to locate and characterize buried Neolithic settlements in Thessaly, Greece. Using the preliminary results of large-area magnetometer surveys, soil samples were collected at three well-known sites along exploratory lines and augers targeting the locations of possible features of interest, including habitational structures and enclosures. The results demonstrated the capability of these analyses to detect the sites, outline hotspots and better interpret the features identified in the magnetometer results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built heritage constitutes an invaluable asset to be treasured and wisely managed in order to avoid loss of place identity, cultural and social degradation and loss of leisure and tourism opportunities. The present paper focuses on the modern built heritage of the Thessaly Region (Greece), giving special emphasis to the “konakia” monuments built during the late 19th and early 20th century that were once used as residences by the big landowners of the Thessalian agricultural plain (“tsiflikia”). Field research conducted, as well as a survey of secondary data, revealed that only fifteen (15) “konakia” remain in Thessaly, equally dispersed in Larisa, Trikala and Karditsa Prefectures. Given their use, all of the “konakia” are found within—or in the vicinity of—agricultural land and settlements. Most of them present severe signs of abandonment, while only four (4) of them are in use (either as second-homes or as spaces with cultural and administrative use). Starting in 1979 (until 2005), with the exception of the Averof “konakia”, all of the rest have been designated as part of the modern built heritage of Greece. Considering these facts—and that most of such properties are private—the paper proposes a six (6) step methodology, for their wise management and integration in the spatial and cultural landscape of Thessaly: (1) Selection of the proper type of (re)use of the monument(s), (2) selection (or reconsideration) of the protection status and zoning, (3) identification of the urban regeneration interventions, (4) introduction of the necessary amendments to the urban/local plan, (5) selection of the proper financial tools and (6) selection of the proper marketing strategy. The paper concludes by highlighting the need to address the “konakia” as a set of monuments, to achieve stakeholders’ engagement and local community involvement, without undermining either protection status or the private rights of owners over these cultural properties.

Thessaly is a low relief region in Greece where hundreds of Neolithic settlements/tells called magoules were established from the Early Neolithic period until the Bronze Age (6,000 - 3,000 BC). Multi-sensor remote sensing was applied to the study area in order to evaluate its potential to detect Neolithic settlements. Hundreds of sites were geo-referenced through systematic GPS surveying throughout the region. Data from four primary sensors were used, namely Landsat ETM, ASTER, EO1 - HYPERION and IKONOS. A range of image processing techniques were originally applied to the hyperspectral imagery in order to detect the settlements and validate the results of GPS surveying. Although specific difficulties were encountered in the automatic classification of archaeological features composed by a similar parent material with the surrounding landscape, the results of the research suggested a different response of each sensor to the detection of the Neolithic settlements, according to their spectral and spatial resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report the results of a study utilizing wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis and petrographic analysis of Mycenaean pottery from 11 sites in Thessaly. The primary purpose of this analysis is to answer a number of questions concerning the production and distribution of pottery there during the Late Bronze Age, including the relative quantity of local ceramic production, the number of workshops producing Mycenaean pottery and patterns of ceramic distribution. We identify and characterize four compositional groups, discuss evidence of imported pottery, suggest several probable and possible workshop locations, discuss patterns of distribution and offer some tentative conclusions concerning economic processes at the periphery of the Mycenaean world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined geological/stratigraphical and archaeological survey was carried out in June, 1991, in the Lartsa basin of Thessaly, Greece, as the last in a series of surveys begun in 1987. An age range of 60-30 thousand years (kyr) was also established for in situ Middle Paleolithic sites exposed by the downcutting of the Peneios River valley between the Kalamakiou gorge and Larisa. The environmental settings for these sites were reconstructed by means of geological/soil stratigraphic studies, and on this basis we propose that the Middle Paleolithic sites are kill sites or hunting camps on bars and interfluves in a wide plain of braided, aggrading streams. In 1991 quartz pebble and flake-tool assemblages of the late Lower Paleolithic were discovered at a site near Rodia north of Larisa, and at six sites in the Megalo Monastiri area in the southern portion of the Larisa basin. The new assemblages are dated to ca. 200-400 kyr, and demonstrate that the Lower Paleolithic chopper and flake-tool industries common in eastern and SE Europe extend also to Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on several reports about the archaeological activities in Thessaly, Greece. The report by A. Doulgeri-Intzesiloglou focuses on the result of a study about the small sanctuary on the hill of Spartia. Another report describes the tholos tomb found at Kazanaki, as well as the number of people who were buried in the tomb. The report by N. H. Andreasen and A. Darlas offers updates on the second season of an excavation as part of the Pelion Cave Project.

Discusses some archaeological work in Thessaly, Greece. Focus on the excavation in the site of Leptos Gialos; Discovery of ten cist graves in the Volos area; Designation of Larisa as an archaeological site.