View source for Sesklo

{{Infobox Greek Dimos
|name               = Sesklo
|name_local         = Σέσκλο
|type = community
|periph             = [[Thessaly]]
|periphunit         = [[Magnesia (regional unit)|Magnesia]]
|municipality       = [[Volos]]
|municunit          = [[Aisonia]]
|population         = 900
|population_as_of   = 2021
|elevation          = 200
|coordinates        = {{coord|39|21.3|N|22|50.1|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code        = 385 00
|area_code          = 24210
}}

{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name       = Sesklo culture
|region     = [[Eastern Europe]]
|period     = [[Neolithic Greece]]
|dates      = c. 6850 BC — c. 4400 BC
|typesite   = '''Sesklo'''
|majorsites = '''Sesklo'''
|precededby = [[Neolithic Greece]]
|followedby = [[Dimini culture]], [[Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș culture]]
}}

'''Sesklo''' ({{langx|el|Σέσκλο}}; {{langx|rup|Seshklu}}) is a [[village]] in [[Greece]] that is located near [[Volos]], a city located within the [[Municipalities and communities of Greece|municipality]] of [[Aisonia]]. The municipality is located within the [[Regional units of Greece|regional unit]] of [[Magnesia (regional unit)|Magnesia]] that is located within the [[Administrative regions of Greece|administrative region]] of [[Thessaly]]. During the [[prehistory of Southeastern Europe]], Sesklo was a significant settlement of [[Neolithic Greece]], before the advent of the [[Bronze Age]] and millennia before the [[Mycenaean period]].

==Sesklo culture==
The settlement at Sesklo gives its name to the earliest known [[Neolithic]] culture of [[Europe]], which inhabited Thessaly and parts of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]]. The Neolithic settlement was discovered in the 19th century and the first excavations were made by the Greek [[archaeologist]] [[Christos Tsountas]]. 

===Pre-Sesklo===
The oldest fragments researched at Sesklo place development of the culture as far back as c. 7510 BC — c. 6190 BC, known as '''proto-Sesklo''' and '''pre-Sesklo'''. They show an advanced agriculture and a very early use of pottery that rivals in age those documented in the near east.

Available data also indicates that domestication of cattle occurred at [[Argissa Magoula|Argissa]] as early as c. 6300 BC, during the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/europe/argissa-magoula.html |title=Argissa-Magoula |access-date=2007-05-13 |archive-date=2007-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210120522/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/europe/argissa-magoula.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The aceramic levels at Sesklo also contained bone fragments of domesticated cattle. The earliest similar occurrence documented in the [[Near East]] is at [[Çatalhöyük]], in stratum VI, dating c. 5750 BC, although it might have been present in stratum XII too — c. 6100 BC. 

The Neolithic settlement of Sesklo covered an area of approximately 20 hectares during its peak period at c. 5000 BC and comprised about 500 to 800 houses with a population estimated potentially, to be as large as 5,000 people.<ref>[http://esrea2006.ece.uth.gr/en/local.php "History of Volos"] on the web publication of the ESREA Life History and Biography Network's 2006 Conference ''Transitional Spaces, Transitional Processes and Research Volos, Greece, 2–5 March 2006''.</ref><ref>Curtis Neil Runnels, Priscilla Murray: ''Greece Before History: An Archaeological Companion and Guide.'' Stanford University Press, Stanford/CA 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rg4rTjo0OCQC&dq=sesklo+settlement+2%2C000+people&pg=PA146 p. 146]: "Theocharis believed that the entire area from there to the upper acropolis of the site was filled with habitations and that Sesklo was a town of perhaps 5,000 people, rather than a village. Other archaeologists working at the site have reduced the population estimate to between 1,000 and 2,000, but either way, Sesklo was a settlement of impressive size in its day."</ref>

The people of Sesklo built their villages on hillsides near fertile valleys, where they grew [[wheat]] and [[barley]]. They kept herds of mainly [[sheep]] and [[goats]], although they also had [[cattle]], [[swine]], and [[dogs]].

Their houses were small, with one or two rooms, built of [[wood]] or [[mudbrick]] in the early period. [[Construction]] techniques later became more homogeneous and all homes were built of [[adobe]] with [[stone]] foundations. The first houses with two levels were found and a clearly intentional urbanism existed. The lower levels of proto-Sesklo lack pottery, but the Sesklo people soon developed very fine-glazed earthenware that they decorated with geometric symbols in red or brown colors. New types of pottery were incorporated in the Sesklo period.

Images of the Sesklo archaeological site:

{{gallery|title=|mode=nolines|File:Sesklo Megaro DSC 2012a.jpg|Megaron foundations|File:Sesklo DSC 2020a.jpg|View of Sesklo archaeological site|File:Sesklo keramea DSC 2006a-1.jpg|Remains of a building|File:ΝΕΟΛΙΘΙΚΟΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΣ.jpg|Stone foundations}}

An "invasion theory" states that the Sesklo culture lasted more than one full millennium, until c. 5000 BC, when it was [[Sesklo and Dimini fortifications|violently conquered]] by people of the [[Dimini culture]]. The [[Dimini]] culture in this theory is considered different from that found earlier at Sesklo, however, in a contrary theory by Professor Ioannis Lyritzis about the end of the unique Sesklo culture, he describes as the "Seskloans". He and R. Galloway compared ceramic materials from both Sesklo and Dimini using thermoluminescence dating methods. They discovered evidence that the inhabitants of the settlement in Dimini first appeared among the Seskloans c. 4800 BC, four centuries before the end of the Sesklo culture c. 4400 BC. Lyritzis concluded that the "Seskloans" and the "Diminians" co-existed for a period of time.

[[File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Pottery - 28171056730.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sesklo and Dimini Late Neolithic Pottery 5300-4500 BC. Greek Prehistory Gallery, National Museum of Archaeology, Athens, Greece. ]]
Ceramic decoration evolves to flame motifs toward the end of the Sesklo culture. [[Pottery]] of this "classic" Sesklo style also was used in [[Western Macedonia]], as at [[Servia, Greece|Servia]]. That there are many similarities between the rare Asia Minor pottery and early Greek Neolithic pottery was acknowledged when investigations were made regarding whether these settlers could be migrants from Asia Minor, but such similarities seem to exist among all early pottery found in near eastern regions. The repertoire of shapes is not very different, but the Asia Minor vessels demonstrate significant differences. 

They seem to be deeper than their Thessalian counterparts. Shallow, slightly open bowls are characteristic of the Sesklo culture, but are absent in Anatolian settlements. Use of a ring base was almost unknown in Anatolia, flat and plano-convex bases were worked instead. Altogether, the appearance of the vessels is different. The very rare examples of pottery from levels XII and XI at Çatalhöyük closely resemble the shape of the very coarse earthenware of Early Neolithic I from Sesklo, but the paste is significantly different, having a partly-vegetable temper, and this pottery is contemporaneous, not a predecessor, of the better-made products in the Thessalian material. 

The earliest appearance of figurines is completely different as well. One significant characteristic of this culture is the abundance of statuettes of women, often pregnant, probably connected to widely hypothesized prehistoric fertility cults during the Paleolithic Period and the Neolithic Period. These sculptures of women are present in all the Balkan cultures and most of the [[Danube civilization]] throughout many millennia, although they may not be considered exclusive to this area. Archaeologist [[Marija Gimbutas]] even mentions recognition of a [[gorgon]] mask from the Sesklo culture,<ref>Gimbutas 2001, p. 25.</ref> an image that persisted throughout Ancient and Classical Greek arts. 

{{gallery|title=|mode=nolines|
File:Monochrome bowls from Sesklo. Early Neolithic period (6500-5800 BC). Archaeological Museum Athens.jpg|Monochrome bowls from Sesklo. Early Neolithic period (6500-5800 BC). Archaeological Museum Athens|
File:Pottery woman torso neolothic, NAMA Nama830.jpg|Torso of woman with hands on chest, small terracotta, Sesklo culture, [[Neolithic]], 6th–5th millennium BC|
File:Female figurine marble Thessaly 5300-3300 BC, NAMA 8772 080802x.jpg|Female figurine, marble, Thessaly, 5300–3300 BC|
File:Female figurine with child small painted terracott neolithic, NAMA 5937 080804.jpg|Female figurine of a woman holding a baby, Sesklo, Neolithic, 4800–4500 BC|
File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Pottery.jpg|Sesklo culture|
}}

On the whole, the artifactual data argues in favor of a largely independent indigenous development of the [[Neolithic Greece|Greek Neolithic]] settlements. The Sesklo culture is crucial in the expansion of the Neolithic into Europe. Dating and research points to the influence of Sesklo culture on both the [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]] and [[Körös culture|Körös]] cultures that seem to originate there, and who in turn, gave rise to the important Danube civilization current.

==Population==
{{Historical populations
|align = none
|1981|781
|1991|857
|2001<ref name=stat01>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |publisher=National Statistical Service of Greece |title=Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation) |language=el |url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921212047/http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |archivedate=2015-09-21 }}</ref>|910
|2011<ref name=census11>{{cite web | url = http://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/1210503/resident_population_census2011rev.xls | title = Απογραφή Πληθυσμού{{snd}}Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός | publisher = Hellenic Statistical Authority | language = el }}</ref>|970
|2021<ref name="census21"/>|900
}}

== See also ==
* [[Sesklo and Dimini fortifications]]
*[[Dimini]]
*[[Neolithic Greece]]
*[[Dispilio Lakeside Neolithic Settlement Archaeological Collection]]
*[[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old Europe]]
*[[Vinča culture]]
*[[Vinča symbols]]
*[[Varna culture]]
*[[Hamangia culture]]
*[[Cucuteni–Trypillia culture]]
*[[Gumelnița–Karanovo culture|Gumelniţa–Karanovo culture]]
*[[Butmir culture|Butmir Culture]]
*[[Boian culture]]
*[[Tisza culture]]
*[[Linear Pottery culture]]
*[[Lengyel culture]]
*[[Funnelbeaker culture]]
*[[Starčevo culture]]
*[[Karanovo culture]]

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

==References==
* Liritzis, I (1981). ''Dating by thermoluminescence: Application to Neolithic settlement of Dimini.'' In: ''Anthropologika'' '''2''', 37–48 (in Greek with English summary).
* Liritzis, Y and Galloway, RB (1982). ''Thermoluminescence dating of Neolithic Sesklo and Dimini, Thessaly, Greece.'' In: ''PACT Journal'' '''6''', 450–459.
* Liritzis, Y and Dixon, J (1984). ''Cultural contacts between Neolithic settlements of Sesklo and Dimini, Thessaly.'' In: ''Anthropologika'' '''5''', 51–62 (in Greek, with complete English version sent on request).
* Reingruber, Agathe and Thissen, Laurens (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070317114840/http://www.canew.org/files/CANeW%20Aegean%20C14%20dbase%20(June2005).pdf ''Aegean Catchment Aegean Catchment (E Greece, S Balkans and W Turkey) 10,000 – 5500 cal BC''] (paper on CANeW <sup>14</sup>C databases and <sup>14</sup>C charts).

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sesklo culture}}
*[http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh2560.jsp?obj_id=5148 Sesklo photos (site in Greek)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070210120522/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/europe/argissa-magoula.html Argissa Tombs, Greece]
*[http://www.greeklandscapes.com/image-slides/sesklo/ Various images of the site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328162427/http://greeklandscapes.com/image-slides/sesklo/ |date=2016-03-28 }}

{{Neolithic Chronology}}
{{Volos div}}
{{Neolithic Europe}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}


[[Category:Populated places in Magnesia (regional unit)]]
[[Category:Volos]]
[[Category:Aromanian settlements in Greece]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 7th millennium BC]]
[[Category:Ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Neolithic settlements in Thessaly]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe]]
[[Category:Neolithic cultures of Europe]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in Greece]]
[[Category:Pre-Pottery Neolithic]]