The “urban center” of Lesbos has been excavated by the archaeologist Ms Lamb at Thermi. It seems, however, that there is a considerable dispersion of the inhabitants outside these “centres”. Clusters of houses, of an agricultural and stock-breeding character, gathered probably around a matriarchal tutelage of an extensive family, are located on the peaks of selected hillocks which offer some natural fortification that is further reinforced by simple stone walls. Flat cultivation land surrounds the habitation site, while the finding of millstones and pestles of various types in all these settlements has become a rule as well as the spring of water at the foot of the hillocks. Flywheels are included among the finds, which indicate cattle-breeding and also molluscs from the sea-side areas. The vertical elements on which the hinges of the wooder doors turned are the only surface finds from I dwellings, while stone axes made from black basalt are scattered everywhere. The blades and scrapes are exclusively made from colourful flint as the abundance of its flakes indicates. Quite many quarries have been located, the most important being the one at Pochi. More than thirty Prehistoric sites have been discovered on Lesbos and it is absolutely certa that their number will increase in the future. Their proper excavation will furnish answers to many complex questions. Until then myth is bound with reality and colourful stone flakes will complement the marvelous coloured shades of the petrified trees.
Prehistory in Lesbos: New Sites and Data
14 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
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