 
The settlement of Makriyialos is situated half a kilometre to the south of the village of the same name, in the area of ancient Pydna. The excavations of the 1990s, that were carried out as a result of works to extend the national road and rail network betweem Athens and Thessaloniki, unearthed the largest known settlement of the Late Neolithic. The settlement, built on a flat area, was inhabited both during the Pre-Dimini (Late Neolithic I) and the Dimini phases (Late Neolithic II). It is interesting that these architectural phases did not overlap, as is normally the case with Neolithic settlements (toumba or magoula), but expanded next to each other, reaching 500,000 square metres. The settlement was investigated in an area of 60,000 square metres and was the largest excavation of a Neolithic settlement in Greece. The site no longer exists though, since modern works had to be completed! |
The settlement of Late Neolithic É (Makriyialos I) consisted of sparsely built, circular or oval huts with walls from posts and basements, dug underground. The floor of the buildings consisted of tree trunks that covered the basements. The settlement was surrounded by a double ditch. The inner one consisted of pits in a chain arrangement with a maximum width 4,5 and maximum depth 3,5 metres. The outer ditch was V-shaped and smaller. After this part of the settlement was abandoned, the ditches were used for burials and for refuse as well. Between the two phases, a temporary abandonment of the settlement probably took place. During the Late Neolithic II -Classical Dimini phase (Makriyialos II)- dwellings of a similar type, whose diameter reached 5 metres, were built in a dense arrangement. In the basement of one of these, storage vases were discovered. Food-preparation constructions (hearths), as well as working areas for specialized activities (metallurgy) were situated outside the houses. At some point in the Makriyialos II phase rectangular dwellings were used, as well as an apsidal building 15 metres long, which may not have been the only one in the settlement. The settlement was surrounded by protective ditches in this phase as well. |
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