Collection of Neolithic Antiquities
THE NEOLITHIC CULTURE (6800-3300 BC)
The term Neolithic Culture designates the long time period that was characterized by the development of agriculture, livestock farming and also the establishment of permanent settlements as well as the extensive use of stone. Man turned from hunter-gatherer (Palaeolithic Period) into a producer, thereby dominating nature. In Greece this Neolithic “revolution” took place in the early 7th millennium. The Neolithic Culture spanned more than three millennia and is divided into five main phases, the Aceramic (6800-6500 BC approximately), the Early Neolithic (6500-5800 BC), the Middle Neolithic (5800-5300 BC), the Late Neolithic (5300-4500 BC) and the Final Neolithic or Chalcolithic period (4500-3300 BC). The Neolithic settlements were scattered across the entire country with the greatest density being encountered in the Plain of Thessaly where the two most significant settlements are situated, Sseko and Dimini. The arrangement of dwellings around streets and squares within the settlement constitutes the earliest form of architecture and urban planning in Europe.
Gold pin decorated with antithetic birds on the head. Poliochni, Lemnos (middle of 3rd millennium BC.).
Gold ring-shaped amulet of hammered sheet. Unknown provenience. Final Neolithic period (4500-3300 BC)
It is the largest of its type to have been found so far in Greece. Such pendants are considered to be depict schematic human figures, possibly female, as indicated by the two relief nipples at the part of the ring under the shank.
Bronze and gold jewellery worn by the buried woman in grave 25 of the Sesklo cemetery. Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC).
Grave 25 held two adults and a child. Beside the man were a bronze dagger, a bronze knife and a piece of bronze sheet of unknown use. A woman was buried at the opposite end, wearing her jewellery. A clay spindle whorl and a vase complete her grave-gifts. Nothing was found by the child. It is not clear whether the three of them were buried at the same time, but the fact that the finds date to the same period, taken together with the sex and age of the deceased, leads to the conclusion that we have here the unfortunate end of a family.