Dimini (; older form: ''Diminion'') is a village near the city of

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

, in

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

(central

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

), in Magnesia. It was the seat of the municipality of Aisonia. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times. Currently, Dimini is the westernmost place in the Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a Mycenean settlement and a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlement. The Neolithic settlement in Dimini was discovered near the end of the 19th century and was first excavated by the archaeologists Christos Tsountas and Valerios Stais. The palace of ancient Iolcos is believed to be located in modern-day Dimini, where, in 2001, a Mycenaean palace was excavated.

Population

History

Neolithic

Dimini culture is well known for its abstract painted vessels. Dimini ware is characteristic of the Later Neolithic period in eastern

, although it was traded and imitated outside the region and has been identified as far away as Cakran in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. File:Clay vase with polychrome decoration, Dimini, Magnesia, Late or Final Neolithic (5300-3300 BC).jpg, Clay vase with polychrome decoration, Dimini, Magnesia, Late or Final Neolithic (5300-3300 BC). Ceramic; height: 25 cm (9 in.), diameter at rim: 12 cm (4 in.); National Archaeological Museum (

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

) File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Pottery - 28171028800.jpg, Dimini plate, National Archaeological Museum (

) Terracotta base and lower body of a vessel MET DP21228.jpg, Terracotta base and lower body of a vessel; 3800-3300 BC; terracotta; length: 7.5 cm (2 in.);

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

(New York City) Terracotta rim fragment with latticework design MET DP21226.jpg, Terracotta rim fragment with latticework design; 3800-3300 BC; terracotta; length: 10.6 cm (4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art Terracotta rim of a bowl MET DP21233.jpg, Terracotta rim of a bowl; 3800-3300 BC; terracotta; length: 12.8 cm (5 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art

Antiquity

In 1886, Lolling and Wolters excavated the Mycenean tholos tomb known as ''Lamiospito''. In 1901, Valerios Stais discovered the tholos tomb on the hill of the Neolithic settlement. He worked at the Dimini settlement with Christos Tsountas from 1901 up until 1903. In 1977, George Chourmouziadis continued excavations at the Neolithic settlement. Excavations of the Mycenean settlement in Dimini began in 1980 by V. Adrimi-Sismani. In 2001 the excavations uncovered a Mycenaean city and palace complex they believe could be part of ancient

Iolkos Iolcus (; also rendered ''Iolkos'' ; and Ἰαωλκός; ; ) is an ancient city, a modern village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of Volos, of which it is a municipal un ...

. A stone weight and a

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

inscribed with

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

writing were also uncovered. The "invasion theory" states that the people of the Neolithic Dimini culture were responsible for the violent conquest of the

Sesklo Sesklo (; ) is a village in Greece that is located near Volos, a city located within the municipality of Aisonia. The municipality is located within the regional unit of Magnesia that is located within the administrative region of Thessaly. ...

culture at around 5000 BC. Moreover, the theory considers the "Diminians" and the "

ans" as two separate cultural entities. However, I. Lyritzis provides a different story pertaining to the relations between the Dimini and the Sesklo cultures. He, along with R. Galloway, compared ceramic materials from both Sesklo and Dimini utilizing thermoluminescence dating methods. He discovered that the inhabitants of the settlement in Dimini appeared around 4800 BC, four centuries before the fall of the Sesklo civilization (ca. 4400 BC). Lyritzis concluded that the "Seskloans" and "Diminians" coexisted for a period of time.

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links