Chios - Archaeological site of Emporeios

Emporio is a prehistoric settlement in the southeastern part of the island of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

in the

Mastichochoria Mastichochoria (, , lit. "the mastic villages" in English) is a former municipality on the island of Chios (Χίος), North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chios, of which it is a municipal u ...

municipality of

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 ...

Pyrgi Pyrgi (''Pyrgus'' in Etruscan) was originally an ancient Etruscan town and port in Latium, central Italy, to the north-west of Caere. Its location is now occupied by the borough of Santa Severa. It is notable for the discovery here of th ...

is the largest village nearby. It was inhabited since the early

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 ...

times, around 6000 BC. The fertile valley with drinking water, a natural harbor nearby and the associated access to the sea were favorable conditions for settlement. The modern village nearby is called Emborios. It is a coastal town with 47 inhabitants (2011).

Archaeology

Sinclair Hood Martin Sinclair Frankland Hood, (31 January 1917 – 18 January 2021), generally known as Sinclair Hood, was a British archaeologist and academic. He was Director of the British School at Athens from 1954 to 1962, and led the excavations at Kn ...

started his work on Chios for the British School at Athens in 1952. He noted the ruins of Emporio in the same year, and his excavations continued to 1955. A fortified settlement was founded on the peninsula south of Emborios Bay at the end of the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

. At the same time, another settlement developed near the beach outside the fortress, which lasted until the final phase of the Mycenaean culture (ca. 1100 BC). The settlement flourished during the Copper and Bronze Age in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.

Comparative chronology

According to recent research, the earliest Period I at Emporio coincided with the Early Helladic EH IIB at

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese penin ...

, Early Minoan EM IIB in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, Period II at

Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...

, Period V at Koukonisi, the ''Yellow period'' at Poliochne, and Period IIg-III at

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

Antiquity

Around 1100 BC, the settlement was abandoned; indications are that it was destroyed by fire. This period coincides with the beginning of Ionian colonization around 1050 BC. For the next century, the Ionians of Attica and Euboea reached the islands such as Chios and Samos, and the coast of Asia Minor. The Ionian settlement of Lefkonio (or Lefkonion) developed in the area.

Lefkonio

The settlement of Lefkonio was an archaic-period settlement that included a walled acropolis with a

megaron The ''megaron'' (; , , : ''megara'' ) was the great hall in very early Mycenae, Mycenean and Ancient Greece, ancient Greek palace complexes. Architecturally, it was a rectangular hall that was supported by four columns, fronted by an open, two- ...

and the Temple of Athena, the remains of both of which are visible on the hill of Prophet Elias, as it is known locally. There were also the houses around it, as well as a sanctuary close to the harbor. The acropolis was fortified, and the rampart around it enclosed an area of approximately . The rampart is still partly visible in some areas.Prehistoric Emporio
chios.in There was a continuous settlement at the site up to the 7th century AD of the Byzantine period. Kato Phana is another ancient site nearby in southwestern Chios.

Notes

Bibliography

* Kristina Jarošová 2018
Late Bronze Age Settlement History of Emporio on Chios Reconsidered.
STUDIA HERCYNIA * K Jarošová 2017
The Late Bronze Age Pottery Sequence from Emporio on Chios Reconsidered.
(short version) - academia.edu * Hood, S. 1982: Prehistoric Emporio and Ayio Gala. Excavations in Chios 1938–1955, Vol. II. BSA, Suppl. Vol. 16. London. * Girella, L. – Pavúk, P. 2015: Minoanisation, Acculturation, Hybridisation:the Evidence of the Minoan Presence in the North East Aegean between the Middle and Late Bronze Age. In: N. Stampolidis – Ç. Maner,. – K. Kopanias (eds.): NOSTOI. Indigenous Culture, Migration and Integration in the Aegean Islands and Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. Istanbul, 387–420. * Girella, L. – Pavúk, P. 2016
The Nature of Minoan and Mycenaean Involvement in the Northeastern Aegean.
In: E. Gorogianni – P. Pavúk – L. Girella (eds.): Beyond Thalassocracies. Understanding processes of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation in the Aegean. Oxford/Philadelphia, 15–42. * Jarošová, K. 2016: Keramika střední a pozdní doby bronzové z lokality Emporio na ostrově Chios (Middle and Late Bronze Age Pottery from Emporio on Chios), M.A. Thesis, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Classical Archaeology, Prague. * Mountjoy, P. A. 1999: Regional Mycenaean Decorated Pottery. Rahden/Westf. * Pavúk, P. 2010: Minyan or not. The second millennium Grey Ware in western Anatolia and its relation to Mainland Greece. In: A. Philippa–Touchais et al. (eds.): MESOHELLADIKA. The Greek Mainland in the Middle Bronze Age. BCH Suppl.52. Athens, 931–943.

External links

Prehistoric Emporio
chios.in {{coord, 38, 11, 38, N, 26, 01, 46, E, type:landmark_region:GR, display=title Mycenaean sites Cycladic civilization Buildings and structures in Chios Former populated places in Greece Archaeological sites on the Aegean Islands Neolithic sites in Greece