This paper presents a thorough review of new data and research on the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Epirus. It correlates new with old material in an attempt to outline the situation in Epirus and to highlight the region’s peculiarities. These peculiarities make Epirus attractive for scholars and at the same time set it apart from the rest of Greece. The ultimate goal is to reconsider Epirus’ position in the field of Greek and European prehistory more broadly.

In memory of my beloved father Dimitris

Over 100 archaeological survey projects – of various kinds – have taken place in Greece over the last quarter century, making it one of the most intensively studied countries in Europe from the perspective of landscape archaeology, defined by various types of interest in settlement patterns and human–environmental interaction at spatial scales beyond the individual site. This article examines the practice of survey archaeology in Greece over the last 25 years, with a particular focus on projects that have taken place in the last 10 years. More broadly, it presents large-scale trends in surveys since their coalescence as a systematic form of archaeological research in the late 1950s, based on a dataset of 204 individual projects, mapped and classified according to type, spatial scale, methods, and chronology. Surveys in the twenty-first century exhibit considerable variety in methods and goals, with many characterized by smaller spatial scales, the integration of various types of remote sensing, and a focus on archaeological sites; we see fewer of the large-scale, diachronic regional surveys that became widespread in the later twentieth century. This variety – along with the increasing production and availability of high-quality, multi-modal data – should be applauded, though regional analysis remains a critical strength and important goal for landscape archaeologists in Greece. Lingering problems include publication lag, digital data availability and interoperability, and (occasional) over-emphasis on methodology as an end in and of itself, sometimes at the expense of historical and anthropological research questions. Promising developments for the future concern: (1) the investigation of landscapes that have received little attention from systematic surveys (highlands, mountains, forests, uninhabited islands), especially via remote sensing; (2) the publication, reanalysis, and interpretation of ‘legacy’ datasets; and (3) the integration of survey datasets across multiple scales to address ‘big-picture’ questions in the history and archaeology of Greece, as well as themes of wider significance.

This paper explores important new evidence from recent and ongoing landscape and excavation projects carried out in Thessaly that revolutionizes our understanding of the Neolithic in the region. Moving from wider landscapes to individual archaeological sites, the paper focuses on complexity and diversity in the spatio-temporal manifestation and internal structure of Neolithic settlements, and highlights the potential of the current direction of research to illuminate the lifeways of the Neolithic people of Thessaly.

The deme of Acharnai belonged to the Oineis tribe and was the largest deme in Attica, represented in the boule by 22 bouleutai (Trail 1975: 65; Osborne 1985: 44; Platonos 2013: 137). Acharnai not only had a larger population than the other Attic demes, but it also appears to have extended over a particularly large area: over Neapoli, Agios Athanasios, the centre of modern Menidi, Lathea, Auliza, Pyrgouthi, Agia Anna, Charaugi, Kokkinos Mylos, Agia Soteira, Loutro, part of Gerovouno and possibly northern Lykotrypa (Fig. 125).

Both Maria Platonos (2013: 139; 2004: 31–32) and Danielle Kellogg (2013: 10–26), who have studied this deme in depth, agree that there would have been more than one settlement within its limits. Kellogg (2013: 32–33) also notes that the settlement pattern in most areas would have been scattered: that is, there would have been numerous farmsteads dotted across the landscape. This is a very attractive suggestion, since Acharnai was known for its fertile fields, and it is supported by the archaeological evidence, since numerous Classical walls delimiting properties have been excavated in the broader area of the SKA Rail Centre (ID4852; Platonos 2004: 430).

This paper discusses material culture in western Thessaly from the eight to the fifth century BC. The focus of the paper is on the recently investigated settlement at Philia, where a number of apsidal buildings have been unearthed, dating to the sixth and fifth centuries BC; their layout and organization reveal central planning. Comparison of the architecture and contents of the Philia houses to those from other Thessalian sites reveals the existence of shared traditions in the region, in terms of both the architecture (apsidal buildings) and pottery (grey wares), with a long history from the ninth to the fifth century BC.