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Located on the western Thessalian plain, near the Peneios River, about 8 km west of Larissa. In central Greece

From 1955 to the 1970s, Vladimir Milojčić, the University of Heidelberg and the German Archaeological Institute excavated the site
The occupation was from the early neolithic to early bronze age(s). A long and well-stratified sequence.

“Magoula” means “tell” or “mound”
The site is a man-made accumulation of successive Neolithic and later settlements, rising over 10 m high.

Lowest layers date to ~7000–6800 BCE, roughly contemporary with early Sesklo, Achilleion, and Knossos
Radiocarbon evidence and tool typology suggest the earliest settlers arrived not long after farming began in western Anatolia.

There are suggestions, but no secure evidence, for a long-lived aceramic (pre-pottery) neolithic at Argissa
Lowest levels contained very small amounts of badly fired or experimental pottery, stone and bone tools identical to those of early farmers, and domestic animal bones and cereals.

Early settlers probably arrived with rudimentary pottery technology. Just at the threshold between baked and early pottery neolithic

Based on animal bones, plant remains, and tools diet and subsistence included: domesticated crops: einkorn, emmer wheat, barley, lentils, peas. And, domesticated animals: sheep, goats, pigs, cattle.

There were wild foods: red deer, boar, hare, birds, and freshwater fish (from the nearby Peneios River).

Grinding stones and sickle blades were found; as well as storage pits
indicate cereal processing. They were some of the first agro-pastoralists in inland Greece.

They had timber-framed cabins and houses
Argissa provides some of the earliest physical evidence for timber-framed, mud-plastered houses in Europe. Houses were built on stone foundations, with timber posts forming frames for wattle-and-daub (mud and straw) walls. Roofs likely thatched or reed-covered. And, buildings were rectangular or slightly trapezoidal, about 5–8 m long. The clay floors sometimes had hearths and postholes. Between houses were open courtyards or work areas.

Successive rebuilding on the same spot led to the mound’s growth (the tell formation).

These timber-framed “cabins” are very similar to early houses at Sesklo and later LBK longhouses in central Europe. Making Argissa a key link in that neolithic architectural tradition.

Given its location near the Peneios River, and wood used as a building material, small dugout canoes may have existed
Archaeologists can only infer this indirectly from stone adzes and water proximity.

Argissa pottery belongs to the Thessalian early neolithic tradition
It had a simple, coarse finish. With monochrome reddish or brownish surfaces. That was handmade, thick-walled bowls and jars.

Later phases show painted decoration, evolving into the Sesklo style.

Later middle neolithic phases show finer pottery, larger houses, and organized village plans
Bone tools, polished stone axes, spindle whorls, figurines of women and animals, and beads made of stone and shell were found

Early excavator Vladimir Milojčić argued that Argissa had some of the earliest Neolithic layers in Greece, possibly preceramic, and that it showed independent local development or very early migration from Anatolia
Marija Gimbutas and Colin Renfrew accepted Argissa as an example of an “Early Thessalian Neolithic,” roughly contemporaneous with early Anatolian farming communities. But later scholars (Catherine Perlès, Kostas Kotsakis, Douglass Bailey) argue: ‘The so-called preceramic layers at Argissa were probably disturbed or contained small amounts of early pottery that went unnoticed.’ and, ‘there is no clear, stratified aceramic Neolithic — just early pottery from the very beginning.’

Thus, Argissa could mark the start of the fully neolithic lifestyle, not a transitional phase. An important site in early neolithic Europe. Check it out with more neolithic architecture today.

Bibliography: Milojčić, V. (1959–1973). Argissa: Die deutschen Ausgrabungen in Thessalien. Heidelberg: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.

Perlès, C. (2001). The Early Neolithic in Greece. Cambridge University Press.

Kotsakis, K. (2014). “The Greek Neolithic: A New Review.” In Neolithic Europe, Oxford University Press.

Bailey, D. W. (2000). Balkan Prehistory: Exclusions, Incorporation, and Identity.

Renfrew, C. (1972). The Emergence of Civilisation.