A late neolithic foundation offering from Thessaly

The excavation at Platia Magoula Zarkou, a prehistoric settlement in Thessaly, 30 km west of Larisa, was undertaken to clarify the problem of the exact chronological and stratigraphic position of the black burnished pottery, characteristic of the Larisa culture, which has hitherto been accepted as dating to the end of the Late Neolithic. The author became involved with this problem when he found black pottery together with grey pottery of the Tsangli phase, of the beginning of the Late Neolithic, at the neolithic cremation cemetery of Platia Magoula Zarkou (Gallis, 1982, 109-11 ; English summary, 234). The problem of the exact stratigraphic position of this black ware has now been solved. The dating of the Larisa culture to the beginning of the Late Neolithic (to the Tsangli phase) has now been confirmed by this excavation, as well as another similar excavation at the prehistoric settlement of Makrychori 2, 13km north of Larisa. A report of the results of these two excavations is forthcoming in Praehistorische Zeitschrift.