Nea Nikomedeia 2.39

Nea Nikomedeia is a village approximately to the northeast of Veria in Imathia, in the region of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. It is best known for the nearby Early Neolithic settlement, one of the oldest in Europe.VillageOriginally, the village was named Braniata and was settled in 1922 with Greek refugees from Nicomedia in northwestern Anatolia. It received its present name in 1953. According to the 2001 census, its population was 1,050.Neolithic settlementThe Early Neolithic settlement of Nea Nikomedeia is located some 2 km from the village itself. It is one of the earliest known sites in Macedonia, dated to 6250–6050 BC, it may have had a population of up to 500 - 700.It was excavated extensively in three phases (in 1961, 1963 and 1964) by R. J. Rodden and his team. The site, covering an area of about has square dwellings measuring 12 by 12 metres; the houses at Nea Nikomedeia were constructed—as were most structures throughout the Neolithic in northern Greece—of wattle and daub on a timber frame. Items unearthed at the site include "flint blades, stone adzes, clay figurines with cruciform eyes and beak-shaped noses, seals for the adornment of the body, a frog-shaped pendant from steatite as well as clay spindle whorls for spinning wool, and bone tools." Archaeologists excavating the ancient town also discovered clay sculptures of plump women with phallic heads and folded arms. Pottery, especially large vessels, have been found at the site, some as tall as 60 cm and with a capacity as high as 85 litres. The site was originally situated on the shores of the Thermaic Gulf or possibly a lake or lagoon. As recently as the 1930s, the marsh of the Giannitsa Lake covered much of the area.