Dikili Tash

Dikili Tash (also known as Dikilitaş) is a prehistoric tell settlement rising 16m above the Drama plain, in Eastern Macedonia, and located about 1.5 km east of ancient Philippi. The tell is a major Neolithic and Bronze Age site (c 5000-1200 BC), known since the 19th century, and excavated by the French School at Athens and the Archaeological Society of Athens. Among the notable discoveries are timber-framed buildings of the Late Neolithic period. One of these was decorated with a bull's skull plastered over with clay in the manner seen in the building model from the contemporary site of Promachonas on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier.

The site name means “upright stone” in Turkish (it is also called by the Greek name Ορθόπετρα /Orthopetra which means the same). This refers to the grave stele of C. Vibius Quartus, a Roman officer from the Roman colony of Philippi who was buried in the cemetery which lies beside the Via Egnatia which passes the foot of the tell.

References

Koukouli-Chryssanthaki, Haïdo, René Treuil, Laurent Lespez and Dimitra Malamidou. Dikili Tash, village préhistorique de Macédoine orientale. Recherches franco-helléniques dirigées par la Société archéologique d'Athènes et l'École française d'Athènes (1986–2001). Bibliothèque de la Société archéologique d’Athènes 254. Athènes: La Société archéologique d'Athènes, 2008

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