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 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.

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.

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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