Few relevant researches in Thessaly, where occasional discoveries or due to urgent interventions have involved numerous centers such as Lamìa (fortifications of the 4th century BC and necropolis from the 6th century to the Hellenistic age), Farsalo (fortifications of the 4th century BC, aqueduct, Hellenistic tombs, three votive deposits), Fere (early 4th century BC fortifications, Hellenistic stoa, classical and Hellenistic tombs, with rich grave goods), Larissa (two Hellenistic theaters, main street of the city between the sanctuary of Apollo Kedroos and the acropolis, numerous steles with important epigraphic texts) and other minor locations.
According to Sunglassestracker, prospecting was initiated by the Ecole française in the plain of Farsalo; those of the Dutch Mission in the Enipeo Valley continued. The Dutch also conducted research in Gòritza (ancient quarries) and in the ancient center of Halos (probable foundation of Demetrio Poliorcete), of which part of the fortifications were explored and the city plan rebuilt. In Demetriades the mission of the Germanic Archaeological Institute explored a stretch of the fortifications north of the church of the Prophet Elijah and continued investigations in the so-called Macedonian palace (fortified complex from the early 2nd century BC, abandoned in 168 BC) and in the buildings adjacent: a large courtyard and a monumental urban residence with a rhodium peristyle, built in the early 3rd century BC and abandoned in 191 BC.
Macedonia and Thrace. – In Macedonia research has been very active (see also Macedonia, in this Appendix). Numerous excavations have enriched the picture of the knowledge of the Iron Age. The University of Kiel continued the exploration of the tumba of Kastanàs, a site frequented from the Mycenaean age to Hellenism; the British School the excavation of Assyros, which presents a stratigraphy from the Bronze Age to the late Iron Age. residents of the Iron Age have also been investigated in Pydna (locality Ammos), in the tumbaby Nea Anchıalos, in Mende, in Kukos. Necropolis of the same period have been explored in Dion (Mesonisi and Aghios Vasilios localities), in Torone, in Pidna, in Kukos, in Drama, in Kilada. A 7th century BC settlement has been explored in Nikite, along with the archaic and classical necropolis.
The discoveries in the archaic and classical necropolises of Sindos and Aghià Paraskevì, referable to two Macedonian settlements, already identified and tested, are significant. The necropolis of Aghià Paraskevì, frequented mainly between 570 and 500 BC, has returned kits with weapons, personal objects of gold and silver and numerous imported ceramics, which testify to intense contacts with Attica, Corinth, the Ionia and the Aegean islands. The necropolis of Sindos, with mainly late-archaic and classical tombs, fits into the same cultural horizon, but the grave goods are richer. The male tombs are characterized by the presence of iron and bronze weapons, and the clothes were often decorated with gold leaf; gold jewels are common in women’s graves.obeloi, etc.).
But the most important discoveries refer to the apogee of the Macedonian kingdom, from the 4th to the 2nd century BC, and involved the most important capitals and cities (Aigai-Verghina, Pella, Dion) and the rich necropolises, in particular the characteristic Macedonian vaulted chamber tombs, intended for members of the aristocracy and the royal house. In the vicinity of Pella (see in this Appendix), in the locality of Archontikò Ghiannitsòn, a large circular heroon from the early 3rd century BC was discovered: a conical mound with a crepidine at the base decorated with Macedonian shields in relief. In Dion the searches continued in the city walls, in the theater, in the odeion, and new complexes have been discovered (sanctuaries of Isis Lachia and of Aphrodite). Systematic searches were conducted in Vergina, probably ancient Aigai, the first capital of the Macedonian kingdom: in the town, in the city walls, in the small temple to the goddess Eukleia from the end of the 3rd century BC, in the theater.
In the royal necropolis new discoveries have followed one another since 1977, arousing great echo for the richness of the kits and for the presence of figured frescoes which constitute an unexpected documentation on Greek painting of the 4th-3rd century BC: from the tombs attributed to Philip ii and his wife Cleopatra, to the large tomb recently discovered east of the Romaios tomb and attributed to Eurydice, mother of Philip II. Other vaulted chamber tombs have been found in Spilia, Verria, Potidea, Dion, Thessaloniki, Drama, Argilos, Makr’yghialos, Haghia Paraskevì, Marina. Almost all of them have an architectural facade, sometimes with painted figurative decoration, as in the case of the tomb of the Phoinix mound in Thessaloniki. A rectangular tomb from the second quarter of the 4th century BC found in Katerini, with stuccoed and painted walls, decorated with 6 circular shields, documents the intermediate type between the cist tomb and the one with a vaulted roof. In Kiria, at the foot of the Pangeo, the exploration of the heroon has been resumedThracian, in which the cult of a healing hero connected to Asklepios was practiced starting from the 3rd century BC; Furthermore, numerous ancient mines related to the exploitation of gold and silver, and a furnace for the smelting of the mineral have been discovered.
