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Programme and abstracts volume
SYRIDES George 1 , AIDONA Eleni 2 , VOUVALIDIS Konstantinos 3 , PAPAKONSTANTINOU
Maria-Fotini 4 , PECHLIVANIDOU Sofia 3
Anthropogenic and natural sedimentary records from the Agia Paraskevi
Prehistoric settlement, Lamia, Central Greece
1 Department of Geology, School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
2 Department of Geophysics, School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki,
Greece
3 Department of Physical and Environmental Geography, School of Geology, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
4 14 th Ephorate of Prehistorical and Classical Antiquities, Lamia, Greece
Presenting author: Konstantinos Vouvalidis
E-mail: vouval@geo.auth.gr
Tel: +30 2310998553
The prehistoric settlement of Agia Paraskevi was founded during the Neolithic period (~6,000
BC) on a headland extending into a shallow sheltered marine bay. A slow but continuous
siltation, by the Sperchios River, affected the area diachronically. Until the late Neolithic
period (4,500 – 3,500 BC) the area was a shallow marine – lagoonal environment, that was
restricted and gradually turned into a freshwater marsh (Helladic period ~2,500 BC). Marshes
extended along the whole area until the previous century. Today the remnants of the
prehistoric settlement are situated on the northern margin of the low flat alluvial plain of the
Sperchios River 5 km east of the city of Lamia and ~5 km away from the present coastline.
In this research, data derived from a detailed stratigraphical analysis of the anthropogenic and
natural deposits are compared with magnetic susceptibility measurements performed on 107
selected samples from 3 boreholes indicating different depositional palaeoenvironments
(terrestrial, marine, marshy). A Bartington MS2B meter equipment at low (0.46kHz) and high
(4.6kHz) frequency, was used for the measurements. Selected cores are:
- MAG-1 (8m depth) drilled in the centre of the prehistoric settlement, traced the
thickness of the anthropogenic (archaeological) strata. High values of magnetic
susceptibility are recorded in these sediments, indicating that the whole core is
affected by human occupation.
- PAR-2 (7m depth) drilled eastwards of the settlement into the former marine bay,
penetrated shallow marine fine-grained sediments, while upwards marshy sediments
were found. Low values of magnetic susceptibility are recorded suggestive of the
natural source of these sediments.
- MAG-2 (8m depth) drilled in the north edge of the settlement, investigated the
interface between anthropogenic strata (upper part) and Holocene natural sediments
(lower part). The variation of the magnetic susceptibility indicates the limits of the
influence exerted by human occupation.
Anthropogenic sediments can positively be distinguished from natural ones due to higher
values of magnetic susceptibility, especially layers of destruction containing burnt material
and charcoal. Two layers of destruction in MAG-1 (1.39–1.41m, 1.88–1.92m) are clearly
depicted, while in MAG-2 the transitional zone between anthropogenic and coastal marine
sediments is situated at a depth of 4.30-4.50m.
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