Nea Nikomedeia

An Early Neolithic tell settlement in Macedonia in northern Greece. From a large structure (shrine?) in the center of the mound, there were terra-cotta female figurines thought to have been used in rituals. The remains of rectangular mud houses, a number of crouched burials, and plain and painted pottery, frogs carved from greenstone, flint blades, and many ground stone axes have been found. Radiocarbon dates of c 6200-5300 BC was obtained. The earliest known domesticated cattle date from about 6000 BC at Nea Nikomedeia, in association with cultivated einkorn, emmer, and barley.

Tell site in Macedonia, northern Greece, occupied in the Early Neolithic period. Of a range of radiocarbon dates from c6200 to 5300 be, most authorities feel that those between 5800 and 5600 reflect the most likely date of the occupation. Several square and rectangular single-roomed houses were excavated, built of clay and timber. One structure, rather larger than the rest, is interpreted as either a communal meeting house or a shrine: it produced two female figurines, two greenstone axes and about 400 flint blades. The economy was based on mixed farming, with a concentration on the breeding of sheep and goats and the cultivation of wheat, barley and leguminous crops; hunting, fishing and shellfish-gathering also contributed to the diet. Equipment includes plain, painted and impressed pottery and a rather small chipped stone industry. Ground stone artefacts also occur and include axes and distinctive objects interpreted as ear or lipplugs.