Dimini was a village nearby the city of
VolosVolos is a coastal port city situated at the center of the Greek mainland, about 326 km north from Athens and 215 km south from Thessaloniki...
, in
ThessalyThessaly is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. The capital of the periphery and traditional geographical region is Larissa. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, it is often referred to unofficially as Northern Greece...
(central
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
), in the prefecture of
MagnesiaMagnesia , deriving from the tribe name Magnetes, is the name of the southeastern area of Thessaly in central Greece. The modern prefecture was created in 1947 out of the Larissa prefecture. About 70% of the population live in the Greater Volos area which is the second-largest city in Thessaly...
. It is also the seat of the municipality of
AisoniaAisonia is a municipality in the Magnesia prefecture, Greece. Population 3,031 . The seat of the municipality is in Dimini.-Municipal districts:*Dimini**Kakkavos **Paliouri [2001 pop: 16]*Sesklo...
. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times and it is the westernmost place in the Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a
MyceneanMycenaean Greece is a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
settlement and a
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement. The Neolithic settlement in Dimini was discovered near the end of 19th century and was first excavated by Greek archaeologists
Christos TsountasChristos Tsountas was a Greek classical archaeologist. He was born in Thracian Stenimachos, . In 1886, he discovered and identified the Mycenean palace at Tiryns. He also conducted important excavations at the palace of Mycenae, and he conducted surveys of the Greek mainland and identified more...
and
Valerios StaisValerios Stais was a Greek archaeologist. He was born in Kythera. He studied medicine and later archaeology. He became the director of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens in 1887 and held that post until his death. During that period he organized or participated in excavations in...
.
In 1886, Lolling and Wolters excavated the
MyceneanMycenaean Greece is a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
tholos tomb known as
Lamiospito.
Dimini was a village nearby the city of
VolosVolos is a coastal port city situated at the center of the Greek mainland, about 326 km north from Athens and 215 km south from Thessaloniki...
, in
ThessalyThessaly is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. The capital of the periphery and traditional geographical region is Larissa. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, it is often referred to unofficially as Northern Greece...
(central
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
), in the prefecture of
MagnesiaMagnesia , deriving from the tribe name Magnetes, is the name of the southeastern area of Thessaly in central Greece. The modern prefecture was created in 1947 out of the Larissa prefecture. About 70% of the population live in the Greater Volos area which is the second-largest city in Thessaly...
. It is also the seat of the municipality of
AisoniaAisonia is a municipality in the Magnesia prefecture, Greece. Population 3,031 . The seat of the municipality is in Dimini.-Municipal districts:*Dimini**Kakkavos **Paliouri [2001 pop: 16]*Sesklo...
. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times and it is the westernmost place in the Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a
MyceneanMycenaean Greece is a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
settlement and a
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement. The Neolithic settlement in Dimini was discovered near the end of 19th century and was first excavated by Greek archaeologists
Christos TsountasChristos Tsountas was a Greek classical archaeologist. He was born in Thracian Stenimachos, . In 1886, he discovered and identified the Mycenean palace at Tiryns. He also conducted important excavations at the palace of Mycenae, and he conducted surveys of the Greek mainland and identified more...
and
Valerios StaisValerios Stais was a Greek archaeologist. He was born in Kythera. He studied medicine and later archaeology. He became the director of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens in 1887 and held that post until his death. During that period he organized or participated in excavations in...
.
Information
In 1886, Lolling and Wolters excavated the
MyceneanMycenaean Greece is a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
tholos tomb known as
Lamiospito. In 1901, Valerios Stais discovered the tholos tomb on the hill of the Neolithic settlement. He worked at the Dimini settlement with Christos Tsountas from 1901 up until 1903. In 1977, George Chourmouziadis continued excavations at the Neolithic settlement. Excavations of the Mycenean settlement in Dimini began in 1980 by V. Adrimi-Sismani. In 2001 the excavations uncovered a Mycenaean city and palace complex they believe
could be part of ancient Iolkos. A stone weight and a
sherdIn archaeology, a sherd is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....
inscribed with
Linear BLinear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization. Most of the tablets inscribed in Linear B were found in Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes...
writing were also uncovered. The publication of the results can be found
here.
The "invasion theory" states that the people of the Neolithic Dimini culture were responsible for the violent conquest of the
SeskloSesklo is an Aromanian village nearby the city of Volos, in Thessaly , in the prefecture of Magnesia. The Neolithic settlement was discovered at the end of the 19th century and the first excavations were made by Greek archaeologist, Christos Tsountas.-Geography and...
culture at around 5000 BC. Moreover, the theory considers the "Diminians" and the "
SeskloSesklo is an Aromanian village nearby the city of Volos, in Thessaly , in the prefecture of Magnesia. The Neolithic settlement was discovered at the end of the 19th century and the first excavations were made by Greek archaeologist, Christos Tsountas.-Geography and...
ans" as two separate cultural entities. However, I. Lyritzis provides a different story pertaining to the relations between the Dimini and the Sesklo cultures. He, along with R. Galloway, compared ceramic materials from both Sesklo and Dimini utilizing thermoluminescence dating methods. He discovered that the inhabitants of the settlement in Dimini appeared around 4800 BC, four centuries before the fall of the Sesklo civilization (ca. 4400 BC). Lyritzis concluded that the "Seskloans" and "Diminians" coexisted for a period of time.
Historical population
| Year | Communal population | Change (town) | Municipal population |
|---|
| 1981 |
1,608 |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
1,956 |
348/21.64% |
2,897 |
Source
See also
- Magnesia
Magnesia , deriving from the tribe name Magnetes, is the name of the southeastern area of Thessaly in central Greece. The modern prefecture was created in 1947 out of the Larissa prefecture. About 70% of the population live in the Greater Volos area which is the second-largest city in Thessaly...
- Domini, in the northern part of the prefecture of Corinthia
External links
| North: Nea Ionia Nea Ionia is a city in Thessaly, Greece. It is part of the Magnesia prefecture, and a municipality bordering the city of Volos. The population at the 2001 census was 31,929 inhabitants. Its land area is 63.314 km²...
/Iolkos |
|
West: Feres |
Aisonia |
East: Pagasetic Gulf The Pagasetic Gulf is a rounded gulf in the prefecture of Magnesia that is formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula. It is connected with the Euboic Sea...
|
| South: Nea Agchialos |
|