17. 08. 2023.

17:15 Dimini - Wikipedia

Dimini
Coordinates: 39°21′N 22°53′E

Dimini (Greek: Διμήνι; older form: Diminion) is a

village near the city of Volos, in Thessaly (central Dimini
Greece), in Magnesia. It was the seat of the Διμήνι
municipality of Aisonia. The name Aisonia dates back
to ancient times and it is the westernmost place in the
Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a Mycenean
settlement and a Neolithic settlement. The Neolithic
settlement in Dimini was discovered near the end of the
Dimini
19th century and was first excavated by the
archaeologists Christos Tsountas and Valerios Stais.

The palace of ancient Iolcos is believed to be located in

modern-day Dimini, where a Mycenaean palace was
excavated recently.[2]

Population Coordinates: 39°21′N 22°53′E

Year Community population Country Greece

Administrative region Thessaly
1981 1,608
Regional unit Magnesia
1991 1,956 Municipality Volos
2001 2,125 Municipal unit Aisonia

2011 2,279 Community[1]

 • Population 2,297 (2011)

History Time zone UTC+2 (EET)

 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)

Neolithic Dimini culture

Period Neolithic Europe
Dimini culture is well known for its abstract painted vessels.
Dates circa 4800 BCE —
Dimini ware is characteristic of the Later Neolithic period in
circa 3200 BCE
eastern Thessaly, although it was traded and imitated outside
the region and has been identified as far away as Cakran in Preceded Sesklo culture
Albania. by
Followed Eutresis culture
by

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Dimini archaeological site.

Clay vase with Dimini plate, National

polychrome decoration, Archaeological Museum
Dimini, Magnesia, Late (Athens)
or Final Neolithic (5300-
3300 BC). Ceramic;
height: 25 cm (93⁄4 in.),
diameter at rim: 12 cm
(43⁄4 in.); National
Archaeological Museum Neolithic artefacts and depiction of
(Athens) the Dimini walled settlement

Terracotta base and Terracotta rim fragment

lower body of a vessel; with latticework design;
3800-3300 BC; 3800-3300 BC;
terracotta; length: 7.5 cm terracotta; length: 10.6
(215⁄16 in.); Metropolitan cm (43⁄16 in.);
Museum of Art (New Metropolitan Museum of
York City) Art

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Terracotta rim of a bowl;

3800-3300 BC;
terracotta; length: 12.8
cm (51⁄16 in.);
Metropolitan Museum of
Art

Antiquity

In 1886, Lolling and Wolters excavated the Mycenean 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 sherd inscribed with Linear B writing were also uncovered.[n 1]

The "invasion theory" states that the people of the Neolithic Dimini culture were responsible for
the violent conquest of the Sesklo culture at around 5000 BC. Moreover, the theory considers the
"Diminians" and the "Seskloans" 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.

See also
Boian culture
Butmir Culture
Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
Funnelbeaker culture
Gumelniţa–Karanovo culture
Hamangia culture
Karanovo culture
Lengyel culture
Linear Pottery culture
Sesklo culture
Starčevo culture
Tisza culture
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Varna culture
Vinča culture
Helladic chronology
Mycenaean Greece
Neolithic Greece
Old Europe
Sesklo and Dimini fortifications

Notes and references

Notes

1. The publication of the results can be found here (http://www.ims.forth.gr/Journals/publications/

CAA2002/DIMINI-FINAL-PUBLICATION/DIMINI_CAA2002_final4.pdf).

References

1. "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (http://www.statistics.gr/doc

uments/20181/1210503/resident_population_census2011rev.xls) (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical
Authority.
2. "Scientists trace the trail of Argonauts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110928060236/http://ww
w.arcl.ed.ac.uk/a1/stoppress/stop769.htm). Archived from the original (http://www.arcl.ed.ac.u
k/a1/stoppress/stop769.htm) on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-09-11.

External links
Media related to Dimini at Wikimedia Commons

Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Dimini (http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2501)

Metis: Dimini (http://www.stoa.org/metis/cgi-bin/qtvr?site=dimini)
Photos of the Dimini settlement, Magnesia (in Greek) (https://web.archive.org/web/200412060
05045/http://sfr.ee.teiath.gr/diafora/Neolith/dimini.htm)

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