'Maghoula-hunting' in Thessaly

Excavations by the Greek Archaeological Service had drawn attention to the potential of Thessaly.

Alan J.B. Wace and A.W. Van Buren (of the American Academy at Rome) invesitigated the Magnesian peninsula in April 1905. They identified a possible site for excavation at Kato Georgi near Cape Sopias; this site, designated as Theotokou, was excavated by Wace and John P. Droop in 1907.

Wace and Droop had hoped to find remains of a Doric temple but were disappointed. They went 'maghoula-hunting' and identified a prehistoric mound at Zerelia near Almyros; this was excavated in 1908, with Maurice S. Thompson joining the team.

Wace and Thompson were joined in 1909 by T. Eric Peet. They worked on two sites: Palaeomylos near Lianokladi, in the Spercheios Valley, and Tzani Maghoula near Sophades. This work suggested to them that there were no clear links between the cultures of the Aegean and Central Europe.

Wace and Thompson excavated at Tsangli in 1910. Wynfrid Duckworth, who had worked with the BSA at Palaikastro, examined a skull found in one of the Neolithic levels. A second site was excavated at Rachmani, to the north-west of Larisa.

References
Bosanquet, R. C. 1902. "Thessaly. Prehistoric villages in Thessaly." Man 2: 106-07. [JSTOR]
Wace, A. J. B. 1906. "The topography of Pelion and Magnesia." Journal of Hellenic Studies 26: 143-68. [JSTOR]
—. 1908. "Topography of Pelion and Magnesia - Addenda." Journal of Hellenic Studies 28: 337. [JSTOR]
Wace, A. J. B., and J. P. Droop. 1906/07. "Excavations at Theotokou, Thessaly." Annual of the British School at Athens 13: 308-27.
Wace, A. J. B., J. P. Droop, and M. S. Thompson. 1907/08. "Excavations at Zerélia, Thessaly." Annual of the British School at Athens 14: 197-223.
Peet, T. E., A. J. B. Wace, and M. S. Thompson. 1908. "The connection of the Aegean civilization with Central Europe." Classical Review 22: 233-38. [JSTOR]
Vassits, M. M. 1907/08. "South-eastern elements in the pre-historic civilization of Servia." Annual of the British School at Athens 14: 319-42.
Thompson, M. S., and A. J. B. Wace. 1909. "The connection of the Aegean culture with Servia." Classical Review 23: 209-12. [JSTOR]
Wace, A. J. B., and M. S. Thompson. 1910. "Excavations in Thessaly, 1910." Man 10: 159-60. [JSTOR]
Duckworth, W. L. H. 1911. "35. Report on a Human Skull from Thessaly (Now in the Cambridge University Anatomical Museum)." Man 11: 49-50. [JSTOR]
Wace, A. J. B., and M. S. Thompson. 1911. "The distribution of early civilization in northern Greece." Geographical Journal 37: 631-36. [JSTOR]
Wace, A. J. B., and M. S. Thompson. 1912. Prehistoric Thessaly: being some account of recent excavations and explorations in north-eastern Greece from Lake Kopais to the borders of Macedonia. Cambridge archaeological and ethnological series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Woodward, A. M. 1913. "Inscriptions from Thessaly and Macedonia." Journal of Hellenic Studies 33: 313-46. [JSTOR]

Image
Skull from Neolithic layer at Tsangli.