Excavations at Toumba, Thessalonica, have revealed the existence of an “apartment-like complex” dating to around 1200 BCE. According to Professor Stelios Andreou from the University of Thessalonica, the complex is comprised of three large mud-brick buildings – up to 200 square metres in area – each housing numerous rooms all interconnected by narrow streets that provided easy access to the top of the Toumba hillock.
In 2009 the excavation focused primarily on the period of settlement dating to around 1200 BCE. The excavations were continued this year with the aim of completing the investigation of two structures discovered back in 2006 and which have provided valuable insight into the everyday life of the regions inhabitants during the end of Late Bronze Age.
The southernmost of the three buildings contained a storeroom with two structures that are thus far unique in the settlement: a large above-ground earthen circular construction presumably used for the storage of fruits and an adjoining raised auxiliary platform that facilitated the actual storage process.
A number of hearths were found in several rooms of the same building, the floors of which were decked out with carpets made from plant fibres.
Other finds include a small oven filled with ash and burned seeds, a stone platform with tools (burrstones, mattocks, axes, stone blades, scrapers, textile weights, etc) and containers used for the preparation of food and other household activities such as textile production, metalworking, the preparation of hides and so on.
Many of the narrow streets were littered with waste thrown out by the occupants when they cleaned their rooms and fireplaces. Domestic animals were housed outside the settlement in enclosures and pens.
A noteworthy result of this year's excavation was the large number of burials located in the courtyards and streets of the settlement. Counting older finds from the Toumba site a total of 17 graves have been excavated to date, while the number of scattered human bones recovered thus far is also quite large due to the fact that many graves appear to have been relocated during the course of subsequent levelling and building activity.
This is quite unique for the Late Bronze Age in Central Macedonia and provides valuable evidence on local burial customs during this period. The finds in fact suggest that the dead were buried near their dwellings as opposed to organized cemeteries.