The Archeological Site of Thermi

The prehistoric settlement at Thermi is located on the Pyrgoi Thermis beach, 10 km north of Mytilini. This is a site dating to the Early Bronze Age (3200-2400 BC) with five consecutive habitation periods (I-V) and ensuing habitation phases in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (2000-1300 BC). This site was discovered and systematically excavated in 1929-1933 by the British Archeological School under the tutelage of Winfred Lamb. Thermi I was a minor unfortified settlement built according to the pericenter city building system: houses were grouped together, attached to each other by a shared wall and were arrayed outspread radially from a central building complex, an alleyway running all around it. The basic architectural type that was going to prevail throughout the subsequent history of this settlement emerged in this phase: a rectangular narrow building with a closed or sometime open antechamber and a chamber, the entrance opening on the narrower side. Thermi II presents the first attempt at a collective defensive reinforcement in which the continuous external walls of the residences formed a kind of fortified perimeter. In the ensuing phase a second inner fortification with bastions began to appear all around Thermi (Thermi III). Thermi IV is an altogether different type of settlement: the pericenter system is done away with and the settlement is built once again as a rectangular building complex which in Thermi V is developed and streamlined (Thermi V). The settlement now comprises five sizeable, unequal building blocks, separated by a thoroughfare and smaller crossing streets. The city is now fully fortified with a strong defensive wall and two main gates, bolstered by bastions. The city was finally abandoned in 2000 BC. It was later inhabited again but with far fewer people over a smaller area.

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