Συμβολή στη μελέτη του προϊστορικού τοπίου της Θηρασίας: ο οικισμός της 3ης και πρώιμης 2ης χιλιετίας π.Χ. στη θέση Παναγιά Κοίμηση (Contribution to the study of the prehistoric landscape of Therasia: the settlement of the 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC at the site of Panagia Koimisis)

The prehistoric settlement of Koimisis is one of the centres of habitation identified along the east caldera of the island during the Therasia Island Archaeological Field Survey project. The settlement occupies the top and the upper terraces of the hill at the SE end of the present-day island. The site was studied using non-invasive methods, such as intensive surface survey and the application of geophysical methods, combined with the systematic excavation launched in 2014 in order to investigate the part of the installation preserved on the upper terraces of the hill. The geological study, the surface survey and the geophysical survey helped clarify the topography and limits of the settlement. The trenches opened as part of the systematic excavation are located in the pre-eruption soils of the south and southeast hillsides and are partially sealed by the deposits of the Minoan eruption. They reveal the small natural and artificial terraces, which were the setting for the architectural structures and open-air human activities of the settlement. The site is laid out on horizontal levels and in the excavated part was organized in three main levels of use. The paper presents the main spaces observed in the excavation trenches, with an emphasis on the buildings excavated at the western sector of the site. The main aspects of the material culture are also briefly discussed, such as pottery, obsidian tools and loomweights. Marble schematic figurines and vases occur rarely, while metal implements, with the exception of a bronze plate, have not been found to date. A preliminary discussion of the millstones and grinders from the site is presented by G. Varsanis, in this volume.