Dispilio Lakeside Neolithic Settlement Archaeological Collection

In 1932, Professor Keramopoullos of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki located traces of a prehistoric lake settlement there.

Thirty years later Professor Moutsopoulos conducted surface investigations and confirmed the existence of the settlement.

The finds include tools (stone, bone, and flint) and quantities of animal bones, a discovery which shows that the inhabitants engaged in agriculture, hunting, and fishing; materials with which the huts were built (wooden piles and floors, post-holes); large clay storage jars; baskets woven in the manner of that period; cooking utensils (many of them boat-shaped); and bone and stone jewellery.

The most important find is a bone flute, one of the oldest musical instruments ever found in Europe.

An earthen cover in the middle of the settlement served to protect the fire, and there is a kind of pirogue moored at the lakeside, which the inhabitants would have used for fishing.