Excavations on the acropolis and along the seashore brought to light extremely rich and diversified material dating, at the earliest, to the second half of the 7th century B.C., that is to the period which corresponds to the arrival of the Greeks at the site. The Greeks apparently first established themselves in these two areas: along the coast, in order to profit from the sea resources and to have easy access to the boats, and on the acropolis, which offered a natural defense in case of hostile attacks. The early material from the acropolis comes from disturbed contexts, but along the coast, vases and metal objects were found in well-stratifed levels. Here, some deep trenches, down to 6m50, have yielded various types of pottery which show the intensity of the contacts between the Greek and local populations and the diversity of trade relations with the main production centers of Greece.
In the deepest levels, however, the excavators only found pottery of thracian origin or vases which come from the chalcidiki peninsula. This tends to show that the site of Argilos was already occupied before the arrival of the Greeks. Since there is no trace of a violent destruction of this local habitat, it seems that Greeks and Thracians cohabited on the site, probably for about one century. These findings give us the opportunity to question some passages of ancient greek literature, that tend to present Greek colonists as brutal and not hesitating to chase off local inhabitants by force.
Aerial view of the excavation along the coast
