The excavations of G.C. Chourmouziadis

The Neolithic Dispilio brought to light

In 1992, Professor George C. Chourmouziadis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, at the instigation of N. Moutsopoulos, began large-scale excavations at Dispilio with many questions, making Dispilio the first lake settlement in Greece to be systematically investigated. He dug in two large excavation trenches, the Western Sector and the Eastern Sector with a total area of 1000 square meters. In the Eastern Sector, hundreds of posts were uncovered. In the West, immediately below the surface, three buildings were found. He also formulated the first theoretical model for the evolution of the settlement. According to this, the buildings of the Western Sector, built directly on the earth, represent the upper "terrestrial" phase of Dispilio, while the posts of the Eastern Sector represent the "lake" and "amphibian" phases. This first, largely hypothetical shape, was not confirmed by the new, systematic examination of the posts.

At the same time, the Archaeological Teaching School operated for years in Dispilio where students from the universities of the country and abroad attended theoretical and practical courses in archaeology.

The excavations lasted until 2013, the year when G. C. Chourmouziadis passed away, leaving behind a great work. Part of this work is the open-air Open Museum of Dispilio which gathers thousands of visitors every year.