Introduction

Map of Skiathos showing the known archaeological sites.

From 2009 to 2011, the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology of the University of Thessaly, in collaboration with the 13^th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture, conducted a systematic survey at the site of Kephala, next to the bay of Xanemos, on the northeast side of the island of Skiathos. The systematic excavation of the settlement started within the frame of a five-year excavation project in 2012. The fortified settlement has been identified with Palaiskiathos, the earliest of the two ancient poleis of Skiathos, as mentioned in the sources (Skylax, Periplous, 58). The surface finds extend from the 10^th to the 5^th or even 4^th centuries BC. The settlement seems to have been abandoned, not directly after the foundation of the Classical polis of Skiathos, as it has been initially suggested, but rather later, during the early Hellenistic period (3^rd-2^nd c. BC.).

Professor A. Mazarakis Ainian is the director of the University research team, while the 13^th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture is represented by its director Dr. Argyroula Doulgeri-Intzesiloglou and the archaeologist Eleni Chrysopoulou.

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