During the Early Bronze Age, small, fortified coastal settlements were established in Thassos, as in other parts of the Aegean, such as the one at Skala Sotiros. The settlement flourished in the middle of the 3rd millennium and we speculate that, due to its small area (only 1 hectare), the fortification was intended to protect the residence of a local ruler or a group with power derived from the control of maritime trade and rare goods such as metals. In the monumental masonry of the strong enclosure, with gates and bastions, the herringbone technique is used, as is the case in the citadels of the Cyclades and Asia Minor. Excavations in the settlement continue and to date most of the walls, the western and northern sections, have been uncovered.
The pottery is represented by mostly dark-colored, but also brown-colored, undecorated vessels, hemispherical flasks, prochos and cups (depatas), as well as well-shaped storage vessels.
Also found were ceremonial chisels, jewelry, stone bone and clay tools, most of which were used for processing wool.
Analogies with Central and Eastern Macedonia, but also direct affinities with the North-East Aegean, are found, as evidenced by the presence of special destination vessels such as the "depas amphicupello". From the small finds of Skala Sotiros, the large number of spindles of various types is striking, which betrays the special importance of weaving. It is also worth mentioning the stone chisels with a stem hole.A large number of megalithic anthropomorphic columns - menirs, depicting warriors or hunters and carved in marble or gneiss, were also found in the settlement. The columns of Skala Sotiros were found embedded in the walls of the ancient settlement and belong to the 'pan-European' current of these early sculptures, which from the middle of the 4th millennium spread from Southern Russia to the Iberian Peninsula. Their function must be basically symbolic, funerary or liturgical.
They probably symbolized figures of heroic ancestors and their presence on the wall was intended to protect the lord. Another point of view that gives them a spatial importance, since in several cases they are found individually near access passages of sources, valuable materials and goods or at the limits of the useful areas of each settlement. Part of the excavated prehistoric settlement of Sotiros can be visited.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou