GREECE CENTRAL GREECE EVVIA LEFKANDI

Xeropolis

the Cemeteries

the Heroon

at the sea front

Xeropolis

Lefkandi, situated halfway between Chalkis and Eretria inside the well-protected Euboean gulf, played a leading part in the history of the area and was a major trade centre with contacts across the Mediterranean to the Phoenician coast and all the way to the Black Sea.

The settlement lies on the hill called Xeropolis ("dry city"), which is just to the east of the village on a peninsula. Excavations began here in 1964, and revealed that the history of the site started in the Early Helladic period around 2100 BC (or according to other sources already in the Late Neolithic period). Xeropolis became important during the Middle and Late Bronze Age, and particularly during the final stages of the Late Bronze Age, after 1200 BC. The phase corresponding to the Late Mycenaean period (1200-1100 BC) is especially important because it confirms the smooth transition from the Mycenaean to the Geometric period. The settlement and cemeteries yielded important evidence for the until then widely unexplored "Dark Age" (1050-700 BC), which was not a time of demise and desolation despite the destruction of the Mycenaean world.

But what remains of the Xeropolis settlement and the excavations? During my visit in 2016 there were only two fenced areas on the hill with few remains, partly protected by plastic covers, refilled, and overgrown. - The photographs above and below show the excavated "West Sector".

Above and below: Views from Xeropolis hill to the Euripos Strait.

Above: The second fenced excavation site, the "East Sector" does not look much other than the first one - poor remains, refilled and partly overgrown. - Below left: A valley north-east of Xeropolis where excavations were carried out in 2005 - but nothing is left. - Below right: The eastern end of Xeropolis.