The prehistoric settlement of Dimini is situated near the village of the same name, on the western edge of the plain of Volos. It stretches over a low hill (25 metres high), today located at a distance of approximately 3 kilometres from the shoreline of the Gulf of Pagassai. Excavations and geological investigations (1901-1903,1974-1977, 1989) have found evidence that the settlement was situated during the Late Neolithic very close to the sea and covered an area of 8,000 square metres. Excavations have so far revealed a site of 4,000 square metres, thus rendering Dimini one of the better known Neolithic settlements of Greece. Among its archaeological remains (architecture, pottery, tools, figurines, jewellery), all cultural achievements of the Aegean society of the Late Neolithic II Period (4800-4500 BC) are reflected, and characterized by the first researchers of Greek Prehistory by the term Dimini culture.

The hill of Dimini was inhabited almost from the beginning of the 5th millenium BC and gradually evolved until 4500 BC. Six curvilinear enclosures, not surviving though in their whole length, indicate the phases of habitation development. They were built of local slate and were 0,6-1,40 metres wide. Their height was 1,5 metres where they were free-standing, while at points where they functioned as house walls they reached 1,7 metres. They were arranged radially and were interrupted at four points by passages 0,85-1,10 metres wide, leading to the interior of the settlement. In this way habitation activity developed in five areas: the court of the central enclosure and the four sections around it. The passages towards the central court were slightly sloping and partially paved with slats.
The stone enclosures of Dimini do not seem to follow a preconceived pattern, but obey the practical needs of its inhabitants, as was the case during the Middle Neolithic in the neighbouring settlement of Sesklo. They were probably linked to a gradual development of the settlement, in order to meet the housing needs of the population which was constantly growing in the wider area during the Late Neolithic. The purpose of the stone enclsures of Dimini, as well as the ditches surrounding sites of the same period and other settlements, remains questionable: for defense or to demarcate the limitsof the settlement?

In between the enclosures of Dimini, large and small spaces were left for communal use and for the activities of neighbouring buildings. The number of buildings has been estimated to have been 30-40 and it is assumed that they housed 200-300 individuals. As a rule they were adjacent to the stone enclosures and their sides were built on stone foundations and with walls from mud-bricks. Roofs were sloping but also gabled and rested both on the enclosures and the vertical posts. They were constructed with timber beams and lean branches, which were insulated with clay and hay. The buildings were usually four-sided and had one room, while megaroid houses with a roofed court (house 13 in the central court) were also in use. The largest building of the settlement and probably one of the most important was house N (10X5 metres). In this structure there are all the architectural features of a Neolithic house: floor from beaten clay, clay and stone hearths and rectangular storage constructions marked radially by stones.



In the southwestern part of Dimini, between the second and the third enclosure, a ceramic kiln was found belonging to a pottery workshop, specializing in the production of vases with incised decoration, typical of Late Neolithic II. The potter's kiln consists of a circular, stone foundation, that marked the area where the dry, already decorated vases were piled. These vases were then completely covered with branches. The surface of the branches was made water-proof with quantities of fresh clay and which controlled the firing temperature (850 C).

What is remarkable at Dimini is the specialization in the production of jewellery (bracelets, pendants, beads) of Spondylus sea-shell (house N), which were marketed, in the same way as pottery, through exchange networks beyond the settlement. These objects along with ring idol pendants, sarrow heads of Melian obsidian and metals, constituted objects of social prestige for a farming and stock-rearing community under transformation.

The economic and social changes observed at the end of the Late Neolithic are reflected in the use of the hill of Dimini during the Final Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. House 13 of the central enclosure was enlarged, the passages to the central court were blocked, and the hill was used exclusively by one family.