began much earlier than most scholars had envisaged, in the third millen-
niumbc, with riverine deposits gradually accumulating to form lagoons.
A lake began to emerge in the later second millennium (c. 1600 bc), so that
by the fourth centurybc, the Gulf had narrowed considerably (Fig. 4.2).
The emphasis in this reconstruction on deltaic activity at river estuaries
also provides a better foundation for understanding the topographic
organization of roads around the edges of the lake.
This new framework for understanding local geography has been
incorporated into one of the most detailed and ambitious new studies
in the prehistory of the Gulf, at Angelochori, in the eastern foothills of
Mount Bermion, and north-east of the later settlements at Lefkadia and
Naoussa (Mieza).^9 Situated 1.5 km north-north-east of modern Angelo-
chori is a low, ellipsoidal mound, with a natural core, currently 18.34 m
asl. An area of 7,000 m^2 of theflat plateau was excavated between 1994
and 2003, revealing a Late Bronze Age settlement that relied on the fresh-
water lake created by the separation of channels of the River Haliakmon
from the sea by a sand bar. The inhabitants of the plateau used unfired
bricks to build their homes, in a style that closely resembles construction
at other well known Bronze Age sites in lower Macedonia, including
Assiros, Thessaloniki Toumba, Kastanas, and Angista Serres. Alongside
the unbaked brick, post-built constructions are also found. The combin-
ation of different construction materials is typical of a range of contem-
porary sites in other parts of Macedonia and the east Balkan region.
Angelochori can thus be inserted into a pattern that echoes wider
regional characteristics with respect to the use of local materials and
above all the tendency to focus settlement in the Late Bronze Age on hills
that afforded natural protection.
Among the most valuable results of current research at Angelochori is
the range of botanical evidence that gives a vivid and unusually detailed
panorama of the local economy. The principal cereals, including two
early varieties of wheat: einkorn (Triticum monococcum) and emmer
(Triticum dicoccum), as well as spelt wheat (Triticum spelta), barley
(Hordeum vulgare), and millet (Panicum miliaceum), represent some
of the hardiest cereal types, which would tolerate variable climatic
conditions. These cereals, together with a classic range of legumes
(lentils:Lens sp.; bitter vetch:vicia erviliaL.; grass pea:Lathyrus sativus;
Celtic bean:Vicia fabavar.minor) were the staples of the whole east
Balkan region in the prehistoric period and well into thefirst millennium
bc, when the older forms of wheat appear as supplements to bread wheat
(^9) Stephani 2010.
Thelongue duréein the north Aegean 137