climate, and humidity—provides excellent conditions for stock raising
and hunting. The area around the castle itself has yielded evidence of
activity from at least the Early Bronze Age onwards, with workshops and
other installations enclosed by a peribolos wall of dry stone at Krania,
370 m from the castle. In the second half of the eighth centurybc, a large
single-roomed structure, originally apsidal, later oval-shaped, with a
single entrance on the long side, and a partially paved or pebbledfloor,
was built in a way that overlaps the Bronze Age enclosure and its
terraces. This structure could have been thefirst Iron Age farmhouse
in this area. Although the evidence for the next four hundred years is
largely circumstantial (the late classical and early Hellenistic period is
represented mainly by a potter’s workshop), the Hellenistic phase saw a
massive expansion. The castle was densely inhabited with domestic
structures built of dry stone with multiple rooms. These were destroyed
in the second century, presumably at the time of the transition to Roman
authority, when there was a great deal of activity along the coast road.
The fortification was eventually abandoned in the fourth centuryad.
At a distance of 4 km from Platamonas castle was a very large rural
villa at Tria Platania, which began life during the fourth centurybc, was
interrupted in the early third centurybc(perhaps in connection with the
Gallic invasion) and revived in the later third centurybc, in the reign of
Antigonos Gonatas, continuing into the time of Philip V. One of the
special features of the Tria Platania estate is the evidence for the spatial
organization of central tasks and storage arrangements for the preserva-
tion of wine and other foodstuffs (Fig. 4.3). The essential structures
consist of a rectangular, almost square walled enclosure (55 m x 42.50
m), built of mud brick over foundations made of unworked stones, the
floors on a thick substructure of stone and tile. The enclosure formed
the external walls of a suite of rooms on at least three sides, facing onto
a large open courtyard. The north and east wings also had a covered
walkway, which may originally have extended on the remaining sides to
create a regular, fully enclosed space. There was a tower in the centre of
the courtyard, surrounded by a shallow trench. A pottery kiln was
located west of the tower, circular in plan, with a central pillar and
a stone-builtfire chamber. A well was also located in the courtyard.
Outside the farmhouse, there was a stone-paved path on the east and
south fronts. This central building had been enclosed by a surrounding
wall,c.1.20 m wide, extending from the north-east corner for a distance
of 32 m northwards. Most of the associatedfinds were ceramic and
provide a rich reflection of domestic equipment for the storage and
consumption of wine, other liquids, and food. In the north-east corner
of the complex was a storage room, apitheon, containing ten ceramic
142 Thelongue duréein the north Aegean