presence of several larger, archaeologically identifiable settlements,
within geographical districts that seem to have had genuine adminis-
trative status in this period, is some validation of the principles of Zipf’s
law. The wide distribution of substantial cemetery areas, either burial
mounds or extensiveflat cemeteries, which have a marked tendency to
cluster around the largest habitation sites, is one of the clearest indica-
tions that some of the larger sites were also collective focal points. They
include Aiani in Elimeia,^62 and Edessa in Bottiaia, whose urban pattern
seems to reflect both concentrated areas of settlement and a penumbra of
sub-urban sites, with a similar configuration around Alorus in Almo-
pia.^63 In inland Thrace there is a particular concentration of sites with
evidence of high-status material (analogous to the mortuary profile in
the cemeteries at Aiani and Edessa) at the western end of the Thracian
Plain, including the triangle of land between the foothills of Rhodope on
the south, Strelcha and Krastevich on the north,^64 and the area between
Plovdiv and Vasil Levsky, either side of the River Stryama, which includes
some of the most spectacular funerary deposits from the region (Duvanli,
Sarnegor, Chernozem, Starosel).^65 Apart from the metropolitan area of
Plovdiv itself and Vasil Levsky, settlements in the area of Plovdiv have
been registered but remain unexcavated, so the relationship between them
and the pre-Macedonian site at Plovdiv cannot as yet be tested.^66 Similar
patterns can be observed in other parts of Thrace, where distinct regional
foci (often more than one) are noticeable in the vicinity of Chirpan,^67 in
the lower Hebros valley, between the confluence of the Tundja (Tonzos)
and the River Hebros, including eastern Rhodope and perhaps focusing
on Kypsela,^68 as well as in the hinterland of Odessos.^69
(^62) Karamitrou-Mentessidi 2011 with refs.
(^63) Chrysostomou 2006, 713–24; Chrysostomou 2008, esp. 32fig. 9, showing the conser-
vation area around the Southern Gateway, with traces of archaic structures; 57–9,figs 34– 36
acropolis with high quality masonry; 63,fig. 43 (plan of HL/R houses); 76fig. 72, farmhouse
outside city walls; Chrysostomou 1994, 30, map 4 (Iron Age sites); 31, map 5, classical/
Hellenistic sites; among these, the most significant are Nea Zoi and Aloros, naturally
fortified hilltops.
(^64) Krastevich and Strelcha: see Ch. 5, n.16.
(^65) Duvanli, Sarnegor: Archibald 1998, 158, 317, 281; Chernozem: Kisyov 2005, 12–112;
see also Ch. 8.
(^66) Vasil Levsky: Kisyov 2004, 48–68; cf. Archibald 1998, 126, 141.
(^67) Tonkova 2000, 133–40; Tonkova 2008; 2011.
(^68) See esp. Nekhrizov and Mikov 2000, 161–80; Kypsela:Inventory, no. 645.
(^69) Stoyanov 2000, 55–67; Minchev 2007, 7–80; Damyanov 2010, 265–76; see in general
the contributions toPistiros et Thasosfor a wide-ranging regional perspective.
70 Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces