Her footsteps, confident now in familiar times and beloved places, lead Ypsipyli to Poliochni, the main town of Lemnos. She walks its streets, stops in the squares, gazes at the east seacoast and feels a part of this early political community. Trade exchanges, pottery, knowledge of metalworking, fishing, livestock, viticulture, culture and organization. Ypsipyli feels that here it would be worth trying again. Here she would relive moments from her carefree youth in Lemnos.
5,500 thousand years ago, in the Early Bronze Age, the first foundations of a settlement were laid on the hill of Poliochni, a town that predates Troy, across from the Hellespont, a town-trading hub to and from the Black Sea. A town that is developing rapidly, importing and trading metals due to its key position.
The discovery of Poliochni was made by the Italian School of Archaeology and its Director Alessandro Della Seta. The starting point of their research was The Lemnos Stele, a stone tombstone discovered at the end of the 19th century and dating back to the second half of the 6th century BC. The Stele includes two engraved inscriptions on its surface in a language that, while using elements of the Greek alphabet, is not Greek. Driven by the Lemnos Stele, Italian archaeologists wanted to find evidence that would suggest a possible connection between the Etruscans of Italy and the Tyrrhenian inhabitants of Lemnos. During 6 excavation periods, the oldest settlement with levels of round huts first came to the surface. Then, the “Blue” Period reveals an inhabited extensive area with rectangular houses, cobble-stoned streets, and buildings of public character. The “Green” and “Red” Periods follow: periods of prosperity with signs of retaining walls and defensive fortification. The “Yellow” Period, during which the architectural phase of the settlement is better known and visible, leads us to about 2100 BC. Lastly, the “Brown” and “Purple” Periods, where the last breath of life is visible on the hill of Poliochni, which was finally abandoned at the beginning of the 14th century BC. According to archaeologists, around 2100 BC Poliochni was struck by a major catastrophic earthquake which gradually led to its almost total abandonment and since then it has been inhabited only occasionally.
