Rare pendant sheds light on Neolithic period

Gold artifact ‘comes from advanced society’

A 6,500-year-old gold pendant, found by a hiker in a field near the northern town of Ptolemaida, could provide insights into the Neolithic era, archaeologists said.

By Costas Kantouris - The Associated Press

THESSALONIKI - A 6,500-year-old gold jewel was picked up in a northern Greek field by a hiker who handed it over to authorities, an archaeologist said yesterday.

The flat, ring-shaped prehistoric pendant is a rare find in Greece, where only three such gold artifacts have been discovered during organized digs, Georgia Karamitrou-Mendesidi said.

Police confiscated a hoard of 33 similar hammered gold jewels from smugglers in 1997.

“It’s very important that it comes from the Neolithic period, about which we know very little regarding the use of metals, particularly gold,” Karamitrou-Mendesidi, head of the archaeological service where the discovery was made, told AP.

She said the pendant was picked up last year near the town of Ptolemaida, 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Thessaloniki. Karamitrou-Mendesidi is to present the artifact at a conference that opened on Thursday in the northern city. The woman who found it does not want any reward and wishes to remain anonymous, Karamitrou-Mendesidi said.

Measuring 4 by 3.5 centimeters (1.6 by 1.4 inches), the pendant probably had religious significance and would have been worn on a necklace by a prominent member of society.

“The fact that it is made of gold indicates that these people were highly advanced, producing significant works of art,” Karamitrou-Mendesidi said.

Similar finds have been excavated in Turkey and the Balkans, particularly in Bulgaria.

Around 4,500 BC, when the jewel was made, Greece’s early Neolithic farming settlements were consolidating into socially structured trading centers with a developed knowledge of metalworking.

In November, archaeologists announced the discovery of two prehistoric farming settlements dating to 6,000 BC in the Ptolemaida region. The sites include human burials, clay and stone figurines of humans and animals, stone seals, pottery and stone tools.

“These figurines are impressive as they are remarkably faithful in their representation of the human figure,” Karamitrou-Mendesidi said.