Vari House Greece |
Location, Location, Location
The Vari House is located in southeastern Greece, about 4km (2.5 miles) from the coast of the Aegean Sea, along a rocky spur of the southernmost foothills of the Hymettus Mountain range. The site is about 18km (11 miles) southeast of Athens and about 2km (1.2 miles) from the ancient village of Vari. Archaeological evidence indicates that the building was built and occupied sometime between about 325 and 275 BCE.
No evidence was found for any other buildings in the immediate vicinity. Along with the layout of the site and some of the artifacts found, this led archaeologists to conclude that the building had been an isolated farmhouse. Apparently the site was occupied for a relatively short time: there was only one layer of dirt floor in the building, the threshold stone was not deeply worn, and there was no evidence of major rebuilding or additions to the building – all of which would not be expected after generations of use. No tools, valuable artifacts, or specifically personal possessions found among the remains – such objects tend to accumulate in occupation layers over extended time. Also, there was no evidence of violent destruction. It would seem that the Vari farmhouse was simply abandoned after a generation or two of use.
The site was excavated in the summer of 1966 by British archaeologists.
click on the image to enlarge |
view of the Vari farmhouse and environs extracted from the virtual reality model of the site; © 2011 Learning Sites, Inc. |
Reference
Page Created: October 5, 2004
Page Updated: January 5, 2012
URL:
Page Author: The Institute for the Visualization of History