In this volume, archaeologist Dr. Maria Pappa presents her significant systematic excavations that have changed the perception of the Neolithic period in the Thessaloniki and Pieria regions over the last few decades and have generally influenced Neolithic studies in our country.

Starting from the excavation of the Neolithic settlement at the International Fair of Thessaloniki, which pushed the first habitation in the area of the city of Thessaloniki back to the beginning of the 6th millennium BC, and of Thermis, which represents a typical settlement for the region from a later phase of the Neolithic, and finally of the internationally renowned Makrygialos with its impressive deep trenches surrounding it, Mrs. Pappa's large-scale excavations have provided not only an inexhaustible wealth of findings and data that are already engaging and will continue to engage research for a long time, but mainly a detailed and valid depiction of the organization and form of Neolithic settlements, for which, before these excavations, we had minimal information for the entire area north of Thessaly.

The organization of space is the main theoretical framework of the volume. The new findings from the excavations systematically document the central importance that this parameter acquired for Neolithic humans and their lives on both the everyday and symbolic level.

The volume is aimed not only at specialist archaeologists and those interested in the prehistory of the area and the progress of related research but also at those who wish to better understand the dynamic relationships that develop with space when specific conditions, such as permanent settlement and a new agricultural economy, affect social life and transform humanity's relationship with nature.

Kostas Kotsakis, Emeritus Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki