The revolution that changed man from a food-gatherer to a food-producer, from a migratory hunter and collector of wild fruits to a settled agriculturist and tender of domesticated animals, has been one of the chief preoccupations of prehistorians, especially those working in the Near or Middle East, since the end of the Second World War. […] It has been generally accepted that this revolution was carried out in the Near East, but that the results very quickly affected south-east Europe was made apparent by the discovery in October 1956 by the German expedition at Argissa of the first remains of a Pre-ceramic Neolithic culture in the Aegean. Soon afterwards a section of the acropolis of Sesklo fell away, owing to an earthquake, and revealed much deeper Neolithic strata than had been known there. At the bottom of these was an accumulation from the Aceramic Neolithic period. This was investigated at once by Theochares, again the following year and most recently from 1962 on. Wider areas were dug at Argissa in 1957 and 1958 while in the latter year a Preceramic Neolithic level was found by Theochares at Souphli Magula, on the right bank of the Peneus River just north-east of Larissa, and investigated in a limited area.
    From all three sites it seems clear that from the start these villages were rather thickly settled, the earliest inhabitants living in small huts, the floor of which was cut into virgin soil to a depth of from 0,30-0,60 metres. The largest pit hut yet dug, at Argissa, is c. 4,00 x 2,20 metres. Hearths and pebble floors occur in some cuttings. The superstructure was apparently of reeds and branches, possibly with mud daub; the large amount of ash and carbonized matter in these earliest strata is due to the nature of the structures. Some small pits lined with clay may have served for storage. As occupation debris accumulated, houses seem to have been built at ground level with stamped aerts floors and to have had hearths; the walls may have been supported by posts, for which post holes bear evidence.
    Possibly because of the limited scope of excavations in Preceramic levels in Greece thus far, no burials of the period have been found. That they might be expected within the settlements is indicated by the presence of intramural burial in Preceramic levels at Khirokitia in Cyprus and at Jericho and Nahal Oren in Palestine.

    The equipement of these earliest farmers and herdsmen consisted largely of bone and stone tools, implements and weapons; bone tools may outnumber those of stone at Sesklo and Souphili. The stone implements comprise both chipped and polished types. Obsidian seems to have been used for one-third to two-thirds of the chipped stone tools, carnelian and flint or chert for the rest.

    One question that must be considered is whether or not the Aegean area played any part in the revolution that changed man from a food-gatherer to a food-producer. Braidwood considers the revolution as a phenomenon which occurred in the hill country of northern Iraq, north-western Iran and perhaps south-eastern Turkey, and spread from there, but Miss Kenyon has argued that Jericho, and perhaps other such isolated areas where great fertility was conducive to long settlement, may have been the scene of independent change. The discoveries at Çatal Hüyük in the konya plain of Anatolia suggest that here is another possible focus for the Neolithic revolution. Nothing yet found in Greece, or in the European countries to the north, suggests that a similar process of change took place in Europe independently. It is more likely that the inhabitants of Greece received from Anatolia or farther east the benefits of a revolution already accomplished, in this case chiefly a knowledge of agriculture and the raising of domesticated animals, permitting permanent settlement. In no sense can the material assemblage known thus far from the Greek Aceramic Neolithic compare with that known from the East. Greek settlements lack the developed architecture, the crafts of stone-working for vessels and ornaments, the human and animal figurines, the rather elaborate cult practices that characterize the Near Eastern settlements. If, as seems likely, the Aegean received its settlers of Aceramic Neolithic period from the Near East, then this was perhaps the first of a long series of westward movements into the Aegean, possibly already by boat. That this was completely possible is shown by the widespread use in Thessaly of obsidian that most likely came from the island of Melos -the best evidence we have of an already developed commerce at this time.