SITE DESCRIPTION

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 town of Vari.  No evidence was found for any other buildings in the immediate vicinity.  The site was excavated in the summer of 1966 by British archaeologists.  They published their analyses of the building, its artifacts, and its presumed function for others to study.  The excavation data in that report formed the basis for our reconstruction.
Map of Greece
Map of Greece

Regional Map

Floor Plan
Scattered around the linked virtual worlds provided here (showing the building as it was excavated and as it has been * reconstructed -- * virtual world not functional in demo) are clues to the building's function and date.  Some are visible in the virtual worlds or their links and some are found within the linked texts.  How many can you find?
 
Building  Description
The building plan as excavated is a rectangle measuring about 13.7 x 17.6m (about 45' x 58').  There appear to be four rooms across the back of the building, a large central space, and two additional spaces in the front corners of the building.  Each room had only one doorway and that doorway opened only into the central space; the building itself appears to have had only one entrance, facing south.

The excavators found no remains of other buildings nearby, no shelters for keeping large animals nor any storage facilities for grain, all items that would be expected if this structure was a typical ancient farmstead.

Several adjacent walls found along the south wall of the building indicated an extension of rooms there.  Other stone walls enclosed the land in front of and to the side of the building.  Only the lower stone courses of the building's walls were found intact, the entire upper portions were not preserved. Some walls that remian have irregular tops, others have flattish tops.

The large central space of the building had a paved floor of large stone slabs, while other spaces only had dirt floors.  One exception was a portion of Room I, in the northwest corner, in which some paving was found. In the central space, three circular stone blocks were found set into the paving, and gaps were discovered indicating that other circular blocks had been removed.

These are among the most important questions that researchers need to answer in order to understand more about the people who built the building and how this building fits into the history of the region.  By wandering through the virtual worlds, observing the building, clicking on hot spots, and reading the linked texts, you will learn how archaeologists determined this building's use.
 
Vari House as Reconstructed
Vari House as Excavated
Vari House Interior
Vari House Plan
Residents' Occupation
Building Function
Building Dating
Suggested Reading
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