Pella lost its importance after 148 BC when the Romans made Thessaloniki the capital of their new province of Macedonia. The lake and river mouth silted up and eventually the city was abandoned.

A small village remained near the site which was first systematically explored by archaeologists in the 1950s. Since then excavations have continued to unearth more of the city, although much has yet to be discovered, including the theatre where Euripides staged his last plays, including the Bacchae, which received its first performance here around 408 BC.

The site lies amongst farmlands just southwest of the village of Pella. Archaeological excavations have continued here since 1957, and in recent years the main emphasis has been on restoring the excavated areas to make them accessible for visitors.

The land rises gently from the south end of the site, which in antiquity was the shore of a lake. Ancient workshops, including those for producing ceramics, have recently been unearthed here. At the south of the site are also the toilets, shop and workshops where copies of antiquities are made.

The centre of site is dominated by the remains of ancient houses which feature restored colonnades and exquisite mosaic floors (some of which are now in the museum). Further north, the city's agora (market place), with an area of 70,000 square metres, has recently been restored and opened to the public.

The foundations of the royal palace are above the agora, and a low hill just north of the museum is known as the acropolis. At the northeast edge of the village are the remains of the Thesmophorion (see photo below), the centre of the annual festival for the goddesses Demeter and Persephone. There are also a number of ancient Macedonian tombs around the site, although they are currently not open.

The EO2 National Road between Thessaloniki and Edessa roughly follows the course of the Roman Via Egnatia which passed through Pella. It is thought that this road was the city's main street. Unfortunately, this also meant that the busy, modern road passed through the middle of the site, making life for archaaeologists difficult. Recently a new stretch of road has built, bypassing the site. The old road now ends at the entrance to the site.

The new museum, opened in March 2010, is to the west of the village. It replaces the tiny, old museum which was originally built as a pavilion for visitors to the archaeological site in the 1960s.

It is a spacious, modern building, allowing the latest display and lighting techniques, and providing more room for recent archaeological finds as well as informative elements such as models of ancient buildings. A corridor leads to a large, open-plan main exhibition room which is arranged in five themed sections:

1. daily life
2. public life
3. religion and cults
4. cemeteries
5. the palace

The exhibits include the famous marble head of Alexander the Great, large floor mosaics, coins, objects of stone, metal and ceramic, figurines, statuettes and inscriptions. The objects are labelled in Greek and English and there are several information boards which provide contexts the historical, geographical, social and religious aspects of the site.

There is also a lecture theatre in which multimedia presentations can be seen, and a terrace where you can sit and enjoy the drinks and snacks available at the snack bar.

At the southern end of the archaeological site there is a shop (open 8:00 - 15:00) selling copies of Greek antiquities, archaeological publications and souvenirs.

The site's permanent modern-day inhabitants are small, sand-coloured rodents of the squirrel family, similar to prairie-dogs, who live underground. Now and again you may see one pop its head out of a hole take a quick look around and disappear again.

I didn't manage to photograph one - they were just too fast for me. Archaeologist Haris Tsougaris, former Director of the Pella Museum, informs me that these critters are known as citellus citellus or spermopilus citellus.