The Acropolis is located on a flat-topped cliff 150 meters (490 ft) above sea level in the city of Athens, with a surface area of

hectares (7.4 acres).While the oldest artifacts date from the Middle Neolithic, there are documented dwellings in Attica from the early

Neolithic period (6th millennium BC). There is no doubt that a Mycenaean Megaron castle stood on the hill at the end of the Bronze Age.

Nothing survives of this megaron, perhaps, fragments of a limestone pillar-base and several sandstone steps. Soon after the construction

of the palace, a Cyclopean giant circuit wall was built, which was 760 meters long, 10 meters high and 3.5 to 6 meters thick. From the

end of Helladic IIIB (1300–1200 BC), this wall would serve as the main defense for the Acropolis until the 5th century. The wall consisted

of two parapets built with large stone blocks and cemented with an earth mortar called amplekton (Greek: μπλεκτον). The wall uses typical

Mycenaean conventions in that it followed the natural contour of the terrain and its gates, which were on the south side, were arranged

obliquely, with a parapet and tower rising to the right hand side of the Inkers. Thus, the facility of defense was provided. On its north

side were two low reaches to the top of the hill, consisting of steep, narrow flights of stairs cut into the rock. Homer is

thought to have mentioned this fortification when he mentioned the "strongly built House of Erechtheus"

thought to have mentioned this fortification when he mentioned the "strongly built House of Erechtheus"

the Acropolis. The crack extended to a bed of soft marl for a distance of about 35 meters in which a well was dug.