The town that developed at Toumba Thessaloniki at the inner recess of the Thermaic Gulf, especially from the 6th to the end of the 4th century B.C., had an area of around 95000 sq.meters. Recent excavations have shown that while it had elements of local tradition it was also open to the influence of the central Aegean area and the main Greek cities of archaic and classical times, particularly Athens. In all probability, the town may be identified as ancient Therme or a section of it. Together with another twenty-five settlements, it formed part of the synoikismos organised by Kassander for the founding of Thessaloniki around 315 B.C. (Strabo VII, 21 and 24). Excavations in the ancient settlement and cemetery of Toumba Thessaloniki are continuing. Discoveries here, together with the results of research at various other neighboring sites, such as Karabournaki, present-day Therme (Sedes), Polichni (Lebet), and Anchialos (Sindos), will throw light on a little understood period of archaic and classical times in Central Macedonia and the Thermaic Gulf.