Pindakas is a small and low hill lying about 1·5 km. from the harbour at Emporio in South Chios. It is at the foot of the hills which divide the modern town of Pyrgi from the Emporio valley, but it also commands access to the adjacent valley to the north, that leading to modern Kalamoti (see Figs, 1 and 2). The position is, however, one which is better called convenient than strategic. The name must derive from πίδαξ, ‘spring’ or ‘fountain’, and, although there is no water on the hill itself, an excellent well lies close to its slopes on the west. Ano- and Kato-Pindakas have been distinguished, but the distinction is lost today, and Ano-Pindakas, rather nearer Emporio, is as bare of human habitation as Kato-Pindakas, which is our site.
Today the flat top of the hill is bare and rocky with scattered olive trees, though the fields around are rich in corn and mastika. Zolotas had noted antiquities there but it is the great polygonal walls at the west which make two terraces of the hill-top that are the most conspicuous remains (Plate 72a–b). It was on these two terraces that excavations were conducted by the writer in July 1954, in the course of the British School at Athens' excavations at Emporio. Sections were cut east–west through the upper and lower terraces, and north–south through the upper terrace (Figs. 3 and 4, AA and BB) and these, with minor trenches and some ground observation, tell a clear story of the site's history and buildings.