Description:
This volume, the first of two dealing with the Early Iron Age deposits from the Athenian Agora, publishes the tombs from the end of the Bronze Age through the transition from the Middle Geometric to Late Geometric period. An introduction deals with the layout of the four cemeteries of the period, the topographical ramifications, periodization, and a synthesis of Athens in the Early Iron Age. Individual chapters offer a complete catalogue of the tombs and their contents, a full analysis of the burial customs and funerary rites, and analyses of the pottery and other small finds. Maria A. Liston presents the human skeletal material, Deborah Ruscillo presents the faunal remains, and Sara Strack contributes to the pottery typology and catalogue. In an appendix, Eirini Dimitriadou provides an overview of the locations of burial activity in the wider city.

About the Author: John K. Papadopoulos is a Professor in the Department of Classics and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at University of California, Los Angeles. Evelyn Lord Smithson (1923-1992) was a Professor of Classics and Archaeology at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Reviews:
"It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of this work. Papadopoulos has offered a landmark study of an important body of material and an authoritative analysis that is indispensable for anyone interested in the archaeology of Athens, the Aegean of the Early Iron Age, or burial and society. This is a major reference work, like many volumes in the series of the Athenian Agora, as well as a superb model for future publication of cemeteries in Greece and the Mediterranean." Antonis Kotsonas, AJA 123.3 (2019)

"[The catalogue of tombs] is the core and the greatest achievement of the book, presenting much more data than was previously available in preliminary reports and on the Agora Excavation's online database. Tombs already more fully presented are completely republished, adding many pages to the book but nicely assembling all the information in a single volume . . . minor details are added even for burials previously presented in detail." Maximilian F. Rönnberg, BMCR 2018.09.09

"This new volume in the Athenian Agora series is a modern and well-produced study of the mortuary material from the Athenian Agora . . . ." Stefanos Gimatzidis, Journal of Hellenic Studies 139 (2019), pp. 270-271