Glimpses of the Invisible Dead: A 7th-Century B.C. Burial Plot in Northern Piraeus

by Nathan T. Arrington, Georgios Spyropoulos, and Demetrios J. Brellas

Hesperia, Volume 90, Issue 2
Page(s): 233-279
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.90.2.0233
Year: 2021
VIEW ONLINE

ABSTRACT:

A rescue excavation in northern Piraeus uncovered a burial plot with funeral activity from the 7th to early 5th century B.C. The material from the 7th century offers important data on a period that is often invisible to archaeologists and challenges the scholarly correlation of visibility with status. Looking beyond the spectacular remains of the Kerameikos cemetery provides a more comprehensive understanding of the range of burying practices operative in 7th-century Athens and Attica. Age critically impacted the type of burial and its visibility in the archaeological record. Several child burials contained remarkable vases that illuminate the latest phase of the Protoattic style.