The Archaeology of Pre-Classical Attica

The aim my project is to re-evaluate our understanding of the territory of Attica in the period between the fall of the Mycenaean Palaces and the appearance of the Athenian democracy (1200-500 BC), through a reinterpretation of published archaeological data using a GIS and a novel approach to social space. The study of Attica in this period has long been influenced by a text-based perspective that imposes a top-down vision of this territory as peripheral in relation to the city of Athens. By focusing instead on four key areas of the peninsula (Sounion, Oropos, Marathon and Salamis), and adopting a theoretical perspective drawn from geographical and sociological conceptions of socially constructed space, this project aims to produce new insights into the history of these territories. In so doing, it has the potential to renew our understating of these societies and the relationships they entertained not just with Athens but also the rest of the Greek world.