Constructing social identities in Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece

The volume focuses on collective rituals, such as religious practices, feasting and burial rites, reconstructed from material evidence. The aim is to understand how collective practices were employed to articulate distinctive social identities in Early and Archaic Greece. A number of sites located in important regions are presented as case studies : the Late Helladic III - Early Iron Age Amyklaion in Laconia, the Late Geometric « Sacred Houses » in Attica ; and a number of Archaic necropoleis in Northern Greece. Taking into account new evidence, these case studies offer the opportunity to discuss important issues : the continuity of ritual between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age at the Amyklaion ; the formation of social identities in feasting activities at particular buildings such as the « Sacred Houses » in Attica ; and finally the observed changes in the funerary rites at a number of culturally diverse cemeteries in Northern Greece.