Some Thoughts on the Pre-Classical Athenian Society

The scale, structure and organization of the Athenian society during the Early Iron Age (c. 1100 -700 BC) remains widely conjectural. The meagerness of the settlement data, the dearth of evidence for economy and use of land, the absence of writing and of a figurative art as well until the late phase of the period, oblige the researchers to address the grave contexts as the most relevant testimony to the period. From the 70’s of last century the social archaeology – starting from the Cambridge school groundbreaking studies – has built a methodological approach apt to exploit properly the material record and produced a bulk of meaningful literature. It is worth trying to offer a review of the main current strategies of use of the burial evidence to outline the characteristics of the Athenian society of the Early Iron Age, discussing the different and even opposite explanatory models adopted by the critics. Starting from the kinship-based burying practice, I will investigate the mechanism of pseudo-kinship groupings and the sense of shared ancestry developed through the kinship pattern, sensu J. Whitley. The theme of war and male elite, the rise of the aristocratic banquet and the Athenian aristocracy will be presented under this conceptual perspective.