Was it still possible, in 2019, to rethink pre-Classical Athens? The editors of this volume answer with an emphatic ‘yes’. The richness of recent material concerning early Athens, in particular new surveys of excavation sites, studies of settlement material and new burial databases, makes the task ‘not only possible, but in fact necessary’ (11). The volume presents the proceedings from a workshop held in Munich in 2017 and, as such, is one of several conference publications on early Athens to appear recently (others are O. Palagia and E. Sioumpara (eds), From Hippias to Kallias: Greek Art in Athens and Beyond 527–449 BC, Athens 2019; M. Meyer and G. Adornato (eds), Innovations and Inventions in Athens c. 530 to 470 BCE: Two Crucial Generations (Vienna 2020). Its scope, however, is broader, focusing on the mortuary, urban, social and institutional history of Athens between the end of the Sub-Mycenaean age and the Graeco-Persian Wars. The volume is split into three thematic parts and consists of a collection of preliminary excavation reports, topographical studies and interpretative essays.

The first section, ‘Dealing with death’, considers the evidence of burials, traditionally seen as the most important testimony for Early Iron Age Attica. Two overview pieces set the tone here. The first, by Anna Maria D’Onofrio, criticizes recent trends emphasizing functional groups in Early Iron Age burials and argues for a return to a more kinship-based approach. Annarita Doronzio looks at the Kerameikos cemetery in the seventh century BC, offering a radical and convincing reassessment of previous scholarly interpretations, particularly those stressing a quantitative decline in the evidence and the supposed disappearance of female burials. The rest of the section features two chapters on elite funerary objects (Simona Dalsoglio on metal cauldrons; Jennifer Wilde on Cypriot-inspired pottery) and two preliminary excavations reports. The first of the latter derives from the Irodou Attikou cemetery (Marilena Kontopanagou), the other from the Archaic/Classical Phaleron cemetery (Stella Chryssoulaki), which, consid-ering its size (1,797 burials) and the number of unusual burials, including that of a young woman who died in labour and 78 upper-class men executed in the late seventh century BC, will be crucial for any future studies of Archaic Athenian social and political history.

The second section, ‘Shaping spaces’, tackles topography and settlement patterns. Elisavet Sioumpara provides a summary of her work on the Archaic Acropolis, arguing that the Doric temple of Athena was the Archaic Parthenon, the building of which marked an early step towards the ‘monumental reshaping’ of the city around 580–570 BC. Vincenzo Capozzoli reviews the contentious evidence for the pre-Themistokleian walls, suggesting that topographical reconstructions of early Athens should move beyond their location towards a more organic model based on the interrelationships between spaces for the living and for the dead. The remaining papers provide architectural/structural studies of the ‘Sacred House’ at the Academy (Alexandra Alexandridou and Maria Chountasi) and the late Archaic Telesterion (Ioulia Kaoura), and a survey of material finds south of the Acropolis (Myrto Litsa).

The final part, ‘Establishing communities’, begins with Alain Duplouy’s call to study Archaic Athenian citizenship as a form of participation discernible primarily through behaviours and lifestyles. Other papers here are marked by their engagement with literary sources, particularly Miriam Valdés Guía’s study of the dynamics of social and political conflict (stasis) in Archaic Athens and Marcello Valente’s discussion of the development of public finance under the Peisis-tratids. Other chapters, like Alexandra Bartzoka’s investigation into the origins of the People’s Court (Heliaia) and Constanze Graml’s examination of the impact of the Graeco-Persian Wars on the cultic veneration of Artemis in Attica, expose the anachronistic nature of written sources on early Athens. The section is rounded off by a comparative study of public meeting places in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Archaic Greece (Claudia Horst), a look at the sacred Treasurers of Athena in the sixth century BC (Valentina Mussa) and a study of depictions of class borders, as represented by objects in Athenian vase-painting (Wolfgang Filser).

Does the volume help us to rethink pre-Classical Athens? There is no doubt that it provides much food for thought, giving the reader a comprehensive insight into the current state of the field and its future directions. While doing so, however, one has the impression that it also asks the question of how to study Athens before the Graeco-Persian Wars. This is largely due to the editors’ decision not to establish any specific methodologies but to follow instead a ‘multidisciplinary’ and ‘relativistic’ approach (17). The end result succeeds mainly in emphasizing the differences between a material-based, archaeological approach and a literary, historical focus (an ‘either/or approach’, 13). This is perhaps best demonstrated by the editors’ reservations concerning the historical value of the Athenaiōn Politeia, and its heavy and often uncritical use by some of the contributors. The resulting diversity of approaches is, of course, nothing new, but it is notable that some pieces succeed in putting archaeology and literary sources into constructive dialogue. This is why rethinking pre-Classical Athens must take into account both the latest finds and the specific ways in which we interpret them. This volume provides an excellent starting point for both.