This study of the changing relationships between burial customs and social structure in Early Iron Age Greece will be an essential read for all archaeologists working with burial evidence, regardless of period.

This book differs from many thematic studies on state formation, as the unique and specific developments are given equal importance with those factors that are common to all early states. Ancient literary testimony and relevant historical and anthropological comparisons are discussed extensively in an effort to explain the transition to the city-state, a development that had decisive implications for the subsequent growth of European society.