Archaeology Lecture with Philipp Stockhammer

Join us for "Archaeogenetic Perspectives on Athenian Society during the First Millennium BCE" with Dr. Philipp Stockhammer.

Lecture abstract:

Our understanding of the development of Athenian society during the early first millennium BCE has long relied primarily on archaeological evidence, especially funerary remains, and on textual sources of mostly later date. Bioarchaeological data, by contrast, have remained scarce. Archaeological research has traditionally focused on the spatial organization of cemeteries, grave typologies, mortuary practices and rituals, as well as the style and iconography of grave markers. Yet fundamental questions about the social fabric of early Athenian kinship practices and human mobility remain unresolved. What social units did burial plots represent? To what extent did biological kinship shape the organization of cemeteries? How were individuals of different sex, age, origin etc. buried – within the same plot, across different plots, or in neighboring cemeteries?

Within the ongoing collaboration of the Ephorates of Athens and Attica and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, we have generated archaeogenetic data from more than 200 individuals recovered from cemeteries across Attica dating to the first millennium BCE, with a particular focus on the renowned cemetery of Phaleron. In my lecture, I present the current state of the project and explore how ancient DNA is transforming our understanding of social organization, kinship structures, mobility, and marital practices in Early Iron Age Attica.