ABSTRACT
Shortly before 850 B.C. there was a rapid advance on three fronts: in sea communications within the Aegean, in exchanges with the Near East, and, consequently, in the material prosperity of those cities taking the most active part in these exchanges. The most substantial evidence of this progress comes from well over a dozen graves at Athens and Lefkandi, all of which were furnished with a richness and variety not seen anywhere in Greece since the ruin of the Mycenaean palaces. The burials coincide with a brief period of artistic ferment in Athens-perhaps c. 855-830 B.C.—which saw the transition from the Early to the Middle stage of Attic Geometric pottery. Contemporary with these burials, progress of a different sort can be observed in Crete and the Dodecanese; for other regions, where the relative chronology is less clear, the narrative will be resumed in the next chapter.
