An Archaeological Study of the Ancient Phaleron Cemetery near Athens, Greece

FAIN: RZ-255623-17

Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ 85281-3670)
Jane Buikstra (Project Director: December 2016 to present)
Eleanna Prevedorou (Co Project Director: January 2017 to present)

Participating institutions:
Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) - Applicant/Recipient
American School of Classical Studies at Athens (Princeton, NJ) - Participating Institution

Archaeological study and analysis of 8th-5th-century of the cemetery of Phaleron, the ancient port of Athens, Greece. (36 months)

This study focuses upon the cemetery of Phaleron, at the port of the ancient city of Athens. The cemetery dates to the Archaic - Early Classical period (ca. 750-480 BCE), characterized by major sociopolitical reforms, including changes in ruling tenure, early codification of law, tyranny, and democracy. Phaleron cemetery consists of hundreds of burials, mainly simple pit graves, jar burials of infants, and skeletons with evidence for captivity, violence, and execution. The nature of the cemetery suggests the presence of lower status individuals, such as non-elites, outlaws, and the unwanted. By integrating archaeological and historical information with osteological, biochemical, and genetic data, we will address the identity of the people of Phaleron within what appears to have been a port community of diverse backgrounds. We ask for funding for a three-year project (2017-20) for the in-depth study, interpretation, and publication of the human burials of the Phaleron cemetery.

Associated Products

Archaeology Study of the Ancient Phaleron Cemetery (Web Resource)
Title: Archaeology Study of the Ancient Phaleron Cemetery
Author: Jane Buistra
Abstract: An Archaeological Study of the Ancient Phaleron Cemetery near Athens, Greece Archaeological study and analysis of the cemetery of Phaleron, the ancient port of Athens, Greece. (36 months)
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://phaleron.digital-ascsa.org

Bioarchaeological practice and the curation of human skeletal remains in a Greek context: The Phaleron cemetery (Article)
Title: Bioarchaeological practice and the curation of human skeletal remains in a Greek context: The Phaleron cemetery
Author: Jane E. Buikstra
Author: Eleni-Anna Prevedorou
Abstract: Human skeletal remains constitute remarkably informative finds, both biologically and socioculturally. Their recovery, preservation, conservation, storage, and analysis are complex issues that need to be addressed within any given biocultural context. Given the country’s geography and the long history of human occupation, Greek field archaeology is intense and ongoing, with both rescue and systematic excavations. Human burials are thus frequently encountered in excavations throughout Greece, resulting in the accumulation of osteological material. Some of the common challenges of bioarchaeological research in Greece consist of insufficient time, funding, and documentation in the field; unmet conservation needs and lack of storage space; as well as the long time-gap between excavation and analysis. Here, we give a brief overview of excavation, curation, and bioarchaeological practice within a Greek archaeological framework. We focus on the newly launched Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project on a vast necropolis from the wider Athens region in order to present our methodological approach. Finally, we consider the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in managing large-scale bioarchaeological projects and serving long-term heritage preservation goals.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2018.42
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Advances in Archaeological Practice
Publisher: Society for American Archaeology

Infant Mortality in Archaic Athens (ca. 700-480 BCE): An Investigation into the Jar Burials of Phaleron Cemetery (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Infant Mortality in Archaic Athens (ca. 700-480 BCE): An Investigation into the Jar Burials of Phaleron Cemetery
Author: Rothwell, J. E.
Author: Prevedorou, E.-A.
Author: Buikstra, J. E.
Abstract: The lives of non-elites, especially non-elite children, in ancient Greece are significantly understudied. This study investigates a sample of 45 of Jar Burials from Phaleron Cemetery in Athens, Greece, in order to understand the health outcomes of non-elite infants and young children during the Archaic Period (ca. 700-480 BCE). Our goals include determining whether infants at Phaleron survived beyond the first few weeks after birth and whether they survived long enough to elicit a bony response to physiological stress. To address these questions, age-at-death was estimated using standard methods based on dental and skeletal development. Pathological bony changes in the cranium and postcranium were also recorded. Although most infants survived birth and lived beyond the first few weeks after birth, approximately 20% died within two weeks of birth and 67% after two weeks, but before the age of 2. For the 36 individuals for whom dental age estimation was possible, the largest number of individuals died between 3 and 9 months of age. Also, 29% of 45 individuals lived with chronic physiological stress suficiently long to elicit a bony response. These results suggest that the Jar Burials represent children who were accepted into their family after birth but were unable to survive early life physiological stressors. Furthermore, the presence of bony responses to physiological stress suggests that, for at least some of these individuals, stressors were chronic, rather than acute.
Date: 4/15/2020
Primary URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajpa.24023
Conference Name: 89th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists

A Case of Infantile Scurvy in a Jar Burial from Phaleron Cemetery (Athens, Greece) (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: A Case of Infantile Scurvy in a Jar Burial from Phaleron Cemetery (Athens, Greece)
Author: Prevedorou, E.-A.
Author: Rothwell, J. E.
Author: Buikstra, J. E.
Abstract: Scurvy is caused by inadequate levels of vitamin C in the diet. Thus, evidence for infantile scurvy in past populations provides a unique window into both early childhood and maternal diets. This study aims to identify the presence of metabolic diseases, such as scurvy, among non-elite children in ancient Athens. Macroscopic examination of 45 infant Jar Burials interred in the Archaic Greek cemetery of Phaleron (Athens, Greece; 700-480 BCE) revealed pathological bony changes in the cranium and postcranium of multiple individuals consistent with prolonged nutritional stress. Most of the bony changes observed in this sample were non-specific; however, bony changes observed in burial 5_154, an infant who died between 6 and 13 months of age, were diagnosed as scurvy using the “Ortner criteria” of cranial and postcranial lesions. Cranial bony changes were observed bilaterally in the frontal, zygomatic, sphenoid, parietal, temporals, and occipital, bones, as well as the maxillae and mandible. Furthermore, abnormal postcranial changes affected all long bone metaphyses, the scapulae and ilia. The young age-at-death for this individual and additional evidence for delays in long-bone growth suggest that prolonged nutritional stress would have begun while the infant should have been solely breastfeeding, implying that vitamin C deficiency and nutritional stress were experienced not only by this individual, but by their mother or wet nurse as well.
Date: 4/14/2020
Conference Name: 47th Annual North American Meeting of the Paleopathology Association

The Birth of Democracy in Ancient Athens: A Bioarchaeological Perspective (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: The Birth of Democracy in Ancient Athens: A Bioarchaeological Perspective
Author: Buikstra, J. E.
Abstract: In this webinar, Dr. Buikstra will first define bioarchaeology, the archaeological science approach taken to investigate the lives of those buried in the Phaleron cemetery. Excavated between 2012–2015 by the Ephorate of Piraeus and Islands under the direction of Dr. Stella Chryssoulaki, the Phaleron cemetery brought to light thousands of burials during the construction of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Dr. Buikstra will consider the Phaleron historical and archaeological contexts as well as up-to-date results of the Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project, a collaborative undertaking between the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Sciences of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Arizona State University, and the Ephorate of Piraeus and Islands. To close, Dr. Buikstra will introduce viewers to a few of the people who had been interred in the Phaleron cemetery, providing insight into the past lives of Greece.
Date Range: 6/16/2020
Location: Webinar, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Primary URL: https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/news/newsDetails/webinar-the-birth-of-democracy-in-ancient-athens-live-from-the-lab

Unwritten Histories of Ancient Athens: The People of the Phaleron Cemetery (Book Section)
Title: Unwritten Histories of Ancient Athens: The People of the Phaleron Cemetery
Author: Hoff, A.
Author: Prevedorou, E.
Author: Buikstra, J. E.
Author: Waltenberger, L.
Author: Leidl, H.
Editor: Voutsaki, S.
Editor: Lagia, A.
Abstract: Ancient Athens is cited as the contentious caldron from which the western political tradition emerged. During the formative Archaic period (ca. 700-480 BC), Athenian history was marked by major socio-political and religious changes, including the first governmental institutions, formal laws, citizenship formalization, evidence for chattel slavery, social stratification (e.g., classes), and conflict among the aristocratic families, ultimately leading to the rise of democracy. To date, such processes are known to us through texts, artistic representations, and elite-centered mortuary grounds. This project focuses upon the extensive necropolis excavated at the ancient Attic port of Phaleron (ca. 8th-5th centuries BC) by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Western Attica, Piraeus, and the Islands. The size, date, state-of-the-art excavation techniques, preservation, and mortuary variation of the cemetery including apparent diverse non-elite individuals, some shackled and in mass graves, offer us a previously undocumented view of the ancient Athenian past. The collaborative Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project integrates multiple lines of evidence including biological, mortuary, and ceramic data, historic records, and archaeological science to elucidate the ancient lives of the commoners that remain largely unexplored or silenced. Here we present preliminary bioarchaeological results focusing upon individuals interred in cist graves and larnaces. We here discuss biological data within their archaeological contexts in a first attempt to piece together the life histories of the Phaleron people. Overall, this project exemplifies the need to integrate biological data, material culture, historical narrative, and scientific methods by offering a synthesized approach to reconstruct life and death in Archaic Athens.
Year: 2020
Access Model: Edited volume (chapter submitted; under revisions)
Publisher: University of Florida Press
Book Title: Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Inequality and Social Differentiation from the Ancient Greek World
ISBN: submitted

Bioarchaeological Study of Cancer in Antiquity (in Greek) (Article)
Title: Bioarchaeological Study of Cancer in Antiquity (in Greek)
Author: Prevedorou, E.
Author: Buikstra, J.E.
Author: Marquez, C.
Author: Fontrie, Ch.
Author: Pappa, G.
Author: Toulas, P.
Abstract: Presentation of our bioarchaeological study of cancer in Antiquity using systematic medical digital radiography in collaboration with medical facilities and personnel of the Biomedicine Health Group in Athens in Bionews Magazine.
Year: 2019
Format: Magazine
Publisher: Bionews Magazine

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