Abstract:

Despite systematic archaeological research since the mid-1970s, developments in prehistoric northern
Greece are not well understood. The paper focuses on the Late Bronze Age and the Late Bronze-Early
Iron Age transition (c. 1700/1500–1100/1000 BC). This is often considered a formative period for the
appearance of institutionalized inequality at the end of the Late Iron Age (Archaic). One of the main
sets of evidence in the discussion regarding state emergence in northern Greece pertains to food storage.
This paper reviews some of this evidence and presents new data from an ongoing comparative study of
storage practices in the region (Northern Greek Storage Project). This further affords the opportunity
to revisit the question of state emergence and sociopolitical complexity within an anthropological framework
that stresses historicity, agency. and a focus on the local scale.

Author: Despina Margomenou