when did the archaic period in greece begin
Archaic Greece Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from the eighth century BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC,[1] following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical period. The period began with a massive increase in the Greek population[2] and a series of significant changes which rendered the Greek world at the end of the eighth century as entirely unrecognisable as compared to its beginning.[3] According to Anthony Snodgrass, the Archaic period in ancient Greece was bounded by two revolutions in the Greek world. It began with a "structural revolution" which "drew the political map of the Greek world" and established the poleis, the distinctively Greek city-states, and ended with the intellectual revolution of the Classical period.[4]
Mycenaean Greece The usual form of burial during this period was inhumation.[174] The earliest Mycenaean burials were mostly in individual graves in the form of a pit or a stone-lined cist and offerings were limited to pottery and occasional items of jewellery.[175] Groups of pit or cist graves containing elite members of the community were sometimes covered by a tumulus (mound) in the manner established since the Middle Helladic.[176] It has been argued that this form dates back to the Kurgan culture;[177] however, Mycenaean burials are in actuality an indigenous development of mainland Greece with the Shaft Graves housing native rulers.[178] Pit and cist graves remained in use for single burials throughout the Mycenaean period alongside more elaborate family graves.[179] The shaft graves at Mycenae within Grave Circles A and B belonging to the same period represent an alternative manner of grouping elite burials. Next to the deceased were found full sets of weapons, ornate staffs as well as gold and silver cups and other valuable objects which point to their social rank.[180]