The Greek Early Iron age has seen some of the most exciting work in Greek archaeology in recent years. This period was once commonly known as Greece's 'Dark Age', but our knowledge of its societies and cultures has improved dramatically due to both an increase in the data available and the use of more sophisticated theoretical frameworks for understanding those data. It has become clear that during this period rapid and dramatic social and technological changes took place which laid the foundations for the development of the Classical 'polis' (citizen-state). Yet the precise timing and mechanisms involved have been hotly debated. In this course we explore the evidence for change on a regional basis and then focus on some of the major factors which have been proposed as contributing to the process of state formation. Prior knowledge of the archaeological evidence for the period will not be assumed.