The end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean was marked by a profound economic and cultural crisis. Population decreased (as testified by the dramatic reduction of archaeological sites from the Late Bronze Age to the Proto-geometric period), habitation was limited to small hamlets, writing skills were lost, and art became purely functional. Aegean societies went through a long phase of poverty and introversion, and may have seen large-scale migrations, as those reflected in the tradition of the ‘Dorian invasion’.
However, in the 9th c. BC, a new phase of economic and cultural growth started. Maritime communication was resumed, bringing wealth and fresh ideas in the Aegean. A wide array of materials and techniques were imported from the East, and by ca. 800 BC Euboean merchants adopted the alphabetic script from the Phoenicians and adapted it to the phonetic needs of the Greek language.
The population increased considerably and many small townships were united into urban settlements. This was the formative stage of the Greek city-state. At the same time, major sanctuaries were established outside urban areas, some of which would soon acquire panhellenic importance (e.g. Olympia). In the 8th c. BC many Greek cities started founding colonies in the West (Central and South Italy, Sicily), probably as the result of overpopulation and the need for new economic resources.
| 11th c. BC | Introduction of iron-working technology for the making of tools and weapons |
| 10 th c. BC | Conventional date for the so-called ‘Ionian migration’ |
| 9 th c. BC | Revitalization of maritime trade with the East Mediterranean |
| 776 BC | First Olympic Games (conventional date) |
| ca. 770 BC | Earliest evidence for the use of the Greek alphabet |
| ca. 750 BC | Start of Greek colonization in the central Mediterranean |
| 8 th c. BC | Composition of Homeric epics |
