A collection of 9 papers from a session at the 15th uispp congress, which aims to bring together recent research on early Iron Age chronology from throughout the Mediterranean, with the belief that comparative study would should shed light on common problems in researching chronology. In particular the contributors face up to the challenges posed to established frameworks for dating by advances in dendochronology and radiocarbon dating, and consider the difficulties in using Greek Geometric pottery for dating purposes.