Rome's geographical position makes her earliest history a very special and exemplary instance of frontier history. Economic and social process is the birth of the city as an organism with tangible monumental evidence, walls, sacred and communal buildings, and permanent and enduring dwellings which, from the last decades of the seventh century BC come to constitute the first real urban landscape in the history of Latium and Etruria. This chapter draws attention to the considerable potential of 'archaeological' history of Archaic Rome. It discusses archaeology, urban development, social history, sanctuaries, and palaces in the seventh century. The chapter also shows that an independent analysis of the archaeological data tends to confirm the picture which emerges from a non-reductive interpretation of the literary tradition. Early eighth century BC emporium shrines were found appearing near the landing places, where exchanges between Greek, Etruscan and Latin merchants took place under the apparent control of deities brought in from Greece or the East.