The ancient Attic grave stelai in the city wall of Themistocles: Desecration or apotropaion?

After the battle of Platiai, the Athenians rebuilt their city wall in great haste, embedding numerous archaic grave stelai and grave sculptures taken from the necropolis of the Kerameikos. In recent archaeological discussions , this re-use has led to two contradictory interpretations: either as a pol itical action against the old aristocratic families who were the owners of these graves, or as a kind of magical inclusion of heroes' graves into the wall to protect it against enemies. This paper tries to show that neither i nterpretation is convincing, and proposes another, simpler solution: Re-usi ng the grave-stones was an emergency measure, which has parallels in other times and places as well.