Archaeological Sciences | Course catalogue

PREHISTORY AND PROTOHISTORY OF NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST i

Course objectives

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the teaching unit is to give students a basic knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of PREHISTORY AND PROTOHISTORY OF NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST, with the help of advanced textbooks. Moreover, it will make the student able to apply the acquired knowledge in an expert and reflective way, making autonomous judgments, communicating ideas, problems and reflections in a clear and correct way, and developing the knowledge required to go further in the studies. Specific aim of the course is the understanding of the dynamics that have brought to the development of agricultural and pastoral socities, the characters of egalitarian communities that live in the Near East (social, economic, symbolic and technological aspects), and their development into urban and state societies. A further aim is that of providing the students with methodological and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of prehistoric contexts in the Near East.

Channel 1

FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program

Topics shall be: Epipalaeolithic and Natufian PPN of the Levant and Middle Euphrates Archaeozoology and domestication Archaeobotany and domestication PPN in Eastern Anatolia Theories of the Neolithisation process, PPN in Central Anatolia PN in the Levant and Zagros Secondary product revolution Pottery Neolithic in Anatolia Pottery Neolithic in Mesopotamia Textile production Halaf period Samarra and Ubaid 0-2 Ubaid 3-4 Ghassul Late Chalcolithic 1-4 The City - urbanisation Late Uruk Late Chalcolithic 5 and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age Neolithic revolution and development of complex societies in Egpyt The study of Pottery Administration in the Chalcolithic Period Metallurgy in the Prehistory of the Near East

Prerequisites

no previous experience or knowledge required

Books

FRANGIPANE M, 1996, La Nascita dello Stato nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Laterza WATKINS T. 2011 - Opening the door, Pointing the way, Paléorient 37/1: 29-38. (https://www.academia.edu/1550080/Opening_the_door_pointing_the_way) FRANGIPANE, M, 2007, Different types of egalitarian societies and the development of inequality in early Mesopotamia, World Archaeology 39/2: 151-176. those who do not sit in class, should also study the following: SCHMIDT, K. 2010 - Göbekli Tepe – the Stone Age Sanctuaries. New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs, Documenta Praehistorica XXXVII (http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/authors37/37_21.pdf) Frangipane, M., 2016. The Development of Centralised Societies in Greater Mesopotamia and the Foundation of Economic Inequality. In Rich and Poor – Competing for Resources in Prehistoric Societies. 8 th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany, October 22-24, 2o15 in Halle (Saale).

Frequency

highly suggested

Exam mode

in order to pass the course, students must obtain a grade, of 18 or above. The exam consists of an oral discussion, during which the student will answer to questions by the professor and demonstrate knowledge of the main events and transformations of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies of Western Asia. The student should furthermore show critical thinking and the capacity to compare and discuss happenings of different periods or regions.

Lesson mode

explanations by the professor. Dialogue in class is highly welcome