Archaeology

The end of the Ubaid period and the beginning of the Late Chalcolithic in Upper Mesopotamia (increasing social and political complexity, urbanization, craft specialization). The Euphrates and Tigris rivers have always been important ways of communication, linking territories north and south of the Taurus Mountain range. This is evident in the similarities in material culture between sites in Mesopotamia and in Eastern Anatolia already in the Neolithic and with the Halaf culture in the 6th millennium. During the 5th millennia BCE this is even more true with the expansion of the Ubaid culture in Upper Mesopotamia and in Eastern Anatolia, but with the end of Ubaid this koine appears to come to an end. For decades the post-Ubaid period has been considered as one of strong regionalisation in northern Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia, only to join again with southern Mesopotamian developments in the Late Uruk (Late Chalcolithic 5 period). Recent field research though is demonstrating that contacts between Lower and Upper Mesopotamia never stopped and that throughout the 4th millennium relations are much stronger than previously thought. This has important consequences on the understanding of the process of urbanisation and state development that characterises the whole millennium. This new data in fact shows how the phenomenon is much broader that previously thought. The course will study sites of Upper Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia throughout the 4th millennium BCE, concentrating mostly on the early phases of the millennium, to investigate settlement organisation, relations between communities, urbanisation processes, social transformations. The course will be organised in the form of a seminar, with introductory lessons, followed by the examination of selected case studies, which will be studied and presented by the students, with the aim, all together, of reconstructing the characters and relations of the 4th millennium communities in the Euphrates and Tigris regions. Specific topics that shall be investigated and on which students shall actively work will be: absolute chronology, territorial distribution, settlement layout and architecture, material culture comparisons.

Have attended the basic course of Prehistory and Protohistory of the Near and Middle East I

Baldi, Iamoni, Peyronel, Sconzo (a cura di), 2022, Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia in Context, Brepols. Other specific texts shall be handed out during the course

the course has been given during the academic year 2024-5. Students who are interested in giving this exam are thus invited to contact the professor to be given a study program for the exam

The course is organized as a seminar work to which they will actively participate. Students will thus be followed and also evaluated as work is in progress.

The course is organized as a seminar work to which they will actively participate. Students will thus be followed and also evaluated as work is in progress.

The end of the Ubaid period and the beginning of the Late Chalcolithic in Upper Mesopotamia (increasing social and political complexity, urbanization, craft specialization). The Euphrates and Tigris rivers have always been important ways of communication, linking territories north and south of the Taurus Mountain range. This is evident in the similarities in material culture between sites in Mesopotamia and in Eastern Anatolia already in the Neolithic and with the Halaf culture in the 6th millennium. During the 5th millennia BCE this is even more true with the expansion of the Ubaid culture in Upper Mesopotamia and in Eastern Anatolia, but with the end of Ubaid this koine appears to come to an end. For decades the post-Ubaid period has been considered as one of strong regionalisation in northern Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia, only to join again with southern Mesopotamian developments in the Late Uruk (Late Chalcolithic 5 period). Recent field research though is demonstrating that contacts between Lower and Upper Mesopotamia never stopped and that throughout the 4th millennium relations are much stronger than previously thought. This has important consequences on the understanding of the process of urbanisation and state development that characterises the whole millennium. This new data in fact shows how the phenomenon is much broader that previously thought. The course will study sites of Upper Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia throughout the 4th millennium BCE, concentrating mostly on the early phases of the millennium, to investigate settlement organisation, relations between communities, urbanisation processes, social transformations. The course will be organised in the form of a seminar, with introductory lessons, followed by the examination of selected case studies, which will be studied and presented by the students, with the aim, all together, of reconstructing the characters and relations of the 4th millennium communities in the Euphrates and Tigris regions. Specific topics that shall be investigated and on which students shall actively work will be: absolute chronology, territorial distribution, settlement layout and architecture, material culture comparisons.

Have attended the basic course of Prehistory and Protohistory of the Near and Middle East I

Baldi, Iamoni, Peyronel, Sconzo (a cura di), 2022, Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia in Context, Brepols. Other specific texts shall be handed out during the course

the course has been given during the academic year 2024-5. Students who are interested in giving this exam are thus invited to contact the professor to be given a study program for the exam

The course is organized as a seminar work to which they will actively participate. Students will thus be followed and also evaluated as work is in progress.

The course is organized as a seminar work to which they will actively participate. Students will thus be followed and also evaluated as work is in progress.