Mediterranean Archaeology

FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI
FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the course is to give students a basic knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of prehistory and protohistory of Western Asia, 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 and problems in a clear and correct way, and developing the knowledge required to go further in the studies. A last aim is that of providing the students with methodological and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of prehistoric contexts in Western Asia.
Specific aim of the course is the understanding of the dynamics that have brought to the development of egalitarian agricultural and pastoral societies and later to the development of complex societies, characterised by inequality and economic and technological specialization. The regions investigated shall be the Levant (eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea), Cyprus and Anatolia and particular interest shall be devoted to social and economic organization, technological knowledge, ideological and symbolic characters. Central shall be the issue of relations between these regions and both maritime and terrestrial routes of communication will be investigated for both the Neolithic (10th-6th millennia BCE) and Chalcolithic phases (5th-4th millennia BCE) and the course shall evaluate to what extent these might have contributed to the development of each region. Finally, the role of Western Asia in stimulating the neolithization process in other regions of eastern Europe shall be critically evaluated.

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the course is to give students a basic knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of prehistory and protohistory of Western Asia, 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 and problems in a clear and correct way, and developing the knowledge required to go further in the studies. A last aim is that of providing the students with methodological and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of prehistoric contexts in Western Asia.
Specific aim of the course is the understanding of the dynamics that have brought to the development of egalitarian agricultural and pastoral societies and later to the development of complex societies, characterised by inequality and economic and technological specialization. The regions analyzed will be the Levantine ones (eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea), Cyprus, Anatolia and Mesopotamia, for which key sites will be chosen, representative of the main stages of development of the prehistory of Western Asia. We will discuss the importance of preserving these sites and how to illustrate their meaning to the public. Central shall be the issue of relations between these regions and both maritime and terrestrial routes of communication will be investigated for both the Neolithic (10th-6th millennia BCE) and Chalcolithic phases (5th-4th millennia BCE) and the course shall evaluate to what extent these might have contributed to the development of each region. Finally, the role of Western Asia in stimulating the neolithization process in other regions of eastern Europe shall be critically evaluated.

Buona conoscenza della lingua inglese
Good knowledge of English language

The course shall start with an analysis of Epipalaeolithic communities of the Levant and the Anatolian coast (12000 BCE), to pass then on to the full Neolithic and later Chalcolithic (3000 BCE) communities of Western Asia.
Key sites in the various regions will be analyzed to address the following issues:
First changes in the organization of hunter-gatherers: Epipalaeolithic and Natufian
Prepottery Neolithic of the Levant, Cyprus and the Middle Euprates
The neolithization process and its “diffusion” towards the Balkans and the Aegean
The Neolithic in central and western Anatolia
Networks, contacts and communication routes
The Chalcolithic and the origin of inequalities
Metallurgy and relations between the Levant, Sinai and the Caucasus
Economic and craft specialisations at the dawn of the Early Bronze Age

1) Chapters from "The Human Past. World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies.", ed. Chris Scarre: chapter 6 - from foragers to complex societies in Southwest Asia. Chapter 12 The Rise of Civilisation in Southwest Asia, but only until Ubaid and Uruk (excluding the Early Bronze Age)
2) Chapters from "The Archaeology of Syria", by P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G.M. Schwartz: chapter 4 The Exploration of New Horizons; chapter 5 Continuity and Change in the Late Sixth and Fifth millennia BC. Chapter 6 The Fourth Millennium BC and the Uruk intrusion.
3) pages from The Creation of Inequality. How our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire: pgs. 54-65, 121-138, 260-297.

Lezioni frontali
Lectures in class

strongly welcome

oral discussion

Does the environment and climate influence human occupation? How? Are there phases in the story of mankind in which this is most evident?
What is the Holocene? Is it signed by a change in climate and environmental conditions? Does this have an impact on the availability of food resources for human communities living in the Near East?
What do we mean by Mesopotamia? Fertile Crescent?
What does the term Epipalaeolithic indicate?
How is the daily life of Epipalaeolithic groups organised?
What is the Natufian? and how do we date it?
In which part of the Near East do Natufian communities live?
What changes do Natufian communities evidence in comparison to earlier Epipalaeolithic communities?
what happens to plants when they get domesticated?
when does animal domestication take place and where?
can people breed and manage animals also in the absence of domestication?
what animals are domesticated in the Near East?
How do we date the Neolithic period?