Teaching and discussion in Italian. Many of the readings in English.
Course Content
The seminar aims to introduce students to the most relevant aspects of landscape archaeology through a series of case studies from the Bronze Age Aegean (3rd-2nd millennium B.C.E.) and through a series of practical workshops. The expressly practical and methodological approach is suitable for the students of all historical and archaeological sectors.
A - General formation (for the exam). One of these:
Farinetti, E., I paesaggi in archeologia: analisi e interpretazione, Carocci editore, Roma 2012
Cambi, F., 2003, Archeologia dei paesaggi antichi: fonti e diagnostica, Roma.
Cambi, F., Terrenato, N., 1994, Introduzione all’archeologia dei paesaggi, Roma.
B – Consultation (for the course). Various articles will be discussed during classes and students are supposed to understand and acquire their main contents. Workshops will be based on the final publications of archaeological surveys. Some indicative references.
B.1 - General works:
Alcock, S.E., Cherry, J.F. (eds.), 2004, Side-by-Side Survey. Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean World, Oxford 2004.
Bintliff, J., 1997, “Regional Survey, Demography and the Rise of Complex Societies in the Ancient Aegean”, Journal of Field Archaeology 24, 1-38.
Bintliff, J., Sbonias, K., 1999 (eds.), Reconstructing Past Population Trends in Mediterranean Europe (3000 BC – AD 1800) (The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes 1), Oxford.
Branigan, K. (ed.), 2001, Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age (Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology), Sheffield.
Leveau, Ph., Trément, F. Walsh, K., Barker, G. (eds.), 1999, Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology (The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes 2), Oxford.
Rutter, J., 2001, “The Prepalatial Bronze Age of the Southern and Central Greek Mainland”, in T. Cullen, Aegean Prehistory. A Review (American Journal of Archaeology supplement 1), Boston, 95-156.
Gkiasta, M., 2008, The Historiography of Landscape Research on Crete (Archaeological Studies Leiden University 16), Leiden 2008.
B.2 - Regional studies:
Bintliff, J., et alii, 2007, Testing the Hinterland. The Work of the Boeotia Survey (1989-1991) in the Southern Approaches to the City of Thespiai (McDonald Institute Monograph), Oxford.
Jameson, M., et alii, 1994, A Greek Countryside: The Southern Argolid from Prehistory to the Present Day, Stanford.
Wells, B. (ed.), 1996, The Berbati – Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990 (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen, 4°, XLIV), Stockholm.
Cavanagh, W., et alii, 1996 e 2002, Continuity and Change in a Greek Rural Landscape: the Laconia Survey, London (vol. I 2002; vol. II 1996).
The Pylos Regional Archaoleogical Project: Hesperia 66, 1997, 391-641
McDonald, W., Rapp, G., 1972, The Minnesota Messenia Expedition: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Regional Environment, Minneapolis.
Papadopoulos, Th., 1978, Mycenaean Achaea (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology LV), Göteborg.
Renfrew, C., Wagstaff, M. (eds.), 1982, An Island Polity: the Archaeology of the Exploitation in Melos, Cambridge.
Haggis, D.C., 2005, Kavousi I. The Archaeological Survey of the Kavousi Region, Philadelphia, PA.
Watrous, L.V., et alii, 2004, The Plain of Phaistos. Cycles of Social Complexity in the Mesara Region of Crete (Monumenta Archaeologica 23), Los Angeles.
Watrous, L.V., et alii, 2012, An Archaeological Survey of the Gournia Landscape: A Regional History of the Mirabello Bay, Crete, in Antiquity (Prehistory Monograph 37), Philadelphia : INSTAP Academic Press.
Watrous, L.V. et alii, 2017, The Galatas Survey: Socio-Economic and Political Development of a Contested Territory in Central Crete during the Neolithic to Ottoman Periods (Prehistory Monographs 55), Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press.
B.3 - articles
Haggis, D.C., 2018, “The relevance of survey data as evidence for settlement structure in prepalatial crete”, in M. Relaki, Y. Papadatos (eds), From the foundations to the legacy of Minoan archaeology: studies in honour of Professor Keith Branigan, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 256-274.
Whitelaw, T., 2012, “The urbanisation of prehistoric Crete: settlement perspectives on Minoan state formation”, in I. Schoep, P. Tomkins, J. Driessen (eds), Back to the beginning: reassessing social and political complexity on Crete during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, Oxford and Oakville, 114-176.
Whitelaw, T., 2018, “Recognising polities in prehistoric Crete”, in M. Relaki, Y. Papadatos (eds), From the foundations to the legacy of Minoan archaeology: studies in honour of Professor Keith Branigan, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 210-255.
Learning Objectives
Acquiring knowledge and applying it through critical discussion; improving autonomous and team learning capacity and communication skills.
Prerequisites
No prerequisite. It is suggested to attend the courses of Prehistory and Protohistory, History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Greek and Roman History, Greek and Roman Archaeology, Ancient Topography
Teaching Methods
The course includes lectures, seminars and practical training. Students are supposed to participate actively in the discussion, to report orally on the readings and to take part into workshops in groups. In class activity helps the students to focus on the most important aspects of the course and is part of the final grading.
Further information
Individual programs and readings are possible, in agreement with the professor
Type of Assessment
To acquire the 6 CFU, students have to take part in the in class activities and to study the suggested texts (see above). In class activity counts for the 70% of the final grading, the general preparation for the 30%. The exam is oral and aims to verify the comprehension and knowledge of the relevant subjects and the ability of critical elaboration of diverse contents and information.
Course program
Lectures: landscape archaeology, resource management, topography and historical demography of the Bronze Age Aegean on the basis of various study cases from Boeotia, Argolid, Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Achaia, Kythera, Cyclades and Crete. Seminar: each group must present orally in class the relevant data from a final survey publication. Practical workshop: in groups, students must transfer on a map the main elements of a given territory, on the basis of survey data, and to experiment various methodological approaches.