Christian and Middleage Archaeology
Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher:
Lucia ARCIFA
Expected Learning Outcomes
According to the Dublin
descriptors, students, at the end of the course, will demonstrate:
- knowledge and understanding
in a post-secondary level field of study and knowing the fundamental themes in
one's field of study;
- ability to apply knowledge
and understanding in order to demonstrate a professional approach and possess
adequate skills both to conceive and support arguments and to solve problems in
one's field of study
- learning skills necessary to undertake
subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy.
The course aims to provide the basic
knowledge related to the debate on Christian and medieval archeology and to the
main problems of archaeological research, to reflect on the methods of
construction of the archaeological source and on the complexity of historical
reconstruction processes starting from the use of archaeological sources in
comparison with the documentary sources. In particular, the course aims to provide
basic knowledge on the main monumental contexts, on the architectural heritage
on the themes of figurative culture in relation to the development and
organization of Christian communities and the phenomena of transformation of
late antiquity. The main themes of the formation of medieval landscapes will
also be taken into consideration, with particular reference to the
transformations of the rural and urban contexts of medieval Italy: the birth of
the village, the fortification, the formation of the medieval city.
Guided tours of the catacombs of Syracuse and the main
monuments of Christian and medieval Catania are planned.
Course Structure
Frontal teaching e guided tours
at the main monuments and archaeological area (36h) and practical exercises
(18h) of classification of archaeological material (TMA, drawing) conducted at
the depots of the Superintendence BB.CC.AA. of Catania.
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is not compulsory.
Detailed Course Content
1. Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages:
periodisation, istoriographic debate and historical profile
2. Christian and medieval archaeology:
history of studies and perspectives of research in Italy.
3. Archaeology and material culture:
the construction of archaeological data
4. The formal language of late
antiquity. The birth of an early Christian art.
5. Christian cemeteries. Development of
the catacombs. The martyr cult
6. From the domus ecclesiae to the
Christian basilica.
7. La civitas christiana: urban
transformations between the Late Antique and the High Middle Ages.
8.
The rural landscape in Italy. The
role of monasteries
9.
L’incastellamento
Textbook Information
- R.
Francovich, D. Manacorda (a cura di), Dizionario di archeologia,
Bari 2000, s.v. Cultura materiale, Medioevo, Archeologia e storia
dell’arte, pp. 99-104; 305-318.
- V.
Fiocchi Nicolai, Archeologia medievale e archeologia
cristiana: due discipline a confronto, in S. Gelichi, Quarant’anni di Archeologia medievale in Italia, numero
speciale di Archeologia Medievale 2014, pp.
21-31.
- F.
Bisconti - O. Brandt (a cura di), Lezioni di Archeologia Cristiana (Sussidi
allo studio delle antichità cristiane, 27), Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia
Cristiana, Città del Vaticano 2014, pp. 1-636
A.Augenti, Archeologia dell’Italia medievale, Roma – Bari
2016, pp. 1-184.
Please remember that in compliance with art 171
L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or
journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations
concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee
Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione
Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian
Association on Copyright).
All
the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO