Protohistory of the Aegean and the Mediterranean from the II to the I millennium B.C.

According to the Dublin descriptors the course will have the following goals:

1) Knowledge and understanding. to provide the student with the knowledge of the outline of the evolution of Eastern Mediterranean societies from the II to the I millennium B.C., through the analysis of some significant case studies for the different period.

2) Applying knowledge and understanding. to make students able to carry on their research in the field of Aegean archaeology through the possess of adequate methodologies in the field of archaeology, epigraphy and bibliographical research. This goal will be achieved through the teaching methodology of seminars.

3) Making judgements. To develop a critical approach to scientific literature through a systematic comparison between published description of monuments and the monuments themselves. This goal will be achieved through in situ excursions.

4) Communication skills. To provide students with a specialised lexical stock, in order to allow them to properly communicate to a scientific community.

5) Learning skills. To develop the students’ autonomy in identifying the most suitable scientific literature and to understand it properly. 

The program includes two modules. In the first one the Aegean of the II millennium will be dealt with, with a special attention paid to the palatial periods, prestige production, epigraphic evidence and the interaction of the Aegean with the Mediterranean world. In the second one attention is focused on the wall painting of the Minoan period seen as a case study for the analysis and interpretation of iconographic, iconological and social aspects. Topics: Background: History of the archaeological research - Chronology and geography - Aegean civilization from the Neolithic to the II millennium.– The down of the Minoan Palaces – the first and second palaces – the Late palatial period: Knossos – Myceanean Crete – Middle Helladic – The Shaft graves- the Mycenaean palaces – Cyclades in the Middle and Late Bronze Age – The end of Bronze Age societies

A Geography and  chronology (1 CFU)

E. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford University press 2010, pp. 3-30 (background and definitions)

B The II millennium Aegean (4 CFU).

E. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford University press 2010, 99-443 (Middle and Late Bronze Age, Art and architecture, Society and culture, Seals and writing, Material crafts), the Wider Mediterranean (pp. 797-890)

or: J. Rutter, Aegean prehistoric Archaeology, on line text: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/aegean-prehistory/lessons/ ca. 250 pp.

C Minoan Wall paintings (1 CFU)