METHODOLOGIES FOR THE STUDY OF MATERIAL CULTURE IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD

Aim of the course is to offer the more advanced research lines on the study of ancient artefacts in a ancient Mediterranean framework trying to investigate how was the use of a house¬hold in Classical Antiquity. Artefacts were used for the storing of food¬stuffs, the cooking and serving of meals, the drinking of wine and other beverages etc. Vessels of fired clay shatter easily, but their sherds are nearly inde¬struct¬ible and hence ubi¬quitous; they bear a multitude of messages, which - if decoded - il¬lu¬minate aspects of history, notably economic exchanges and con¬sump¬tion in ancient times, that written sources keep us in the dark about. The course offers advanced perspectives on the analyses of some case studies (archaeological excavations, surveys, etc.) that use a detailed reading of technological, ethnographical, anthropological and geographical models in order to recostruct long periods of life of the ancient societies. The main aim is to create a platform for an integrated approach to the subject through the application of innovative interdisciplinary research. The lessons will diplay how rich and varied are the studies on the material culture assemblages and its associated activities in order to investigate key elements in the socio-economic structures of the ancient world, capable of shedding light on a formative period of ancient history - more specifically on the economic, social and cultural development of the Mediterranean countries.

Material culture, landscapes and economies: integrated approaches for the analysis of archaeological assemblages, landscapes through case studies. The course is made by the following modules:

A defining material culture (1 ECTS).

The field of material culture studies is undisciplined and multi-strategic and the module does not regard the zones between typical academic disciplines as grey and shady, but as areas of potential intellectual development. Material culture studies must be cross-disciplinary with a strong dialogue among archaeologist, archaeometrist, anthropologist, ethnographers, geographers, sociologists, art historians.

B. Pottery in Arcaheology (3 ECTS).

The modules aims at describing the cycles of production of artefacts from Antiquity to the Middle Ages with special attention paid to clay artefacts, pottery, slips etc. Problems of classification, archaeology of production sites, kilns ets will also be discussed.

C. Relief decorated pottery (2 ECTS).

Typology, chronology and archaeometry will apply the theoretical framework to a specific case study

A (1 ECTS).

- A. Carandini, Archeologia e cultura materiale. Dai lavori senza gloria nell'antichità a una politica dei beni culturali, Bari 1979 (testo fornito dal docente).

- D. Manacorda, Lezioni di archeologia, Roma - Bari 2008 (pp. 47-147).

- D. Malfitana, J. Poblome, J. Lund, Tempus fugit, Facta manent: editorial statement, in Facta. A Journal of Roman material culture studies, 1, 2007, pp. 8-15 (PDF fornito dal docente).

B (3 ECTS).

Testi:

- M. Ceci, R. Santangeli Valenzani, La ceramica nello scavo archeologico. Analisi, quantificazione e interpretazione, Carocci, Bologna 2016.

- N. Cuomo di Caprio, La ceramica in archeologia. Antiche tecniche di lavorazione e moderni metodi di indagine, Roma-Bari 2008 (pp. 29-39, 45-50, 141-153, 208-230, 321-352, 571-580, 617-620).

- T. Mannoni, E. Giannichedda, Archeologia della produzione, Torino 1996 (pp. 61-88, 127-138, 148-175, 185-254).

- E. Panero, Nella bottega del vasaio romano, in G. Bejor et al., Botteghe e artigiani. Marmorari, bronzisti, ceramisti e vetrai nell’antichità classica, Mondadori 2016, pp. 163-241.

C (2 ECTS).

- D. P. S. Peacock, La ceramica romana tra archeologia e etnografia, Bari 1997.

- D. Malfitana, Le terre sigillate ellenistiche e romane del Mediterraneo orientale. Aspetti, tipologici, produttivi ed economici, in D. Gandolfi (a cura di), La ceramica e i materiali di età romana. Classi, produzioni, commerci e consumi. Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri, Bordighera 2005, 121-154. (PDF fornito dal docente).

- Appunti dalle lezioni