PREHISTORY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC TO THE EARLY 2nd MILLENNIUM BC

The course aims to provide the students with the methodological and theoretical tools necessary for achieving an interpretation of archaeological data through a multidisciplinary approach, using the Mediterranean as a case study. Particular attention will be paid to three major islands of the Mediterranean (Sicily, Malta, Crete) from the first appearance of mankind to the development of first urban centres.

Based on the Dublin descriptors the objectives of the course are:

1) Knowledge and understanding. Provide students with knowledge of the cultural development of the Mediterranean from its origins to the beginning of the 2nd century BC, through the choice of significant case studies for the different periods.

2) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. make the student able to consciously tackle a research in the field of Aegean prehistory, through the acquisition of adequate tools and methodologies, both in the archaeological, epigraphic and bibliographic fields. This purpose will be achieved through an in-depth examination of some specific aspects with seminar-type methodologies.

3) Autonomy of judgment. Develop in students a critical approach to texts with systematic comparisons between the description of monuments and their in situ analysis.

4) Communication skills. Provide students with specialized vocabulary to enable them to communicate adequately to the scientific community.

5) Learning skills. Develop autonomy in the ability to identify the most representative scientific texts and understand them adequately.

The course is organised in three sections, introduced by a general framework on the origin of complex society. 

A: Prehistory of Sicily from upper paleolithic to the beginning of the II millennium B.C., with a particular attention to climatic changes occurred during the late Holocene (3 CFU)

B: Prehistory of Crete from the end of the 8th millennium BC to the beginning of the II millennium BC with a particular attention to the palatial phenomenon (3 CFU)

C: Prehistory of Malta from the VIth millennium BC with a special focus on the origin and collapse of temple civilization (3 CFU)

Introduzione: A. Cazzella, G. Recchia All'origine delle disuguaglianze. Dall'affermazione dell'economia produttiva alle prime forme di stratificazione in Italia e nelle isole adiacenti (6000-1000 a.C.), 2021, pp. 340.

Modulo A: R. Leighton, Sicily before history, Duckworth 1999, pp. 1-160 

Modulo B: A.L. D’Agata, L. Girella, Civiltà dell'Egeo. Archeologia e società della Grecia nel III e nel II millennio a.C., Carocci, 2023, pp. 488.

Modulo C: A. Cazzella, G. Recchia, Chiefdom societies in prehistoric Malta? Gangemi Editore, 2017, pp. 242.

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).

The teachers undertake, within the limits of the financial resources, to ensure as far as possible that a copy of the adopted texts is available in the departmental library or (in the case of hard-to-find texts, articles and essays) to make them available on Studium, in accordance with the applicable copyright laws.