ARCHAEOLOGY OF EARLY ARCHAIC GREECE

The teaching falls in general among those of the master's degree course in Sciences of Antiquity, as characterizing teaching in the course of Archeology and as integrative in that of Literatures and History of the Ancient World. It offers a detailed overview of the problems related to the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age in the Greek world. Starting from the complex series of archaeological data available today for this period, the course aims to highlight its main aspects, The wide area that includes the Aegean basin with island areas (Cyclades, Sporades, Dodecanese, Crete etc.), The Greek mainland, the coast of the Anatolian peninsula (Asia Minor) and areas of colonization of the West, is considered in a time span ranging from the twelfth and seventh centuries BC. In these centuries, in the past also referred to as Dark Age of Greece, we see the final exhaustion of the Mycenaean civilization, after the collapse of centralized power systems, and the progressive development of new forms of social organization, cultural and economic, that mark the beginnings of the Greek civilization.The course is therefore a junction between the study of the pre-protohistory of Europe and the Mediterranean and that of the civilizations of full historical age, constituting a useful link also with the Near Eastern world, which, from the X / IX century BC, appears again as interlocutor of the Greek world, with very important contributions on the artistic and cultural level. An in-depth examination of the forms of land occupation, the various manifestations of both artistic and material culture, and interregional and international relations, is useful to define the character of this transition period, containing elements of continuity, and at the same time, discontinuity with a past full of important cultural developments, such as the pre-protohistoric Aegean Civilizations, without neglecting the role, which, again in an archaeological perspective, but with necessary connections with historical and philological/literary research, plays the comparison, long led not without difficulties and problems, with the contents of the Homeric poems and Hesiod's work, in terms of social organization, economy, religion, as well as the material culture (Archaeologia Homerica).

At the end of the course, supplemented by the critical reading of the recommended texts and the exercise of recognition of finds, the students must be able to have a good knowledge of the general picture of Greece between the twelfth and seventh centuries. BC, with a classification of related issues, also in relation to the evolution of methodologies and approaches to the discipline. In particular, they will have achieved the ability to contextualize architectural complexes, individual buildings, finds of a different nature (from works of art to objects of use), arriving to define their execution techniques, typologies and stylistic features, as well as the dating and above all the meaning. Through adequate comparisons, they will also be able to establish links with the broader framework of Mediterranean archeology at the beginning of the Iron Age.
The seminar work verified by the teacher and discussed in a meeting between the participants in the course, will be. for each of them, an excellent exercise, especially in the search for a specific bibliography, which will allow direct verification of the different methodological approaches to the discipline. Finally, an oral presentation of the results will be an experience regarding the ability to present a research to the public.

The student is required to have a basic knowledge of Greek history, Prehistory and protohistory of the Eastern Mediterranean and Classical Archeology, disciplines all present in the undergraduate courses.

After an introduction in which a brief history of the studies on the period is traced, with a definition of the concept of "Early Archaic", the course examines the transition between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Greece, with specific investigations focused on archaeological record in the various regional areas, dealing in detail the forms of settlement, the architectural typologies, and the productive activities: among these, above all ceramics, coroplastics, the different aspects of metallurgy (especially the introduction of iron and its economic relevance), with in-depth analysis of the technological aspects. In particular for pottery, a class of finds that characterize most of this period, the different productions are treated, with distinctions related to the regional areas, according to a chronological sequence: the Late Mycenaean, the sub-Mycenaean, the Protogeometric, the Geometric and the Early Orientalizing with their sub-phases. On this subject a critical reading is proposed that intends to offer a series of qualified information: in a detailed manner the aspects related to the relationship between the transformation of ceramic styles, and the developments of society are treated, taking into account the diversity of contexts and focusing the attention on centers such as Athens, Argos and Knossos showing a more marked stability and allowing, through the data collected in large cemeteries, a more extensive series of observations. An adequate space is also reserved for the earliest figurate scenes depicted mainly on pottery vessels, but also in other types of artefacts (with some elements that can also be linked to myth and others to epic narratives), which can better reflect the ideological orientations of customers which manifest their elitist characters. Other aspects of the nascent Greek civilization are also considered, such as those related to the development of cults, to the origin of important sanctuaries of which the most ancient phases are examined. A study of exchanges and contacts not only in the Aegean area, but especially on longer routes to the East and the West, completes the program of the institutional course, which provides some more detailed insights, just about some contexts such as those of Athens and Crete. Some concluding observations serve to focus on the main elements analyzed during the course in function of a reconstruction, through the archaeological data, of a long process that leads from the centralized Mycenaean states to the formation of the Greek poleis.
After the cycle of lessons, an integral part of the course is also the elaboration by the students, in written form and with shared exposition and discussion, of specific topics, each of them thematically coordinated, selected with the teacher's guide, for a deepening of the subject matter.

Books and articles to be regarded as basic references: J. N. COLDSTREAM, Greek Geometric pottery, London 1968; I. Morris, B. Powell (edd.), A new companion to Homer,Leiden, Brill, 1997(Mnemosyne Suppl. 163); I. S. LEMOS The protogeometric Aegean. The archaeology of the late eleventh and tenth centuries B.C., Oxford 2002; J.N. Coldstream, Geometric Greece, 2a ed London, 2003; O. DICKINSON, The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age, Routlege, London-New York 2006; A. Marini, Civiltà micenea e civilta greca. Continuita-discontinuità, in Storia d'Europa e del Mediterraneo, 1 , Roma 2007, 51-92; K.A.Raaflaub, H. van Wees(edd.), A companion to archaic Greece, Malden Mass.,Wiley-Blackwell, 2009; Mazarakis Ainian A. (ed.), The Dark Age revisited (Volos 2011)
For further information: Schachermeyr, F.: Die ägäische Frühzeit. Die Ausgrabungen und ihre Ergebnisse für unser Geschichtsbild, 3. Kreta zur Zeit der Wanderungen. Vom Ausgang der minoischen Ära bis zur Dorisierung der Insel. (Wien 1979); Musti D. (ed), La transizione dal miceneo all'alto arcaismo. Dal palazzo alla città. Atti del convegno internazionale, Roma 14-19 marzo 1988. (Roma 1991); Coldstream, J.N., Catling, H.W.: Knossos north cemetery. Early Greek tombs. [4 voll.] London : The British School at Athens, 1996 (BSA Suppl. Vol, 28); Tsipopoulou, M.: Η ανατoλική Kρέτε στήν πρώιμη επoχή τoυ Σιδήρoυ. (Ηράκλειo : Aρχαιoλoγικό Iνστιτoύτo, 2005); S. JALKOTZY, I. S. LEMOS (edd.), Ancient Greece. From the Mycenaean palaces to the age of Homer, Edinburgh 2006; AA. VV. Pictorial pursuits. Figurative painting on mycenaean and geometric pottery. Papers from two seminars at the Swedish Institute at Athens in 1999 and 2001(Stockholm 2006); Keimelion. Elitenbildung und elitarer Konsum von der mykenischen Palastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche. Akten des intern. Kongr Salzburg 2005,Wien 2007; AA. VV., Zeit der Helden. Die "dunklen Jahrhunderte" Griechenlands 1200 - 700 v.Chr., Katalog zur Ausstellung im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Darmstadt 2008;; Stampolidis, N.C., Maner, Ç., Kopanias, K. (edd), Nostoi. Indigenous culture. Migration and integration in the Aegean islands and western Anatolia during the late bronze and early iron age. (İstanbul 2015); Agelarakis, A.P., Geometric period Plithos burial ground at Chora of Naxos Island, Greece. (Oxford : Archaeopress, 2016); ; Rousioti, D.; Stournaras, G.: The urban development of Crete at the end of the bronze age. Settlements with shrines. - in: The Dark Ages revisited. Acts of an International Symposium in memory of William D.E. Coulson, University of Thessaly. Volos, 14-17 June 2007. (Volos 2011) 489-502; S. Wallace. Ancient Crete, Cambridge 2010; Lefèvre-Novaro, D.: Recherches récentes sur la Crète géometrique et archaïque. - RA (2012) 150-157; AA.VV., Kreta in der geometrischen und archaischen Zeit. Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums am Deutschen Institut, Abteilung Athen, 27. - 29. Januar 2006. (München 2013).
For non-attending students it is required to read the handbook by O. DICKINSON, The Aegean from the Bronze Age to Iron Age, Routlege, London-New York 2006, and three essays chosen among the bibliographic materials for further study, on the basis of which it will be set a critical discussion.

In order to pass the exam it is necessary, in addition to reading one of the reference manuals, to participate in the seminar. Since this part of the course will be held with topics assigned to each participant to be developed in a written paper, a final discussion will serve to verify the level of preparation achieved. Specific topics discussed in the course will be proposed to the student, verifying the acquired knowledge of archaeological contexts and findings, for which a chronological and stylistic classification will be required.
Learning of non-attending students will be assessed on the basis of textbook knowledge integrated by a critical discussion of three essays chosen among those offered as further reading.

written and oral

Conventional with multimedia support. Students will be provided with texts and images related to the course using the multimedia platform presebte between the services of the university.

Italian

The attendance, although not required, is strongly recommended.