AEGEAN BRONZE AGE ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTIQUITIES

The course is part of the programme of the master's degree course in "Ancient Civilizations". The course wants to provide the student with a thorough knowledge of the Bronze Age Aegean archaeology. The focus of the 2022/2023 course will be the Minoan Palaces of Crete, both First and Second Palaces, respectively dating to Middle and to Late Bronze Age.

It is expected that at the end of the course the student will know:
- the research methodologies applied to the study of the Aegean archaeology
- the historical and theoretical foundations of the discipline
and will be able to:
- contextualise sites of pre- and protohistoric Greece (Mainland, Crete and Cyclades)
- correlate events occurring in different areas of the Eastern Mediterranean world (mainland Greece, Crete, Cyclades) in the Bronze Age
- carry out a critical analysis of the artistic productions of pre- and protohistoric sites of the Aegean world
- recognize and analyze contexts and classes of materials that are fundamental for the areas and the periods discussed
- formulate hypotheses and discuss specific topics of the Aegaen archeology
- evaluate critically crucial aspects of Aegean prehistory, with specific attention to socio-political developments
- communicate data and topics concerning the Aegean archeology with technical language and proper terminology
- consult critically bibliographic tools in order to address in-depth studies and analyses.

It is advisable, but not mandatory, to have attended the classes and underwent the exam of the undergraduate programme's course of Prehistory and Protohistory of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The course is divided into two parts. The first (10 hours) wants to provide students with the historical-cultural development of the island of Crete from the Early to the Late Bronze Age. The second part (20 hours) will focus on the Minoan Palaces of Crete.

- E. H. CLINE (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (Oxford Handbooks in Archaeology), Oxford 2010 (chapters devoted to Minoan palaces).

- Buell M., McEnroe J., Community Building/Building Community at Gournia, in Letesson, Knappett 2017, pp. 204-227.
- Caloi I. 2021, ‘Renovating the First Palace of Phaistos during the Middle Minoan IIA phase (18th cent. BC). Combining architectural and ceramic phases’, Rivista di Archeologia 44 (2020), pp. 3-19.
- Driessen J. 2002, ‘The King Must Die.’ Some Observations on the Use of Minoan Court Compounds, in J. Driessen - I. Schoep, R. Laffineur (eds.), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces, Aegaeum 23, Liège, pp. 1-14.
- Driessen J. 2018, Beyond the collective ... The Minoan Palace in action, in M. Relaki - Y. Papadatos (eds.), From the Foundations to the Legacy of Minoan Archaeology: Studies in honour of Professor Keith Branigan, (SSAA 12), Oxford - Philadelphia, pp. 291-313.
- Driessen J. 2021, The Sissi court-centred building. Introduction, in Sissi V (AEGIS 21), pp. 198-208.
- Hamilakis Y. 2002, Too many chiefs? Factional competion in Neopalatial Crete, in J. Driessen - I. Schoep, R. Laffineur (eds.), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces, Aegaeum 23, Liège, pp 177-199.
- Schoep I. 2006, Looking Beyond the First Palaces: Elites and the Agency of Power in EM III-MM II Crete, AJA 110.1, pp. 37-64.
- Schoep I. 2012, Bridging the divide between the ‘Prepalatial’ and the ‘Protopalatial’ in I. Schoep - P. Tomkins - J. Driessen (eds.), Back to the Beginning. Reassessing Social and Political Complexity on Crete during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, Oxford, pp. 403-428.
- Schoep I. – Knappett C. 2004, Dual Emergence: Evolving Heterarchy, Exploding Hierarchy, in J.C. Barrett - P. Halstead (eds.), The Emergence of Civilisation Revisited, (SSAA 5), Oxford, pp. 21-37.

The exam will be in oral form, but includes also the presentation of an essay on a specific topic assigned to each student. For the exam it is necessary: 1) to study the suggested books; 2) to participate to the seminar that will take place at the end of the classes (date to be set). During the seminar, each student will present a Power Point presentation on a specific topic, which has to be presented also in a written form (essay). Individual oral presentations will be followed by a final discussion, to which all students are required to participate.
During the exam, the level of preparation of the student will be verified through: 1) questions on the suggested books; 2) evaluation of the essay and relative oral presentation held during the seminar.

Traditional classroom lessons will take place together with a seminar to be attended by students. The Power Point Presentation will be used to show images and texts.

Italian

Attendance of the classes is not mandatory, but highly recommended.

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