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 2024/2025 course will be the change in funerary structures and mortuary practices on Crete from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age. Comparisons between the Late Bronze Age Crete and the contemporary mainland Greece will be considered.

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 (12 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 (18 hours) will focus on the changes of funerary structures and practices from the Early to the Late Bronze Age, and on the comparisons between the Late Bronze Age on Crete and in the Mainland Greece.

- Alberti, Lucia. 2004. The Late Minoan II-IIIA1 warrior graves at Knossos: the burial assemblages. Knossos: Palace, City, State, Cadogan, Gerald, Eleni Hatzaki, and Adonis Vasilakis, eds. BSA Studies 12, London, p. 127-136.
- Alberti, Lucia. 2013. Middle Minoan III burial customs at Knossos: a pianissimo intermezzo? Intermezzo: Intermediacy and Regeneration in Middle Minoan III Palatial Crete, Macdonald, Colin F. and Carl Knappett, eds. BSA Studies 21, London, p. 47-55.
- Caloi, Ilaria. 2011. Changes and evolution in funerary and non-funerary rituals during the Protopalatial period in the Mesara plain (Crete). The evidence from Kamilari and from the other tholos tombs. RdA 35. p. 97-110.
- Girella, Luca and Ilaria Caloi. 2019. Kamilari: Una necropoli di tombe a tholos nella Messarà (Creta). Monografie della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente 29, Atene: Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene (selected chapters).
- Papadatos, Yiannis. 2017. Mortuary practices, the ideology of death and social organization of the Siteia area: The Petras cemetery within its broader funerary landscape. Petras, Siteia: The Pre- and Proto-palatial cemetery in context, Tsipopoulou, Metaxia, ed. Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens 21, Aarhus: The Danish Institute at Athens and Aarhus University Press. p. 311-323.
- Schmitt, Aurore and Sylviane Déderix. 2021. Too many secondary burials in Minoan Crete? JAnthArch 64.). (Link)
- Soles, Jeffrey S. 1992. Prepalatial Cemeteries at Mochlos and Gournia and the House Tombs of Bronze Age Crete. Hesperia Supplement 24 (selected chapters).
- Tsipopoulou, Metaxia. 2017. Documenting sociopolitical changes in Pre- and Proto-palatial Petras: The house tomb cemetery. Petras, Siteia: The Pre- and Proto-palatial cemetery in context. Tsipopoulou, Metaxia, ed. Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens 21, Aarhus: The Danish Institute at Athens and Aarhus University Press. p. 57-101.

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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