GREEK ARCHAEOLOGY FROM THE IRON AGE

The course is part of the master's degree programme in Ancient Civilizations (curricula of Archaeology). It offers an in-depth analysis of the development of the Greek civilization between the end of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (XII-VII century BC) through particularly significant sites of mainland Greece, Cyclades, Crete, and Dodecanese.

It is expected that at the end of the course the student will know:
- the research methodologies applied to the study of Early Greece
- the historical and theoretical foundations of the discipline
and will be able to:
- contextualise sites of Ancient Greece (Mainland, Crete and Cyclades) from XII to VII cent. B.C.
- correlate events occurring in different areas of the Eastern Mediterranean world (mainland Greece, Crete, Cyclades) from XII to VII cent. B.C.
- carry out a critical analysis of the artistic productions of Early Greece
- 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 Early Greece
- evaluate critically crucial aspects of Early Greece
- communicate data and topics concerning the Early Greece with technical language and proper terminology
- consult critically bibliographic tools in order to address in-depth studies and analyses.

It is advisable to have a basic knowledge of Greek history, Prehistory and Protohistory of the Eastern Mediterranean and Classical Archeology, all disciplines present in the first level courses.

The course proposes to analyse, in the broad geographical context of the whole Aegean world, the archaeological data dated between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age (XII-VII cent. BC), a long period defined in the past Dark Ages due to the rare archaeological data available and the absence of contemporary written sources. This complex period, characterized by numerous political, social and economic changes, constitutes the key phase for understanding the origin of Greek civilization, born after the end of the Mycenaean world. After a geographical and chronological introduction, the course first examines the history of research and then addresses the main phenomena highlighted in the Aegean area with particular attention to the cases of continuity and discontinuity attested in the various archaeological contexts. The course will deal with the political organization/s after the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces: from the centralized palace system, which disappeared towards the end of the 13th century, to the new political structures in constant evolution that will give life, starting from the 8th century, to the poleis or Greek cities-States. The occupation of the territory will be another specific issue examined through the study of different sites in mainland Greece and in the Greek islands.
For the academic year 2025/2026, the second part of the course and the didactic seminar will be devoted to development of the main regional settlements of Crete (eg. Phaistos, Gortys, Prinias, Kavousi, Azoria) from the XII to the VII cent. BC.

Mandatory chapters of handbooks to study for the exam:
O. DICKINSON, The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age, Routlege, London-New York, 2006 (Chapters 3-9)
I. LEMOS & A. KOTSONAS (edd.), A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean, I-II, New York 2019 (Chapters 4.17, 4.18, 4.19).

The exam is 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.

oral

Scoring based on the presence of the following knowledge/abilities/skills:
- 18-22: sufficient knowledge of contents; sufficient ability to recognize sites/classes of materials; sufficient ability to interpret and connect events; sufficient communication skills, related to the use of specific language.
- 23-26: fair/reasonable knowledge of contects; fair/reasonable ability to recognize sites/classes of materials; fair/reasonable ability to interpret and connect events; fair/reasonable communication skills, in relation to the use of specific language.
- Band 27-29: good/very good knowledge of contects; good/very good ability to recognize sites/classes of materials; good/very good ability to interpret and connect events; good/very good communication skills, related to the use of specific language.
- 30: very good knowledge of contents; very good ability to recognize sites/classes of materials; very good ability to interpret and connect events; very good communication skills, related to use of specific language.
- 30 cum laude: excellent content knowledge; excellent ability to recognize sites/classes of materials; excellent ability to interpret and connect events; excellent communication skills.

Conventional with multimedia support.
Students will be provided with texts and images relating to the course using the multimedia platform of the university

Attendance, although not compulsory, is highly recommended.