Archaeology

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced students. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course examines the various fields of Etruscan civilization and of the pre-Roman Italian world; explores how to use the critical tools for a correct reading of archaeological documentation integrating it with historical and epigraphic documentation; and examines the depth of the territory, also through visits to the main museums and archaeological areas of the region, which enables students to acquire a complete and conscious approach to the discipline.

This course examines the meaning, values, and characteristics of cultural relics; the basic methods and main objectives of cultural relics research; the frontier dynamics of cultural relics research; the relationship with other related disciplines; the history of cultural relics research; identification and dating; vessel shape; decoration; and craftsmanship.

This course aims to use archaeological finds and burial materials to explore various aspects of culture, religion, rituals, and politics in ancient China. The course will introduce the burial materials and contents of different periods through case studies, teach the research methods of burial art, how to organize and analyze the excavated materials, restore the space and environment of burial, and conduct research on cultural history, religious history, and social history.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the historical and epistemological relationships linking the development of archaeology and museology to colonialism. Special attention is placed on the current debates on decolonization and contemporary movements in countries with a colonial past that involve debates on topics such as repatriation of human remains and artefacts, local curators, and community archaeology. The course places the history of archaeology and museums in a wider epistemological framework and offers a critical analysis of archaeological and museological theory and practice. Students have a chance to apply their analytical skills to professional activities linked with the popularization and public use of archaeological and museum-linked expertise. The course deals with the development of Western archaeological/anthropological enquiry and museum collections in the wider historical and epistemological context of European colonial expansion and follows a roughly chronological order. Starting with the birth of antiquarian practices in the 16th century, the course explores the many ways in which scientific enquiry has been entangled with colonialism. Special attention is devoted to the study of extra-European peoples and pasts, with a specific focus on indigenous America. Selected case studies are explored in order to shed light on the ways in which the entanglement developed over the centuries, stressing not only how archaeological research and collecting practices benefited from European political domination of non-Western countries, but also how academic disciplines have been instrumental in providing the epistemological frameworks which legitimized colonial domination, thus creating a circular, self-sustaining relationship of mutual support. The last part of the course focuses on recent attempts at the decolonization of archeological and museum activities through the implementation of good practices such as collaborative and community archaeology, object repatriation, and indigenous curatorship.

This course is an introduction to the prehistoric communities who inhabited Ireland, Europe, and Western Asia from about 150,000 BC to AD 400. Archaeologists divide this long period of time into the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age), Bronze Age and Iron Age. Students begin with the earliest modern human inhabitants of Europe and Western Asia, their hunter-gatherer way of life, their art and their relationship to the Neanderthal communities who preceded them. They look at evidence for the first hunter-gatherers who settled in Ireland and later the settlements and rituals of the first communities to develop agriculture and build megalithic tombs. Students then examine changes in how these communities organized themselves and their rituals over thousands of years, including their adoption of bronze and iron metalworking. 

This course is specifically designed for visiting students to Ireland; as such, the course provides students with an insight into modern Irish society through an in-depth appraisal of its past history. This knowledge base allows students to become more familiar, and, in turn, feel more at ease, with the society in which they now find themselves interacting on a daily basis. The course is an introduction to fundamental aspects of Irish archaeology, heritage, history, and literature, from the first evidence of human activity on the island to the development of the socio-political frameworks which shape modern Ireland. Students examine the nature of the Irish landscape from the retreat of the glaciers to the impact of major historical events on modern society. The island has been subject to centuries of invasion, plantation, and demographic upheaval leading to some interesting blends of cultural and ethnic influence. Irish poetry is interwoven throughout the archaeological and historical explorations and includes the works of Heaney, Yeats, Hartnett, Kavanagh, and MacNeice.