Archaeology

This course interrogates the history, research potential, ethical considerations, and institutional practices associated with museum collections of world archaeology. The course equips students with the skills to engage critically with and conduct research on archaeology collections, provide a basic understanding of best practice in managing archaeological collections and give an insight into the museum as an institution. This course introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of managing and researching archaeological collections in museums. It provides a critical framework for approaching legacy collections from previous generations of fieldwork, as well as future acquisitions from ongoing fieldwork, practical experience of conducting object-based research in a museum context and direct insight into how museums function. Through case-studies, museum site visits, and hands-on practicals the course seeks to develop students' understanding of museum archaeology as reflexive practice.

This course introduces students to various aspects of archaeological excavation, commencing with the historical development of such investigations. The course traces the main stages internationally, from the work of antiquarians right through to that of modern archaeologists. The methods involved in modern archaeological excavation are presented. In addition to all of this internationally relevant material, some Irish-specific content is explored. This includes the legal framework governing archaeological excavation in Ireland, a practical account of the licensing system and a taste of how it works.  

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor.  The course deals with the study of the Aegean civilizations of the Bronze Age (third and second millennium B.C.E). Lessons firstly deal with geography and history of the researches; then with the Cycladic civilization; the Cretan sites and the different paths that brought about the formation of the first Minoan palaces; the impact of the Cretan civilization outside the island and on the Greek mainland communities; and eventually the Mycenaean civilization, with the analysis of a few key-sites, such as Lerna, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos. Last but not least, attention is given to the causes and long-lasting factors that brought about the decline and eventual collapse of the Mycenaean palatial states.

At the end of the seminar, students are able to interpret issues related to specific historical phenomena in a diachronic and transversal perspective within the Aegean Bronze Age framework, thought the elaboration and synthesis of the data coming from the analysis of written records and material sources and from the collective debate originated from the contact with other people, especially the civilizations originating in the Near East and Anatolia. They are able to formulate autonomously and in an organized way a research path or an intellectual work, using the specific acquired tools with methodological rigor, precision, and accuracy.

In this course students explore central theoretical issues in modern social anthropology and in the history of the discipline; key figures and their contributions to the history of anthropology; important ethnographic case studies; connections between ethnographic materials and theoretical positions; cross-cultural similarities and differences in a number of social and cultural domains; and the relevance of social anthropology for 21st century citizens.

This course examines the history of imperial and colonial archaeology in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the ways in which archaeological extraction often went hand-in-hand with the European and North American imperial or colonial ventures. It covers the artefacts that arrived in museums as a result of these ventures and what that says about our current “encyclopedic” style of museum that purports to share knowledge of the world yet is also a testament to western intervention in Indigenous societies at home and in other parts of the world. 

This course offers an introduction to the chronology and material culture of the Neolithic of Britain with reference where relevant to Ireland. A series of themes which have emerged in recent years as major research areas are addressed, including the chronology and mechanisms of the beginning and end of the Neolithic; the significance of material culture and materiality; regionality and identity; and settlement and everyday life.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course examines archaeological research on the human body and dress in ancient civilizations, in terms of clothing, ornamentation, and body modification. The course considers different approaches and sources to define the topic and explores the way and extent to which these matters contribute to our understanding of ancient societies. By integrating textual sources, iconographic documents, and archaeological evidence, the course delves into dress as a dynamic index in the construction of identity and instrumental in mediating social, political, and ritual relationships within the cultural environment. Through the study of various case studies across the Mediterranean, students acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of the discipline and are able to critically engage with the current debate in relation to wider social processes. By the end of the course students will have verified the procedures used in archaeological research, ranging over the entire process from discovery to publication; they will be au fait with the state of knowledge on field work, on responsible technical and scientific productions and on designing international research. The skills acquired equip them to tackle the requirements of research, conservation, and protection of the archaeological heritage within their own competences.

This course examines ancient and historic societies in the North American Arctic and Greenland, with emphasis on Pre-Dorset and Dorset (Paleo-Inuit), ancestral Inuit (Thule), and historic Inuit peoples. It covers the region’s culture history, how diverse societies emerged in challenging environments, and the analytical challenges specific to northern archaeological research. It also considers emerging research directions in Arctic studies, including advancements in community-based participatory research, archaeological engagement with Inuit ways of knowing, ancient DNA and isotope analyses, climate change research, and the management of at-risk sites.

This course focuses on past diets, adopting archaeological, ethnographic, historical, literary, linguistic, anthropological, and heritage studies perspectives. It discusses what diet did we evolve to eat, how technological development changed our dietary habits, what role food played in past cultures, how food-related decisions affected societies, what effects food globalization had on traditional diets, when subsistence activities started impacting environments, and what is human food and the omnivore’s dilemma. Teaching introduces how we study food consumption in the past. The core of the course overviews the prehistory and history of foodstuffs and diets, as well as the issues arising from them. The concluding sessions focus on ongoing debates on food and diet, conducted in the light of the interdisciplinary approaches adopted in the course and through an understanding of dietary history.