PREHISTORY AND PROTOHISTORY
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2021/2022
- Teacher
- FEDERICA FONTANA
- Credits
- 12
- Curriculum
- ARCHEOLOGIA E ARTI
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- L-ANT/01
Training objectives
- The course aims at supplying a general framework on the most ancient phases of human cultural evolution from the appearance of the first knapped lithic assemblages in Africa to the advent and diffusion of metallurgy in the Italian peninsula, in close connection to environmental changes. At the end of the course the student should demonstrate to know the chronology and the main cultural features of each period (from the Paleolithic to the Copper age) here included the human species attested. He should also be able to recognize some specific artefacts for each period and assign them a correct temporal and spatial attribution.
Prerequisites
- School knowledge on the history of humanity and the geology of the Quaterary era
Course programme
- Definition of Prehistory and Protohistory and brief history of research.
The archaeological evidence as a mean for the reconstruction of the cultural processes of Prehistory and Protohistory.
Quaternary chronology and palaeoclimatology.
The first African evidence.
Lithic technology as a mean for the reconstruction of technical and cognitive systems of prehistoric groups.
The diffusion of Homo in Europe and the Lower Palaeolithic.
Homo neanderthalensis and the Middle Palaeolithic.
The origin of Modern humans and their dispersal in Europe.
The Upper Palaeolithic in Italy.
The last European hunter-gatherers-fishers of the Mesolithic.
The Neolithic process in the Near East and in Europe.
The Neolithic in Italy.
The origin of metallurgy and the Copper Age in the Italian peninsula. Didactic methods
- Lectures illustrated by Power Point presentations; laboratory activities on lithic knapped assemblages; visit to Museum archaeological collections.
Learning assessment procedures
- The oral examination will be articulated in three main questions: two questions will be aimed at verifying the knowledge acquired by the student on the different periods analyzed (including the chronology, palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental aspects, humans species attested and main cultural features). The third question will focus on the recognition, chronological and spatial attribution and analysis of an archaeological find.
Reference texts
- - M. Peresani, 2018 "Come eravamo. Viaggio nell'Italia paleolitica", Ed. Il Mulino, Farsi un'idea
- D. Cocchi Genick, 2009 "Preistoria", Edizioni QuiEdit (the chapters devoted to the Neolithic and Copper age)
-Lecture notes and diagrams provided by the teacher (to be downloaded from the the teacher web page)
