PREHISTORY OF MEDITERRANEAN ASIA

Course objectives

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the course is to give students a basic knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of prehistory and protohistory of Western Asia, with the help of advanced textbooks. Moreover, it will make the student able to apply the acquired knowledge in an expert and reflective way, making autonomous judgments, communicating ideas and problems in a clear and correct way, and developing the knowledge required to go further in the studies. A last aim is that of providing the students with methodological and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of prehistoric contexts in Western Asia. Specific aim of the course is the understanding of the dynamics that have brought to the development of egalitarian agricultural and pastoral societies and later to the development of complex societies, characterised by inequality and economic and technological specialization. The regions investigated shall be the Levant (eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea), Cyprus and Anatolia and particular interest shall be devoted to social and economic organization, technological knowledge, ideological and symbolic characters. Central shall be the issue of relations between these regions and both maritime and terrestrial routes of communication will be investigated for both the Neolithic (10th-6th millennia BCE) and Chalcolithic phases (5th-4th millennia BCE) and the course shall evaluate to what extent these might have contributed to the development of each region. Finally, the role of Western Asia in stimulating the neolithization process in other regions of eastern Europe shall be critically evaluated.

Channel 1
FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The course shall start with an analysis of Epipalaeolithic communities of the Levant and the Anatolian coast (12000 BCE), to pass then on to the full Neolithic and later Chalcolithic (3000 BCE) communities of Western Asia. Key sites in the various regions will be analyzed to address the following issues: First changes in the organization of hunter-gatherers: Epipalaeolithic and Natufian Prepottery Neolithic of the Levant, Cyprus and the Middle Euprates The neolithization process and its “diffusion” towards the Balkans and the Aegean The Neolithic in central and western Anatolia Networks, contacts and communication routes The Chalcolithic and the origin of inequalities Metallurgy and relations between the Levant, Sinai and the Caucasus Economic and craft specialisations at the dawn of the Early Bronze Age
Prerequisites
Buona conoscenza della lingua inglese Good knowledge of English language
Books
1) Chapters from "The Human Past. World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies.", ed. Chris Scarre: chapter 6 - from foragers to complex societies in Southwest Asia. Chapter 12 The Rise of Civilisation in Southwest Asia, but only until Ubaid and Uruk (excluding the Early Bronze Age) 2) Chapters from "The Archaeology of Syria", by P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G.M. Schwartz: chapter 4 The Exploration of New Horizons; chapter 5 Continuity and Change in the Late Sixth and Fifth millennia BC. Chapter 6 The Fourth Millennium BC and the Uruk intrusion. 3) pages from The Creation of Inequality. How our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire: pgs. 54-65, 121-138, 260-297.
Frequency
strongly welcome
Exam mode
oral discussion
Lesson mode
Lezioni frontali Lectures in class
FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The course shall start with an analysis of Epipalaeolithic communities of the Levant and the Anatolian coast (12000 BCE), to pass then on to the full Neolithic and later Chalcolithic (3000 BCE) communities of Western Asia. Key sites in the various regions will be analyzed to address the following issues: First changes in the organization of hunter-gatherers: Epipalaeolithic and Natufian Prepottery Neolithic of the Levant, Cyprus and the Middle Euprates The neolithization process and its “diffusion” towards the Balkans and the Aegean The Neolithic in central and western Anatolia Networks, contacts and communication routes The Chalcolithic and the origin of inequalities Metallurgy and relations between the Levant, Sinai and the Caucasus Economic and craft specialisations at the dawn of the Early Bronze Age
Prerequisites
Buona conoscenza della lingua inglese Good knowledge of English language
Books
1) Chapters from "The Human Past. World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies.", ed. Chris Scarre: chapter 6 - from foragers to complex societies in Southwest Asia. Chapter 12 The Rise of Civilisation in Southwest Asia, but only until Ubaid and Uruk (excluding the Early Bronze Age) 2) Chapters from "The Archaeology of Syria", by P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G.M. Schwartz: chapter 4 The Exploration of New Horizons; chapter 5 Continuity and Change in the Late Sixth and Fifth millennia BC. Chapter 6 The Fourth Millennium BC and the Uruk intrusion. 3) pages from The Creation of Inequality. How our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire: pgs. 54-65, 121-138, 260-297.
Frequency
strongly welcome
Exam mode
oral discussion
Lesson mode
Lezioni frontali Lectures in class
  • Lesson code10598851
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CourseMediterranean Archaeology
  • CurriculumPaleolithic Archaeology ART-W (Percorso valido anche ai fini del conseguimento del titolo multiplo italo-francese-tedesco)
  • Year1st year
  • Semester1st semester
  • SSDL-ANT/01
  • CFU6