SEMINAR ON PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY

Specific Foundation / Core

The aim of the seminar is to get the students acquainted with archaeological research and scientific reasoning through deep and critical knowledge of archaeological practice. During these courses students are taught how to prepare written papers on specific topics of either general cultural or specific archaeological interest which, then, are asked to present in the class. This process teaches them to learn how to construct an archaeological argument and how to present it to an audience.

The seminar examines the cultural processes from food collection to food production and the appearance of permanent settlements in relation to the wider climatic and environmental characteristics during the period from 10,000 to 3000 BC. Data on climatic fluctuations and the transformation of coastal environments and coastlines during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene and during the latter are examined. The broader environmental data will be related to the cultural processes that took place during that period. Moreover, issues related to the relationship of Mesolithic and Neolithic societies with their respective local environments and the formation of the anthropogenic characteristics of the latter will be discussed. The above-mentioned relationships will be examined through the information provided by geoarchaeology, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology and isotope studies in plant and animal remains from archaeological sites. Interdisciplinary approaches combining chronological models, archaeological survey, excavation data and palaeovegetation studies with the aim of studying the formation of the anthropogenic environment over time will be discussed. Upon successful completion of the course students will be familiar with: - the climatic and environmental phenomena that took place 10,000-3000 BC. - the understanding and critical evaluation of the correlation of these phenomena with the cultural processes of the period - the selection and application of interdisciplinary methods that explore the complex relationship between farming communities and the local environments they managed. The seminar is based on lectures and study of selected bibliography. The course is offered to a limited number of students. Assessment consists of a written essay and its oral presentation.

01-09-2021