PREISTORIA E PROTOSTORIA CON LAB. DI PROMOZIONE DEI BENI ARCHEOLOGICI
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: ORAZIO PALIOExpected Learning Outcomes
1) To know the general framework and development of the different stages of Mediterranean prehistory in the age between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age;
2) To know the problems related to settlement systems, territorial organization, economic and symbolic systems.
3) To be able to deal independently with the study and analysis of an archaeological context of the prehistoric age, highlighting the elements that characterize its organization;
4) To know how to communicate the knowledge acquired, deepening the themes that will be presented to the students' attention during the course.
5) Learning to construct thematic paths around which to build a communication project of archaeological heritage
Course Structure
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
Methodology and history of prehistoric research; definitions and concepts.
Chronological development and dating elements.
Archaeological facies: definition and characteristics.
The Italian peninsula and Sicily between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age; territory, settlements and social organization.
Textbook Information
Sebastiano Tusa, La Sicilia nella Preistoria, Sellerio, Palermo.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | definition of the concept of prehistory | |
| 2 | chronological development | |
| 3 | Migration and/or acculturation. The neolithization process. | |
| 4 | The Neolithic in Sicily, Aeolian Islands and peninsular Italy | |
| 5 | The Transition to the Copper Age. Problems of chronology and definition of characteristics | |
| 6 | The Copper Age in Peninsular Italy and Sicily. Relations with the Eastern Mediterranean | |
| 7 | The Bronze Age. The development of social diversity | |
| 8 | Communication and promotion of prehistoric archaeological assets |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
The exam aims to verify and evaluate the knowledge related to the prehistory and protohistory of Sicily and peninsular Italy, both from a theoretical point of view (origin and development of the main phenomena, social organization and reconstruction of the symbolic and ideological environment of the human groups examined, subsistence, economic, social activities), and practical (reconstruction of temporal and cultural sequences, description of sites, monuments and artifacts). The evaluation also includes the student's communication and presentation skills, the use of the Italian language, the variety and appropriateness of terminology, the ability to organize and express concepts and ideas, even complex ones.
The exam will be carried out through a series of questions from the teacher (from three to five, depending on the complexity of the topics covered), which will concern the presentation of a phase of prehistory, or of a particular cultural aspect, the space-time location and the description of two or three sites, the recognition and description of a particular artifact.
There will be ongoing tests, consisting of multiple-choice and open-ended tests.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
1 - Description of prehistoric sites and their placement in the geographical, chronological, socio-cultural context to which they belong
2 - Topographical, chronological and/or cultural relationship between different archaeological contexts
3 - Exposition of the most important stratigraphic sequences
4 - Explanation of theoretical concepts relating to the social or economic structure of prehistoric contexts