Learning objectives
The course aims to transmit to the student a clear concept of the Methodology of Modern Archaeological Research.
1) Knowledge and Understanding skills: At the end of the course, thanks to the use of adopted textbooks and the deepening of the main topics concerning the subject, the student will have acquired knowledge to understand the history of the discipline and the most recent methods concerning the stratigraphic excavation.
2) Knowledge and understanding skills applied: The student will be able to support arguments related to the archaeological excavation in the field, the classification of contexts and monuments, topographic surveys, the study of documentary sources, the knowledge of scientific laboratory analysis used for diagnostics and dating of archaeological artefacts, and all the components that characterize archaeological research.
Thanks to this knowledge, the student will be able to possess specific skills useful for an initial preparation for the profession of archaeologist
3) Autonomy of judgment:
The student will be able to interpret archaeological data correctly and independently.
4) Communication skills: at the end of the course, the student will be able to communicate information and ideas, problems and solutions, in oral and written form, to specialists and non-interlocutors.
5) Ability to learn: Thanks to what has been learned, the student will be able to undertake further studies, concerning the methodology of archaeological research, with a high degree of autonomy
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
Introduction to archeology. The concept of archeology and main theoretical orientations Process and postprocessual archeology. Definition of the "method" and its evolution. The fundamental contributions of the English, French and Italian schools to the definition of the method for archaeological investigations in the field. Brief profile of some of the most distinguished archaeologists of the '900, who have conditioned their archaeological research with their ideas and their personality: from Wheeler to Barker, from Harris to Carandini. Natural and cultural formation processes of the archaeological record. The concept of absolute chronology and relative chronology. Archaeometric techniques for materials analysis. Archeology of production and archeology of distribution. Archeology of architecture and urban archeology. Methods, sources and techniques in the archeology of landscapes. Surface surveys (survey). Geophysics and geomorphology. Stratigraphic excavation techniques and stratigraphy concepts. Reading and interpretation of data. History of experimental archeology and its fields of application. Ethnoarchaeology, Bioarchaeology and Archeogenetics.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Texts:
In addition to the lecture notes, the following manual is required for the examination:
Renfrew C., Bahn P., De Marrais E., L'Essenziale di Archeologia: Teoria, Metodi, pratiche. Terza Edizione. Editore Zanichelli. Bologna, 2024.
Non attending students must prepare, in addition to the manual, the following text.
Augenti A., A come Archeologia, Carrocci editore, Roma 2018
Teaching methods
The lessons will take place in the classroom. The course includes a total of 30 hours for 6 CFUs.
The lectures, in total 30 hours for 6 credits, will take place with the help of a large series of projected images. Students will be encouraged to intervene and express their point of view at the end of each lesson on the issues and topics examined.
At each lesson, full and detailed power points on each topic will be projected. During the lessons, photocopies may be distributed, as an aid for the preparation of the exam. At the end of the course, students will be given all the thematic power points projected in class, to facilitate the preparation of the exam.
The teaching on the field is accompanied by the one on the field, guaranteed by the participation of the students in the archaeological didactic excavations and in the Unipr research projects.
Assessment methods and criteria
The final exam aims to verify the achievement of the didactic and training objectives indicated in the Syllabus. If due to the persistence of the health emergency it is necessary to integrate with the remote modality, the carrying out of the exams will proceed with oral questions, using the Teams platform.
The students will have to show that they have learned the general part of the manual, the methods and the contents developed and deepened in class. The vote of the exam session is defined by an oral test based on the knowledge and understanding of the main topics related to the Course. An assessment of insufficiency is determined by the lack of a
knowledge of the minimum contents of the course; from the inability to express themselves
adequately with reference to the subject, as well as the lack of preparation. A sufficient evaluation (from 18 to 24) is determined by an acceptable level of preparation by the student; a score from 24 to 27 comes
assigned to the student who proves to possess a discrete or good level of preparation and presentation of the topics; the highest scores (from 28 to 30 and praise) come
assigned on the basis of the demonstration of a high level, from excellent to excellent, of knowledge, understanding and exposure of the main topics related to the course.
Other information
Students attending the course will be given the opportunity to be selected for the second archaeological campaign in the very interesting site of Fiumana (Predappio, FC). The excavations will take place in June-July 2025
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
The course, through the didactic activity in the classroom and the archaeological excavations in the field, has at least three objectives for sustainable
