Archaeology of Greece - lecture

obligatory courses

Remote learning

This course deals with the oldest periods of Greek archaeology. The Stone Age is presented briefly with the majority of the course devoted to the Bronze and Dark Ages, through the Archaic and Classical Periods, and ending with the Hellenistic Period. For

the prehistoric period we will cover the following cultures: Cycladic, Minoan, Helladic/Mycenaean and Trojan/West Anatolian. Emphasis will be placed on the most characteristic features of these cultures, the processes which led to socio-cultural change

and the research problems of especial significance to this region (such as the debate about the chronology of the Santorini volcanic eruption). The course then moves on to focus on the emergence of the unique features of Ancient Greek culture, studied

particularly through the lens of art and architecture, with analysis of the development of radical ideas such as democracy and how the Ancient Greeks translated their worldview into the material world.

The aim of this course is to familiarise students with the most important archaeological sites, monuments, cultural phenomena and research problems of early Greek archaeology. The hallmarks of Aegean and Classical archaeology are different and this will be reflected in the lectures. Beginning from the Stone Age, an overview of a wide range of archaeological evidence (contexts such as palaces, graves, settlements and the wider environment as well as material culture such as frescos, seals, tools, pottery, etc.) will allow us to understand the nature of prehistoric Aegean cultures. The main focus will be on understanding how and why the first European state societies emerged at this time, their distinct features and their place within the broader geographical context of the Mediterranean. This evidence will be supplemented by a review of written documents, which provide important insights into the functioning of the later palatial authorities although overall they play a marginal role in Aegean archaeology as they are mainly administrative records. Based on these sources, we will trace the rise, development and decline of the main Aegean cultures, and also refer to the problem of the historicity of certain post-Bronze Age Greek myths, whose action is set in some distant past.

Our knowledge of Classical Greece is much wider thanks to numerous written source and monuments that have survived to our times. European civilisation was built on Greek foundations and Greece was the birthplace of many ideas still alive in the modern world, even if they have undergone a long evolution. During the second semester, we will focus on architecture, sculpture and grave art, which will allow us to try to understand the phenomenon of Greek culture. On this basis, we will follow the evolution of Greek culture from the Dark Ages, when new ideas began to sprout, through the Archaic Period, when the Greeks searched for forms that best allowed them

to express their philosophy and their worldview, to the Classical Period with its highest achievements in the field of arts and in the development of democracy in the 5th c. BCE. From the 4th century, belonging to the Late Classical Period, we will observe a slow abandonment of the previously developed norms, a process which rapidly

accelerated in the Hellenistic period when a radical change of Greek reality took place, along with the expansion of Greek culture into the vast areas of the Near and Middle East. We will also find out about the influence of the political system on the shaping of public space through the example of the Ancient Agora of Athens.

For the first part:

E.H. Cline (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, (IA)

J.C. McEnroe, Architecture of Minoan Crete, University of Texas Press, Austin 2010 (IA, e-brary)

D. Preziosi; L.A. Hitchcock, Aegean Art and Architecture, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000 (IA)

C.W. Shelmerdine (ed.), Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008 (IA)

Jeremy Rutter, Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~prehistory/aegean/?page_id=104

Nicely illustrated history of Greek civilization on pages of the Foundation of Greek culture (in English and Greek):

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/en/index.html

K. Lewartowski, A. Ulanowska, M. Siennicka, Archeologia Egejska

http://www.archeo.uw.edu.pl/podrecznikegea

Do części drugiej

For the second part:

S. Alcock, R. Osborne, Classical Archaeology (Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology, 10), Malden, 2007 (IA)

J. Boardman, Pre-Classical. From Crete to Archaic Greece, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1967 (IA)

M.D. Fullerton, Greek Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000 (IA)

A.W. Laurence, Greek Architecture, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1957 (IA)

G.M.A. Richter, A Handbook of Greek Art, Pheidon Press, London 1969 (IA)

Nicely illustrated history of Greek civilization on pages of the Foundation of Greek Culture (in English and Greek):

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/en/index.html

For the Athenian Agora see ASCSA guide books and picture books online (http://www.agathe.gr/publications/), esp. J. Camp, The Athenian Agora: A Short Guide in Color; one can also consult the online guide with QTVR panoramas (http://www.agathe.gr/guide/)

The student

has a basic knowledge of the fields of description, analysis and interpretation of archaeological sources from the areas of the civilisations of prehistoric Greece/Classical Greece (K_W03)

has systematised general knowledge about prehistoric/ancient communities in Greece, including terminology, theories and methodology in the field of archaeology (K_W04)

has detailed knowledge about selected prehistoric/ancient communities in Greece including terminology, theories and methodology in the field of archaeology (K_W05)

has a basic knowledge of the main directions of development and the most important new achievements in the field of archaeology of prehistoric/Classical Greece (K_W08)

knows and understands the basic methods of analysis and interpretation of various cultural products, specific to selected traditions, theories and research schools in the field of the archaeology of Greece (K_W09)

knows and understands the basic methods of analysis for Aegean scripts/knows and understands the basic types of Greek classical texts and their role in the reconstruction of the past (K_W12)

has general knowledge about the properties of raw materials and how they were used by past communities in prehistoric/Classical Greece (K_W15)

The student

can recognize different types of Aegean texts/Greek classical texts. (K_U08)

can use basic research terms and theoretical approaches specific to the archaeology of Greece (K_U09)

can identify different types of material culture products of prehistoric/Classical Greece including contexts and properly document them and perform critical analysis and interpretation (K_U10)

can identify, analyse and use source texts useful in the workshop and working environment of archaeologists studying prehistoric/Classical Greece (K_U11)

can identify, analyse, use and classify archaeological sources (K_U12)

can detect simple relationships between artefacts and ancient cultural and social processes in prehistoric/Classical Greece (K_U13)

The students are ready to:

use their knowledge and skills and is aware of the need to challenge themselves through the opinions of experts (K_K01)

recognise the significant importance of material remains, languages and written sources from ancient Greece as part of the cultural heritage of humanity (K_K02)

appreciate the unique value of archaeological sources and their role in reconstructing the human past (K_K03)

critically assess the interpretation of archaeological and historical sources with awareness of multi- faceted interpretation (K_K04)

use their knowledge of the comprehensive nature of culture and its complexity, with the awareness of the need to analyse various categories of sources to reconstruct the human past (K_K05)

Students will sit an oral exam, the purpose of which is to determine their knowledge and understanding of the key sites, material culture and basic characteristics of the cultures studied in this course. Students should be able to recognise sites, monuments and classes of material culture from plans and photographs, as well as discuss the socio-cultural trajectories of each culture showing awareness of the main research problems specific to each period and using a range of different types of evidence to underpin their argument.

not applicable