75778 - Geoarchaeology (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has an introduction to the interpretation of the genesis of an archaeological site in relation to the coeval territory, its evolution and geological context. In particular, the student has a pragmatic approach to field surveying and its conceptual developments; he/she is familiar with the most common site problems; and can relate to specialists in the disciplines of Archaeology in the global contextualization of the archaeological site.

Course contents

The lecture program aims to address the two main areas of the discipline: 1) contextualizing human occupation from a perspective of landscape evolution and the coeval paleoenvironment; and 2) knowing how to read and interpret archaeological stratification dynamically, taking into consideration its natural and anthropogenic formative processes.

After an introductory lecture devoted to the definition of geoarchaeology, the history of disciline and its main issues, the course will be structured into four modules:

• Notions of Earth and Soil Sciences
• Paleoenvironment and human-environment relations on a regional scale and on the longue durée
• Formation processes of the archaeological stratification
• Intra-site geoarchaeology and cultural landscape characterization: human activities and impact of anthropogenic activity at local scale.

A one-day excursion, to be carried out on an excavation site at the University of Bologna, is scheduled for the end of the course (date to be agreed upon according to student availability). The excursion will be an opportunity to put into practice the knowledge gained during the course. In particular, it will involve surveying, describing and some sampling of a stratigraphic sequence, proceeding to a field discussion regarding strategies to be adopted. If possible, hand auger coring will be carried out to reconstruct some pedo-sedimentary profiles.

Readings/Bibliography

• Preparatory readings for the course:

Harris E. C. (1989) – Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy, 2nd Edition, San Diego, Academic Press.

Schiffer M. B. (1987) – Formation Process of the Archaeological Record, Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press.

• For the exam, in addition to personal notes, the study of the following texts is required:

Cremaschi M. (2000) – Manuale di Geoarcheologia, Roma, Laterza, 386 pp., oppure Goldberg P., Macphail R. I. (2006) – Practical and theoretical geoarchaeology, Blackwell, 455 pp.

Leonardi G. (1992) –Formation Processes and Excavation Methods in Archaeology: Perspectives, Atti del seminario internazionale (Padova, 15-27 luglio 1991), Padova, Saltuarie del laboratorio del Piovego 3.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Peinetti