Prehistory in the Mediterranean
Code: 100739 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500241 Archaeology | OB | 2 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Frank Robert Risch
- Email:
- robert.risch@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Teachers
- Frank Robert Risch
- Marcello Peres Castellani
- Eni Soriano Llopis
Prerequisites
The course "Prehistoric Archaeology" (100740) devoted to Neolithic societies and the origin of the State, or its equivalent in other universities, should have been passed.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Understanding of the main social, economic and political changes of Later Prehistory in the Near East and the Mediterranean. Key aspects to be considered are the economic and social impact of metallurgy, the "secondary products revolution" (mainly the introduction of wheel, plough and horse riding), the "Jamnaja migration", the beginning of organised warefare, and the importance of "cooperative affluent societies" in history.
This course is conceived as the continuation and extension of the first year course "Prehistoric Archaeology" (100740)
Competences
- Contextualizing and analysing historical processes.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethic relevant issues.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Applying both knowledge and analytical skills to the resolution of problems related to their area of study.
- Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
- Identifying main and supporting ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the characteristic methods of Archaeology and its relationship with the historical analysis.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the specific methods of History and its relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
- Mastering the Universal Ancient History.
- Mastering the diachronic structure of the past.
- Mastering the processes of change produced in Prehistory.
- Recognising the importance of controlling the quality of the work's results and its presentation.
- Using specialized knowledge acquired in an interdisciplinary context when debating.
Content
TOPIC 1: Understanding pre-capitalist societies: evolutionist typologies and new alternative approaches.
TOPIC 2: Varna and the first metallurgical societies in Eastern Europe (5th millennium BCE).
TOPIC 3: The development of metallurgy: technology, origin(s) and transfer.
TOPIC 4: Economic intensification and social re-structuring during the 4th millennium BCE: the wheel, the plough and the derived products.
TOPIC 5: The emergence of individualised power and violence in the Caucasus and the Circumpontic region during the 4th millennium: Maikop and the northern peripheries of Uruk.
TOPIC 6: New forms of power and social relations at the time of the “Ice Man”: the circumalpine region ca. 3300-2500 BCE.
TOPIC 7: The society of the Cyclades during the 3rd millennium BCE: Production of wealth through exchange.
TOPIC 8: The Copper Age of the Iberian Peninsula (ca. 3100-2200 BCE).
TOPIC 9: The Corded Ware Group and the “Bell-Beaker Phenomenon” I (ca. 2750-2200 BCE): Materials, settlements, burials rites and ancient DNA.
TOPIC 10: The “Bell-Beaker Phenomenon” II (ca. 2750-2200 BCE): Social elites, sex/gender system and interpretation.
TOPIC 11: The Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula during the 4th and 3rd millennium: Evolution, involution and social organization.
TOPIC 12: The Early Bronze Age of the Iberian Peninsula (2200-1550 BCE)
TOPIC 13: Rise and decline of the first Aegean State: the Minoan society.
TOPIC 14: Africa and the Mediterranean during Later Prehistory: Independent or sheared trajectories?
Methodology
a. Lactures on teoretical issues, assited by TIC and debates.
b. Seminars devoted to the discussion on epistemology in archaeology, historical notions and interpretative models.
c. Study and discussion of archaeological information and publications.
d. Acomplishment of specific exercises.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Debates, elaboration of a chronological table, etc. | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 2, 11, 9, 8, 5, 4, 3, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Supervised execises | 20 | 0.8 | 1, 2, 5, 4, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Completion of a joint research project on a topic of the syllabus | 65 | 2.6 | 2, 11, 9, 8, 3 |
Assessment
ASSESMENT:
The subject will be assessed based on the following exercises:
a. Active participation in the theoretical classes and seminars (5%)
b. Completion of a chronological diagram (max. DIN-A3) in which a summary of the substantial contents of the subject is reflected (5%)
c. Completion of an individual essay on a specific topic emerging in class (15% of the exam)
d. Completion of a joint research project on a topic of the syllabus (40%)
e. Final written or spoken test (50%). It is indispensable to pass the exam in order to pass the subject
The reassessment implies the submission or revision of all scheduled assignments (points c. and d.), as well as the completion of an additional test. In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
At the time of completion/delivery of each assessment activity, the teacher will inform (Moodle, SIA) of the procedure and date of revision of the grades.
SINGLE ASSESSMENT: This course offers the possibility of a single assessment which will consist of taking a written exam and handing in all the course work on the same day and time of the final written test.
Note: In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of severalirregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagrama cronològic | 5 | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 11, 9, 5, 4, 6, 3, 10 |
| Exams | 50 | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 2, 11, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 6, 3, 10 |
| Practical excercises | 40 | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 9, 8 |
| Presentations and active participation in class | 5 | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 2, 11, 9, 7, 3 |
Bibliography
BASIC REFERENCES
TOPIC 1: Comprender sociedades pre-capitalistas: tipologías evolucionistas y nuevas perspectivas alternativas
KARATANI, K. 2014, The structure of World History – From modes of production to modes of exchange. Duke Univ.Press, Durham.
RISCH, R. 2018, Affluent societies of Later Prehistory. In H. Meller, D. Gronenborn, R. Risch (eds), Surplus without the State. Political forms in Prehistory. Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle, 45-65.
RISCH, R. 2021, “El grupo neolítico Halaf (Mesopotamia) desde la perspectiva de las sociedades cooperativas de la abundancia (c. 6200-5300 a.n.e.)”, en R. Rodríguez / Magdalena Magneres (ed), Sociedades Antiguas del Mediterráneo y América: aproximaciones desde el Sur. El Búho Desplumado, Buenos Aires, 23-56.
TOPIC 2: El desarrollo de la metalurgia: tecnología, origen y transferencia
MOHEN, J. P. (1992), Metalurgia prehistórica. Introducción a la paleometalurgia. Masson, Barcelona.
RADIVOJEVIĆ, M., REHREN, Th., PERNICKA, E., ŠLJIVAR, D., BRAUNS, M. & BORIĆ, D. (2010), “On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe”, Journal of Archaeological Science, 37, pp. 2775-2787
ROBERTS, B. W., THORNTON, Ch. P. & PIGOTT, V. C. (2009), “Developments of metallurgy in Eurasia”, Antiquity, 83.322, pp. 1012-1022
TOPIC 3: Las primeras sociedades metalúrgicas en Europa oriental durante el V milenio: Dimini, Vinça & Varna
CHAPMAN, J., HIGHAM, T., SLAVCHEV, V., GAYDARSKA, B. & HONCH, N. (2006), “The Social Context of the Emergence, Development and Abandonment of the Varna Cemetery, Bulgaria”, European Journal of Archaeology, 9, pp. 159-183 (DOI: 10.1177/1461957107086121).
RENFREW, C. (1986), “Varna and the emergence of wealth on prehistoric Europe”, en APPADURAI, A. (ed.), The Social Life of Things. Commodities in a Cultural Perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 141-168.
MANOLAKAKIS L. (2007), “Varna et le Chalcolithique de Bulgarie”, en J. GUILAINE (ed.), Le Chalcolithique et la construction des inégalités. t. 1, Le continent européen. Séminaires du Collège de France, Paris, Edition Errance, pp. 25-46.
KRAUß, R., ZÄUNER, S. & PERNICKA, E. (2014), “Statistical and anthropological analysis of the Varna necrópolis”, en H. MELLER, R. RISCH & E. PERNICKA (ed.), Metalle der Macht – Frühes Gold und Silber. Metals of Power – Early Gold and Silver. Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte 11, Halle.
TOPIC 4: Intensificación económica y reorganización social durante el IV milenio: la rueda, el arado y los productos derivados
SHERRATT, A. (1981), “Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the secondary products revolution”, en HODDER, I., ISAAC, G. & HAMMOND, N. (ed.), Patterns of the Past. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 261-306.
SHERRATT, A. (1983), “The Secondary Exploitation of Animals in the Old World”, World Archaeology, 15 (1), pp. 90-104.
GREENFIELD, H. (2010), “The Secondary Products Revolution: the past, the present and the future”, World Archaeology, 42 (1), pp. 29-54.
TOPIC 5: La emergencia del poder individualizado y la violencia en el Cáucaso y la región circumpóntica durante el IV milenio: Maikop y las periferias septentrionales de Uruk
HANSEN, S. (2013), “The Birth of the hero – The emergence of a social type in the 4th millennium BC” en: E. STARNINI (ed.), Unconformist Archaeology. Papers in honour of Paolo Biagi, Oxford, pp. 101-112.
Arslantepe: http://w3.uniroma1.it/arslantepe/index.php/en/home 2
TOPIC 6: Nuevas formas de poder y relaciones sociales en la época del “Hombre de los Hielos”: la zona circumalpina entre ca. 3300-2500 ANE
BARFIELD, L. (1986), “Neolithic burial in Northern Italy- problems of social interpretation”, Dialoghi di Archeologia, 2, pp. 241-248.
SPINDLER, K. (1995), El hombre de los hielos: el hallazgo que revela los secretos de la edad de piedra. Círculo de Lectores, Barcelona.
DOLFINI, A. (2013), “The Emergence of Metallurgy in the Central Mediterranean Region: A New Model”, European Journal of Archaeology 16 (1) 2013, pp. 21–62.
TOPIC 7: África y el Mediterráneo durante la Prehistoria: trayectorias independientes o compartidas?
DIAMOND, J. (2007), Armas, gérmenes y acero: breve historia de la humanidad en los últimos trece mil años, DeBolsillo, Barcelona (cap. 5-10).
RISCH, R. (2007), “La Prehistoria Reciente entre el Sahara y el Sudán”, Revista de Arqueología, 315, pp. 14-23.
TOPIC 8: La sociedad de las islas Cícladas en el III milenio ANE: Intercambio y aparición del valor de cambio
STAMPOLIDIS, N. & SOTIRAKOPOULOU, P. (2007), Aegean Waves. Museum of Cycladic Art, Milano.
TOPIC 9: La formación y declive del primer Estado en el Egeo: La sociedad minoica
CHERRY, J. F. (1984), "The Emergence of the State in the Prehistoric Aegean", Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, 30, pp. 18-48.
SCHOEP, I. (2010) “The Minoan ‘Palace-Temple’ Reconsidered: A Critical Assessment of the Spatial Concentration of Political, Religious and Economic Power in Bronze Age Crete”, JMA 23.2, 219-244.
RISCH, R. & MELLER, H. (2015), “Change and Continuity in Europe and the Mediterranean around 1600 BC”, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 81, 239-264.
TOPIC 10. El Calcolítico en la Península Ibérica (ca. 3100-2200 ANE)
CHAPMAN, R. (2017), Arqueologías de la complejidad. Bellaterra Arqueología. Barcelona (cap. 5).
DÍAZ DEL RÍO, P. (2004), Copper Age ditched enclosures in Central Iberia, in Oxford Journal of Archaeology 23, pp. 107–121.
GARCÍA SANJUÁN, L., VARGAS JIMÉNEZ, J.M., HURTADO PÉREZ, V., CRUZ-AUÑÓN BRIONES, R., RUIZ MORENO, T. (eds.) (2013), El asentamiento prehistórico de Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla)investigación y tutela en el 150 aniversario del Descubrimiento de La Pastora. Sevilla : Secretariado de Publicaciones, Universidad de Sevilla.
RISCH, R. 2017, “Archaeological limits or missed opportunities? The monumental settlement structures of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Iberia” in Cupitó, M., Vidale, M. & Angelini A. (eds.) Beyond Limits. Studi in onore di Giovanni Leonardi. Padova: UP Padova, 205-216.
VALERA, A. C. 2013a “Recintos de fossos da Pré-História Recente em Portugal. Investigação, discursos, salvaguarda e divulgação”, Almadan, Segunda Série, 18, Almada, Centro Arqueológico de Almada, 93-110.
TOPIC 11. El grupo de la Cerámica Cordada y el “Fenómeno Campaniforme” I (ca. 2750-2200 ANE): Materialidad, asentamientos, prácticas funerarias y ADN antiguo
HAAK, W. BRANDTA, B., DE JONGB, H., MEYERA, CH., GANSLMEIER, R., HEYD, V., HAWKESWORTHD, CH., PIKEB, A., MELLER, H. y ALT, K. (2008), “Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age”, PNAS 25,105, 47.
HAAK, W. et al. (2015), “Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe”, Nature 522, pp. 207–211.
DELIBES, G. & GUERRA, E. (ed) (2019), ¡Un brindis por el príncipe! El vaso campaniforme en el interior de la Península Ibérica (2500-2000 A.C.), vol. 2. Museo Arqueológico Regional, Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid.
OLALDE, I. et al. (2018), “The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe”, Nature, 555, pp. 190-196.
TOPIC 12. El “Fenómeno Campaniforme” II (ca. 2750-2000 ANE): Élite social, sistema sexo/género y teorías interpretativas
TUREK, J. (2016), “Sex, Transsexuality and Archaeological Perception of Gender Identities”, Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 12 (3), pp. 340-358.
VANDER LINDEN, M. (2006), Le phénomène campaniforme dans l’Europe du 3ºème millénaire avant notre ère. Synthèse et nouvelles perspectives. BAR International Series 1470, Oxford
TOPIC 13. La sociedad de El Argar en el Sudeste de la península ibérica (2200-1550 cal ANE)
LULL, V. y RISCH, R. (1996), “El Estado argárico”, Verdolay, 7, pp. 97-109.
LULL, V.; MICÓ, R.; RIHUETE, C.; RISCH, R. 2011. El Argar and the Beginning of Class Society in the western Mediterranean. Svend Hansen / Johannes Müller (Hg.). Sozialarchäologische Perspektiven: Gesellschaftlicher Wandel 5000-1500 v.Chr. zwischen Atlantik und Kaukasus. 1 ed. Darmstadt. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut; 381-414.
LULL, V; MICÓ, R.; RIHUETE HERRADA, C.; RISCH, R. 2010. Las relaciones políticas y económicas de El Argar.. MENGA - Revista de Prehistoria de Andalucía. 1, 11–35.
LULL, V.; MICÓ, R.; RIHUETE, C.; RISCH, R.2009. El Argar: la formación de una sociedad de clases. AA.VV.. En los confines del Argar: una cultura del Bronce en Alicante en el centenario de Julio Furgús. 1 ed. Alacant. Museo Arqueológico de Alicante; p. 224-245.
TOPIC 14. Las periferias de El Argar I: El Bronce Manchego
FERNÁNDEZ-POSSE, M. D.; GILMAN, A. Y MARTÍN, C. y BRODSKY, M. 2008: Las comunidades agrarias de la Edad del Bronce en la Mancha oriental (Albacete). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC. Madrid.
MARTÍN, C.; FERNÁNDEZ-MIRANDA, M.; FERNÁNDEZ-POSSE, M. y GILMAN, A. 1993: "The Bronze Age of La Mancha. Antiquity 67 (254): 23-45.
PERES, M. & RISCH, R. 2022, “Espacios y fuerzas sociales en el centro y el este de la península ibérica entre 2200 y 1550 ANE: una aproximación macroespacial”, Trabajos de Prehistoria 79, 1, 46-77 (https://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2022.12286).
TOPIC 15. Las periferias de El Argar II: El Bronce Velenciano
JOVER MAESTRE, F. 1999: Una nueva lectura del "Bronce Valenciano". Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante.
JOVER MAESTRE, F. J.; MARTÍNEZ MONLEÓN, S. y LÓPEZ PADILLA, J. A. 2018: "Sobre la estructura poblacional de las sociedades del Sur del Bronce Valenciano". Zephyrus 82: 93-117.
PERES, M. & RISCH, R. 2022, “Espacios y fuerzas sociales en el centro y el este de la península ibérica entre 2200 y 1550 ANE: una aproximación macroespacial”, Trabajos de Prehistoria 79, 1, 46-77 (https://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2022.12286).
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SYLLABUS
TOPIC 1: Comprender sociedades pre-capitalistas: tipologías evolucionistas y nuevas perspectivas alternativas
TOPIC 2: El desarrollo de la metalurgia: tecnología, origen y transferencia
TOPIC 3: Las primeras sociedades metalúrgicas en Europa oriental durante el V milenio: Dimini, Vinça & Varna
TOPIC 4: Intensificación económica y reorganización social durante el IV milenio: la rueda, el arado y los productos derivados
TOPIC 5: La emergencia del poder individualizado y la violencia en el Cáucaso y la región circumpóntica durante el IV milenio: Maikop y las periferias septentrionales de Uruk
TOPIC 6: Nuevas formas de poder y relaciones sociales en la época del “Hombre de los Hielos”: la zona circumalpina entre ca. 3300-2500 ANE
TOPIC 7: África y el Mediterráneo durante la Prehistoria: trayectorias independientes o compartidas?
TOPIC 8: La sociedad de las islas Cícladas en el III milenio ANE: Intercambio y aparición del valor de cambio
TOPIC 9: La formación y declive del primer Estado en el Egeo: La sociedad minoica
TOPIC 10. El Calcolítico en la Península Ibérica (ca. 3100-2200 ANE)
TOPIC 11. El grupo de la Cerámica Cordada y el “Fenómeno Campaniforme” I (ca. 2750-2200 ANE): Materialidad, asentamientos, prácticas funerarias y ADN antiguo
TOPIC 12. El “Fenómeno Campaniforme” II (ca. 2750-2000 ANE): Élite social, sistema sexo/género y teorías interpretativas
TOPIC 13. La sociedad de El Argar en el Sudeste de la península ibérica (2200-1550 cal ANE)
TOPIC 14. Las periferias de El Argar I: El Bronce Manchego
TOPIC 15. Las periferias de El Argar II: El Bronce Velenciano