The purpose of this class is to give a background knowledge to students in near eastern archaeology in general and delve into some specific topics of Mesopotamian and Levantine areas, contextualizing and highlighting the development of local societies and features of the urban phenomenon.
The course includes a first part dedicated to the general geographical and chronological framework of the Mesopotamia and the Levant, the history of excavations and studies. Subsequently, an overview of the history of art and architecture, urban planning and monuments, material culture and technologies of the cultures of the Near East in the Bronze Age will be made.
The second part will be focused on some Levantine key-sites and on some selected cases-study of the archaeological periods illustrative of the development of proto-historical cultures, the dynamics of sedentary-nomadic cultures, the social stratification, the appearance and collapse of the city, funerary archaeology and the archaeology of religion in the ancient Near East.