Insegnamento
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Docente
PAOLO CARAFA
Students will be able to know the history of the changing landscapes of the Palatine Hill from the foundation of the city to the late antiquity. During the course students will learn how to use methods and instruments aiming at the reconstruction of architectural and topographical history of ancient cities.
The course will introduce you to the way we have been reflecting on over the last twenty years and still are engaged with the study of cities of the Roman World, beginning from the most complex case in the ancient Mediterranean World: the core of Italy and of Roman Empire. Researches developed in the core of the ancient city (Palatine Hill and Forum Romanum) since the end of last century by teams of Sapienza Classical Archaeologists and other Italian and international equips opened a new phase in the urban archaeological investigation and in the scientific debate about the relation between archaeological features and literary tradition as well as the “correct use“ of both kind of evidence, key issues of wide archaeological and historical significance. Students will also be introduced to methods and procedures applied in collection, analyses, integration and interpretation of complex and multi-stratificated contexts. After a brief introduction to methods (part 1) and to the ancient city of Rome as a whole (part 2), in this course students will be introduced to detailed reconstructions of the topographical history of the Palatine and Forum Romanum from the earliest phases to the end of the Empire (parts 3-8).
A. Carandini, Rome in flight and Rome in freefall, in A. Carandini, P. Carafa (eds.), The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp. 15-43.
- P. Carafa, The information system of Ancient Rome, in A. Carandini, P. Carafa (eds.), The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp. 44-55
- P. Carafa, Teaching and Researching with the GIS: an archaeological story, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 1, 2, June, 2013, pp. 73-83.
D. Manacorda, The Necropoleis in A. Carandini, P. Carafa (eds.), The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp. 101-107.
- C. Panella, Goods in Rome, in A. Carandini, P. Carafa (eds.), The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp.108-115.
- D. Filippi, Region VIII. Forum Romanum sive Magnum, in The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp. 143-214.
- D. Bruno, Region X. Palatium, in The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Biography and Portraits of the City, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2017, pp. 215-280.
The teaching tools used are video lessons. The didactic contents are organized in modules, so that the study can be personalized by the individual student with respect to the characteristics of his / her personal path and study time. There is also a practical test that will allow the student to experiment with the creation of an archaeological map.
16 hours of frontal teaching (32 video lectures)
12 hours of interactive teaching (practical exercise of drawing an archaeological map).
Self-assessment section with questions and answers that help to better prepare the exam.
The exam consists of an oral test divided into questions relating to the main parts of the program. The exam can be taken without any prerequisites. Students are strongly encouraged to perform the practical exercise proposed, that will be evaluated during the exam.
Students who have successfully passed the exam will know how to deal with the investigation and study of multi-layered archaeological contexts. The skills acquired can be used in different areas of cultural heritage (research, protection, enhancement).
Students can also have practical experience of archaeological investigation by participating in the archaeological excavation campaign conducted by the Department of Sciences of the Antiquity of "Sapienza" Università di Roma on the southern slopes of the Palatine Hill.