CLASS 4739 - [Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age, ca. 3000-1000: from villages to palaces]

(crosslisted) ARKEO 4739, ARTH 4739
(HB) (CA-AS)

Fall. Not offered 2015-2016. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

S. Manning.

This course examines the development of the first state-level (so-called palace) civilizations of Europe in the Aegean region a little after 2000 BC, and then investigates the archaeology of the subsequent palatial Minoan and Mycenaean periods through to a much debated wave of social, political, economic and climate change late in the second millennium BC. The Aegean Bronze Age is a dynamic and distinctive time period which forms the background to later Classical civilization and much Greek culture (and myth). Debate has surrounded the role of internal versus external processes in the development of Aegean civilizations. This course will use the archaeology and art of the Aegean, and material and textual evidence from surrounding societies, to investigate how cultural interaction and internal processes shaped the Aegean world.