0000183 - archeology and history of China and Japan

courses
ID:
0000183
Duration (hours):
54
CFU:
9
SSD:
Archeology, Art History and Philosophy of East Asia
Located in:
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Url:
ANCIENT CULTURES AND ARCHAEOLOGY: ASIA, AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN/Percorso comune Year: 3
ANCIENT CULTURES AND ARCHAEOLOGY: ASIA, AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN/Percorso comune Year: 2
Year:
2025

Overview

Date/time interval

Primo Semestre (29/09/2025 - 16/01/2026)

Syllabus

Course Objectives

Intended Learning Outcomes

The course aims to outline the key features of the archaeology and ancient art of East Asia, and to provide students with the tools necessary to recognise and understand the main techniques and artistic expressions used in these countries. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of material culture in reconstructing the past and on the interactions between China and Japan in antiquity.

Applying knowledge and understanding

By the end of the course, students will have acquired the knowledge required to identify, place in time and space, and analytically describe ancient East Asian sites, monuments, and artefacts. They will also acquire the methodological tools to analyse fieldwork and scholarly approaches in East Asian archaeology

Making judgments

Students will be able to contextualise artefacts within their historical, geographical, and economic settings, and evaluate their significance. They will also be able to respond critically to interpretive challenges emerging from the study of material culture.

Communication skills

Students will develop the ability to describe and discuss archaeological and artistic objects using discipline-specific vocabulary and appropriate methodological frameworks.

Learning skills

Students will acquire the competencies and terminology needed to undertake further academic work in East Asian archaeology and art history with a good degree of independence.


Course Prerequisites

It is useful and recommended for attending students to have a basic knowledge of the history and geography of East Asia, which will be further consolidated during the course.

For non-attending or working students, it is important to possess a foundational understanding of the history and geography of East Asia.


Teaching Methods

The learning objectives of the course will be achieved through participation in lectures (40 hours), which will be supported by a rich array of images and PowerPoint presentations. A selection of sessions (10 hours) will take place at the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato, where students will engage in practical workshop activities, including the observation of and group work on materials held in the museum's collections. Four hours will be devoted to non-assessed intermediate evaluations, during which students will present the results of individual or group research projects.


Assessment Methods

The achievement of the intended learning outcomes will be assessed through an oral examination, during which students will be asked—using visual materials as support—to describe, analyse, and contextualise a selection of artefacts, monuments, and sites studied during the course.

Only for attending students, non-assessed intermediate evaluations are planned, during which individual or group research will be presented and later discussed during the final exam.

The exam is normally conducted in Italian. Upon request, it may also be taken in English or French.

The final mark, expressed on a scale of thirty, will assess the student's ability to recognise, describe, and contextualise the materials and expressive forms of ancient East Asia. Evaluation criteria include the completeness of information, the correct use of technical vocabulary, and descriptive and analytical skills.


Texts

C. Visconti, Un secolo di archeologia cinese. Storia della disciplina dall’inizio del XX secolo ai giorni nostri, Firenze: Mondadori, 2016.

W. Steinhaus, S. Kaner, M. Jinno, S. Shoda (eds), An Illustrated Companion to Japanese Archaeology, Oxford: Archaeopress, 2020.

Additional material will be made available to students for the practical workshop session.

The photographic reference material will be made available to students on the e-learning platform managed by the University Language Centre (CLAOR), which is based on the open-source Moodle system, and on the Microsoft Teams platform. This is intended to enhance the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services.


Contents

Course Title: Introduction to the Archaeology and Art History of East Asia from the Origins to the Arrival of Buddhism

Syllabus topics:

  1. East Asia: a geographical and cultural introduction
  2. Archaeology in China: history of research, disciplinary practice, research trends, and methodological approaches
  3. Archaeology in Japan: history of research, disciplinary practice, research trends, and methodological approaches; outline of prehistoric archaeology in the archipelago
  4. The main Neolithic cultures of China; ceramic production techniques; jade
  5. The Jōmon Period: settlements, pottery, and clay figurines
  6. The Bronze Age in East Asia
  7. The Yayoi Culture: interactions and exchanges between Han China and Japan
  8. Funerary archaeology in East Asia
  9. The Mausoleum of the First Emperor
  10. Buddhism in East Asia


As part of the course, a practical workshop on archaeological materials will be conducted at the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato



Course Language

Italian


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Main module

archeology and history of China and Japan