0000467 - Archaeology of the Nile Valley

courses
ID:
0000467
Duration (hours):
54
CFU:
9
SSD:
Egyptian Studies and Coptic Civilisation
Located in:
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Url:
ANCIENT CULTURES AND ARCHAEOLOGY: ASIA, AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN/Percorso comune Year: 2
ANCIENT CULTURES AND ARCHAEOLOGY: ASIA, AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN/Percorso comune Year: 1
Year:
2025

Overview

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 29/05/2026)

Syllabus

Course Objectives

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

General knowledge of the archaeological cultures of the Nile valley and of their socio-economic trajectories.

 


ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

The course intends to provide the basic tools to discuss the historical and social significance of the developments of the cultures of the Nile basin starting from their material culture.

 

FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

Making judgments:

The student must be able to put in its context and interpret specific aspects of the material culture produced by the ancient populations of the Nile basin.

 

Communication skills:

The student must possess the ability to describe artifacts and monuments produced by the ancient populations of the Nile basin in an unambiguous manner and with proper language.

 

Learning ability:

The course aims to contribute to the achievement of the analytical skills, the substantive and methodological knowledge necessary to access the master's degree course in the class of cultural heritage and archeology (LM-2) or in that of languages ​​and cultures of the Asia and Africa (LM-36).

 


Course Prerequisites

No prerequisites required. Although not compulsory, to have taken the course of Egyptology is useful for an easier access to the contents of the course of Archeology of the Nile Valley.


Teaching Methods

Lectures and 4 hours of seminar lessons.



Assessment Methods

The exam will take place in oral form. The student will also be asked to identify an object or monument, to propose its dating and functional interpretation.

Language in which the exam will take place: Italian or, upon request by the student, in English or French.

Evaluation criteria: the evaluation is based on consistency, completeness of information and correct use of terminology.


Texts

Two among the following books:

K.A. Bard, Archeologia dell’antico Egitto, Roma: Carocci, 2013 (compulsory for students choosing as text book "Introduzione alle antichità nubiane" and not having taken the course of Egyptology).

A. Manzo, Introduzione alle antichità nubiane, Trieste: EUT, 2007.

D.W. Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia. Aksum: its antecedents and successors, London: British Museum Press, 1998.

Two of the following articles should be added to the books:

D.M. Reid, “Indigenous Egyptology: The Decolonization of a Profession?”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 105, pp. 233-246.

B.G. Trigger, “Paradigms in Sudan Archaeology”, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 27, pp. 323-345.

Hirsch, B. e F.X. Fauvelle-Aymar. 2001. “Aksum après Aksum. Royauté, archéologie et herméneutique chrétienne de Ménélik II (r. 1865-1913) à Zära Yaqob (r. 1434-1468)”, in Annales d’Ethiopie 17, pp. 59-109.


Contents

The course will provide a general knowledge of the archaeological cultures of the Nile valley and its surroundings, with particular reference to their relative and absolute chronology, to the main developments of material culture and to the themes of the man-environment interaction, of the emergence of the Neolithic economy, of technological developments, of the dynamics of sharing cultural traits and of regionalization, of the archaeological indicators of the emergence of hierarchical societies and of their economic foundations.


Course Language

Italian


More information

There is no program distinction for non-attending students and for Erasmus students.


Degrees

Degrees

No Results Found

People

Other

Main module

Archaeology of the Nile Valley