Studying Prehistory at Pisa
The University of Pisa is one of the reference universities for the teaching of Prehistory in Italy and some of the most prominent archaeologists and prehistorians who today operate in the academic and ministerial fields have studied here.
The current offer in Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Pisa is separated in two courses offered by the Department of Civilization and Forms of Knowledge: the three-year bachelor’s degree course in Scienze dei Beni Culturali (curriculum: archaeology) and the master’s degree in Archeologia (curriculum: pre-protohistoric).
The academic courses dealing with Prehistory concern both historical-archaeological and methodological issues, taking into consideration the entire chronological span of human prehistory, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Metal Ages.
Summer Schools and educational projects on specific topics are periodically organized and offer an additional learning opportunity for Italian and foreign students, including excavations and direct field experiences, practical and laboratory activities. It is also possible to pursue a research career in Prehistory through the Scuola di specializzazione in Beni Archeologici and the Scienze dell’antichità e archeologia Ph.D program promoted by the Department, with places accessible through competitive examinations.
Bachelor’s degree course in Scienze dei Beni Culturali
Aegean Civilizations
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Salvatore Vitale
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
The objective of the course is to outline the fundamental developments of cultures documented in the Aegean during the Bronze Age (3rd and 2nd millennium BCE). Specifically, the lessons are dedicated to the analysis of Minoan civilization, the civilizations of the Cycladic Islands, and Mycenaean civilization.
In particular, the following themes are addressed and discussed during the lessons, with special emphasis on the relationship between material evidence, cultural identities, and complex socio-political forms:
- Crete, the Cyclades, and mainland Greece during the 3rd millennium BCE;
- The appearance of the first Minoan palaces;
- Crete, the Cyclades, and mainland Greece during the era of the second Minoan palaces;
- The question of the so-called “Minoan thalassocracy” between myth and reality;
- The so-called “Shaft Grave Period” and the appearance of Mycenaean civilization in mainland Greece;
- The formation of the Mycenaean palaces;
- Mainland Greece and the Aegean during the era of the Mycenaean palaces;
- The end of the Mycenaean palaces and the Aegean basin in the last two centuries of the 2nd millennium BCE.
Prehistory of Mankind
- Course: 1st modulo of Prehistoric Archaeology
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Elisabetta Starnini
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
The course “Prehistory of mankind” 1st module of Prehistoric Archeology (275LL) is active starting from the 2023/2024 academic year. The course deals with the origin, diffusion and physical, cognitive and cultural evolution of the first human forms from the lower Pleistocene up to the Holocene, including the adaptations to the different ecosystems of the past in a planet in constant mutation. The course therefore deals with issues related to subsistence strategies, the co-evolution of the human species, technology and the environment, the introduction of technological innovations for the production of artefacts, up to the first forms of symbolic expression of Sapiens, in a global critical vision, not Eurocentric.
Prehistory of Agriculture
- Course: 2nd module of Prehistoric Archaeology
- Period: 2nd semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Niccolò Mazzucco
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
Started in 2023/2024, the course “Prehistory of agriculture”, second module of Prehistoric Archaeology course (275LL), is focused on the origin, diffusion, and development of the first agricultural systems, at the end of the Pleistocene and during the Holocene, and their impact on past and present human communities and ecosystems. The course “Prehistory of agriculture” therefore deals with topics related to the domestication of plants and animals, the co-evolution of the human species and the environment, the introduction of technological innovations and the creation of the first agricultural machines, based on case studies from different areas of the world, in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Master’s degree in Archeologia
Archaeology of Neolithic
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Niccolò Mazzucco
Active between 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, the course “Archaeology of Neolithic” (1341L) held by N. Mazzucco focused on the transition from hunting and gathering systems to farming systems starting from a detailed analysis of archaeological sources and of the most recent theories on the origin of the so-called Neolithic. The course aims to illustrate the transformations experienced by hunter-gatherers, from the Late Glacial Maximum onwards, and how these changes led to the onset of the Neolithic. The course therefore deals with the origin of the Neolithic in the Near East and subsequently with its expansion towards the West and the East. Particular attention will be given to the critical reading of the climate change and the impact that the farming economy had on past ecosystems.
Experimental Archaeology
- Period: 2nd semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Cristiana Petrinelli Pannocchia
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
Active from the a.y. 2015/2016, the “Experimental Archaeology” course (840LL) explores the issues related to the study of material culture, focusing on the experimental method as an investigative approach capable of providing information on the operational chains that led to the production of a specific product or process. The course deals with the history of the discipline and the theoretical debates that have animated the academic world, leading to a current formulation of the method. Case studies are also treated which allow us to observe how the experimental investigation, together with other methodologies such as traceological analysis and ethnoarchaeological studies, can provide an integrated study approach capable of allowing the “biographical reconstruction” of a given artefact/ process.
Geoarchaeology
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Giovanni Boschian
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
Students are expected to acquire: 1) advanced training on Earth Sciences methods in the study of archaeological site formation processes; 2) ability in archaeological site recognition; 3) basic knowledge of stratigraphy applied to archaeological contexts; 4) skills about contextualisation of archaeological sites within the landscape; 5) basic knowledge of the diachronic evolution of humans-environment relationships. At the end of the class, students should be able to reconstruct formation processes of archeological sites.
Palaeoecology and Bioarchaeology
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Lionello Morandi
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
The course “Palaeoecology and Bioarcheology” offers a broad overview of the main analytical methodologies currently in use to reconstruct past environments and landscapes and to address specific archeological research questions. In particular, it focuses on organic proxies from natural and anthropogenic sediments and from archaeological materials, illustrating aspects of palaeobotany (macro- and microremains such as seeds and pollen), microremains of animal origin from aquatic and terrestrial environments, palaeoparasitology and the potential of stable isotopes and archaeogenetics.
Prehistory of Hunter-Gatherers
- Course: 1st module of European Prehistory and Protohistory
- Period: 1st semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Elisabetta Starnini
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
The course “Prehistory of hunter-gatherers”, 1st module of European Prehistory and Protohistory (1342L), is active starting from the 2023/2024 academic year. It deals with the evolution of the first forms of social structure of prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations, the organization in nomadic or semi-sedentary bands and tribal societies starting from the lower Pleistocene up to the Holocene. The course therefore also explores themes of social archaeology, looking in the archaeological record for the material clues of the change in the relationships between genders, between individuals of the same community and between human communities of different geographical and/or ethnic-cultural origins. Hints offered by the ethnographic record for the interpretation of extinct societies will also be discussed.
Prehistory of Social Complexity
- Course: 2nd module of European Prehistory and Protohistory
- Period: 2nd semester
- Hours: 36
- ECTS: 6
- Lecturer: Niccolò Mazzucco
- Esami portal: 2023-2024 exam program
Started in 2023/2024, the course “Prehistory of social complexity”, second module of European Prehistory and Protohistory (1342L), deals with the transformations in the social structures of prehistoric societies, from the tribal organization up to the first class-based societies. The course therefore explores topics linked to Social Archaeology, looking in the archaeological record for the material evidence of the changes in the relationships between sexes, between individuals of the same community and between human communities of different geographical and/or cultural origins. During the course we will deal with aspects related to the origin of inequality and the origins of the early states taking as examples case-studies from European Prehistory and Protohistory.
Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici
Near Eastern Neolithic Archaeology
- Hours: 30
- ECTS: 5
- Lecturer: Cristiana Petrinelli Pannocchia
Starting from the 2013/2014 academic year, the course “Neolithic Archaeology of the Near East” deals with the origin, development, and diffusion of the Neolithic in the Near East. The course traces the stages of a gradual process of change, whose first traces are recognizable in the dynamics of territorial mobility of Natufian hunter-gatherer groups, and which progressively leads to the development of sedentary societies with productive and increasingly complex economies. The course focuses on the analysis of the cultural, social and economic differences between the different areas by analysing aspects such as architecture, cultural and funerary events, artistic productions and technological innovations.
Prehistoric Artefacts Identification
- Hours: 30
- ECTS: 5
- Lecturer: Elisabetta Starnini, Jacopo Gennai
The course is active since the academic year 2021/2022 and is aimed at cultural heritage professionals in the public and private sectors, who have no expertise or little notion of Prehistoric Archaeology. The teaching consists of frontal lessons, in which the theoretical aspects are presented, and of practical experience on prehistoric artefacts or replicas. The course is divided into two equal parts dealing with the two main classes of prehistoric artefacts: lithics and pottery. Particular attention will be given to the identification of genuine artefacts from naturally produced objects. Knowledge acquired throughout the course will be evaluated through a final exam.
Summer Schools
Archaeological Summer School in Abruzzo
- Director: Arturo Marzano
- Scientific director and coordinator: Cristiana Petrinelli Pannocchia
- Permanent school teachers: Alice Vassanelli (UniPi), Vincenzo Palleschi (CNR of Pisa), Hermann Borghesi (Coop. Limes), Serena Cosentino (independent researcher), Gianfranco Mieli (independent researcher), Emanuela Ceccaroni (Superintendence of Abruzzi)
- Staff: Gilda Russo, Agnese Terranova, Lucia Spadacini, Simone Sani
- School partners: Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Abruzzo, ICCOM-CNR U.O.S. of Pisa and INGV of Rome and L’Aquila, MUSE-CelanoPaludi Museum
- Link: facebook.com/SummerSchoolAbruzzo
The Archaeological summer school in Abruzzo is part of a multi-faceted research program organized by the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge of the University of Pisa.
The school program arises from the desire to offer students, from all over the world, the chance to participate in current research, allowing them to live an important experience of personal and professional growth.
Our aim is to increase the student’s awareness and skills about archaeological and methodological issues through an intensive program that provided field research, experimental activities, and laboratories.
Educational Projects
Mesohistories: Economy and Environment of the Last Hunter-Gatherers
Mesohistories is an educational project funded by the University of Pisa within the call “Progetti speciali per la didattica – 2nd semester 2022/23”. This project activity brings together a group of students and researchers with the aim of building an educational experience around the study of the last groups of European hunter-gatherers, analysing their ways of life, the surrounding environment, and their management of the natural resources. The object of this project is therefore the study of prehistoric ecology, understood in its broadest sense of the ecological history of interactions between humans and non-humans.
This educational project will focus, in particular, on the Monegros region (Huesca, Spain) and on the archaeological site of PBM (Paridera de Ballarin Marcial), a Mesolithic campsite excavated under the direction of Niccolò Mazzucco (Unipi) and Javier Rey Lanaspa (Gobierno de Aragón). In this context, students are invited to explore the PBM site and the Monegros region, documenting the dynamics of occupation of the territory by the prehistoric human groups, exploring their settlement strategies, the economic activities they carry out, and the environment existing between 8,000 and 7,800 years ago. The didactic path proposed to the students is characterized by a transdisciplinary approach that brings together surface archaeological surveys, stratigraphic excavation, and surface topography, palaeoenvironmental sampling and laboratory activities on the archaeological materials.
Technology and Science for Cultural Heritage (TeSCH)
- Director: Cristiana Petrinelli Pannocchia
- Location: Abruzzo
- Period: July-August 2023
- Partners: University of Pisa, CNR of Pisa, University of Rome 1, Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of L’Aquila and Teramo
The Technology and Science for Cultural Heritage (TeSCH) project is an educational project funded by the University of Pisa within the call for special projects for teaching – II semester a.y. 2022/23.
TeSCH aims is the deepening knowledge of the investigation and diagnostic methodologies applicable to cultural heritage. During the academic course, students acquire basic knowledge of archaeology and archaeological materials relating to different periods: Prehistoric, Protohistoric, Classical, and Medieval. The TeSCH program offers students the opportunity to participate in a three-week full-time program in which students can become familiar with archaeological materials directly in the field, learn to recognize them, classify them, understand their meaning and above all understand the correct investigation methodology to apply. The practical experience aims to make people understand that the archaeological materials recovered from the excavation are part of a coordinated production system, the result of a community that conceived and created it. The aim of the researcher is to reconstruct the whole life path of that object and get to evaluate its current state of health.