Archaeology of the frontier in the Near East: excavation data and historical research
4 weeks duration for 6 ECTS-Dates: 1-28/June 2015
Course director: Giovanni Salmeri, Professor of Roman History, University of Pisa; Dott.Lett. (Catania)
The Summer School “Archaeology of the frontier in the Near East: excavation data and historical research” will take place from the 1st to the 28th of June in south-eastern Turkey, that is to say in a region of great importance for the study of the subject.
The School will be in conjunction with the archaeological excavation carried out by the University of Pisa together with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean (CNR, Rome) and the Turkish Municipality of Yüreğir in the site of Misis (ancient Mopsouestia), on the right bank of the river Ceyhan.
The dominating position of Misis on the main communication route from central Anatolia to Syria and the Levant played a decisive role in its millenary history and early urbanization. The site is also characterized by the presence of a system of fortifications in use from, at least, the neo-Hittite period to the Ottoman, through the Roman and the Byzantine ones. Such a situation will allow the participants in the Summer School to join an excavation applying the most recent technologies and research methodologies, and to observe the functioning of a frontier city in practice. Misis, for example, in the Middle Age, changed hands frequently, passing from the Byzantines to the Arabs, the Turks, the Crusaders and maintaining the traces of them all.
In the School, at the beginning the subject of the frontier will be taken into consideration from the theoretical point of view, with attention to some general cases. But interest will be centred on the Near East, and especially on the Syro-Anatolian and Palestinian frontiers examined in a longue durée perspective in order to identify aspects of continuity and change. Linguistic variability along frontiers will also be treated looking at both the ancient and the modern world. This two-sided approach will represent the main distinctive sign of the School: among other things the military, political and religious situation of today Near East will be presented and discussed searching for its roots in the past (not only recent).
The last week of the Summer School will be occupied by a visit to the cities of the south-eastern frontier of Turkey, Antakya, Gaziantep, Mardin, Urfa, with their multifaceted ethnic and cultural traditions.
Instructors and tutors
Giovanni Salmeri, Arturo Marzano, Sara De Angelis, Alessandro Colantoni, Massimiliano Massera, Anna Lucia D’Agata