Pre-historic Archaeology in the Iberian Peninsula

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

An attempt will be made to interpose expository classes with debate sessions on the most controversial topics in the subjects to be covered. The expository classes will take place using keynote presentations in which the image will play a crucial role. The debates will be based on texts with divergent views on certain phenomena, with each half of the class having to defend one of the positions under debate.

Learning Outcomes

A. characterize the human communities of the lower and middle Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula, and explain their relevance in the European context;
B. characterize the upper Pleistocene communities and problematize the emergence of modern behavior among these populations;
C. understand the effects that the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene had on the human communities of Iberia;
D. explain the currently existing neolithization models of Iberia;
E. characterize megalithism and understand its importance during the peninsular Middle Neolithic;
F. identify the major trends of the iberian Chalcolithic, regarding technology, architecture and ritual practices, as well as the putative social processes behind these trajectories;
G. understand the continuities and discontinuities of the Bronze Age in relation to the previous period, as well as the cultural diversity observed at this time in the Iberian Peninsula.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1 The periodization of Prehistory
2.1The pre-Acheulean Lower Palaeolithic:The first hominins on the Peninsula
2.2The Lower Palaeolithic:The Acheulean in the Iberian Penins.
3 The Middle Palaeolithic:The Mousterian in the Iberian Penins.
4 The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Iberian Penins.
5.1The ancient Upper Paleolithic:between the Aurignacian and the Gravettian in the Iberian Penins.
5.2The full Upper Paleolithic in the Iberian Peninsula:between the Proto-Solutrean and the Magdalenian
5.3Late Paleolithic cultures in the Iberian Penins.
5.4Paleolithic art in the Iberian Penins.
6.1The Mesolithic in the Iberian Penins.
7.1The problem of neolithization of the Iberian Penins.
7.2The peninsular megalithic phenomenon
8.1The diversity of monumental architecture in the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Chalcolithic
8.2Funerary expressions of the 3rd millennium
9.1The Bronze Age in the Iberian Penins.
9.2Bronze Age funerary and ritual expressions(rock art and statuary).

Head Lecturer(s)

André Tomás Pinto da Silva e Conceição Santos

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

BICHO, N. F., Manual de Arqueologia Pré-histórica 2.ª edição, Lisboa, Edições 70, 2010.
CARDOSO, J. L., Pré-história de Portugal, Lisboa, Universidade Aberta, 2007.
LÓPEZ, P. (coord.), La Prehistoria en la península Ibérica, Madrid, Istmo, 2017.
JORGE, S. O., Domesticar a Terra, Lisboa, Gradiva, 1999.
LILLIOS, K. T., The Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula: From the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, Cambridge,
2020.
RUIZ-GÁLVEZ PRIEGO, M. (ed.), La Edad del Bronce. Primera Edad del Oro de España? Sociedad e Ideologia,
Barcelona, Editorial Critica Arqueologia, 2001.
SANCHIDRIÁN, J. L., Manual de arte prehistorico, Barcelona, Ariel, 2001 (nova edição de 2018).
VV.AA., A Idade do Bronze em Portugal. Discursos de poder, Lisboa, SEC/IPM/MNA, 1995.
ZILHÃO, J., Portugal na Idade do Gelo, Lisboa, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, 2023.