Session: #183

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
1. Networks, networking, communication: archaeology of interactions
Session format:
Regular session

Title & Content

Title:
Ideas across Times. Cultural Interactions in the Central-Western Mediterranean Sea from VII Century BCE to the Late Roman Age
Content:
Contemporary society daily compares with communications’ and interactions’ problems among different cultures and peoples. In this regard, the study of the dynamics of reception of ideas and objects, acquired in different contexts other than those in which they have been developed and produced, could be very interesting. Although according to different historical perspectives, the ancient world has tackled similar issues. Particularly, from the VII century BCE to the Late Roman Age, Mediterranean Sea becomes the setting of encounters and clashes, like commercial exchanges and wars, among the Phoenicians, Punics, Etruscans, Romans and the other societies that came into contacts with them. For example, in the central-western Mediterranean Sea in which these cultural systems settled, it is possible to analyze one of the most important issue of the so-called “archeology of interactions”, that is how foreign artistic languages and system of values, material culture and technological knowledge have been transmitted and received by the native populations. This research session intends to propose a study of the archaeological data through which it is possible to identify the constitutive elements of the cultural phenomena just described. Therefore, from a methodological point of view, the aim of the session is to analyze, in a comparative way, the connections between use and function of material culture. More specifically, it intends to investigate the mechanisms of reception and perception through which the objects, in their dual role of material goods and cultural indicators, including for example foods and cosmetics substances traded, communicate ideas and images.
Keywords:
Cultural interactions, Mediterranean Sea, Trades, Punic Culture, Etruscan Culture, Roman Culture
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:

Organisers

Main organiser:
Carla Del Vais (Italy) 1
Co-organisers:
Marco Giuman (Italy) 1
Ciro Parodo (Italy) 1
Gianna De Luca (Italy) 1
Dominique Frère (France) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Cagliari
2. Université de Bretagne Sud