The Journey of Prehistoric Remains. Rereading the Case of Scoglio del Tonno, Taranto (1899–1950s) (original) (raw)
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The socio-political dimension of archaeology: some reflections on the Italian path
The Archaeology of Death.Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of Italian Ireland, Archaeology held at the National University of Galway, April 16-18, 2016, 2018
Summary The use of the past for the construction and deconstruction of modern identity, and the contribution provided by archaeology in these processes, has become a topic of much debate over the last decades. Archaeology, as unfortunately can be seen by the recent destruction of cultural heritage in Syria and elsewhere, consciously or unconsciously provides symbols and materials for the political, historical or pseudo-historical narratives of communities and states. The present work, analysing some Italian cases, from Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily, invites a reflection on the political role of archaeology in contemporary Italy. Riassunto La strumentalizzazione del passato, la costruzione e decostruzione dell’identità moderna e l’apporto fornito dall’archeologia in tali processi costituisce uno degli ambiti di ricerca su cui si è più scritto nel corso degli ultimi decenni. L’archeologia, infatti, come è tristemente stato sottolineato dalle distruzioni del patrimonio culturale a cui abbiamo assistito recentemente, fornisce, in maniera consapevole o inconsapevole, simboli e materialità alla narrative politica di una comunità o di uno stato. Il presente lavoro, analizzando alcuni casi italiani, provenienti specialmente dalla Calabria, dalla Sardegna e dalla Sicilia, vuole invitare a una riflessione sul ruolo politico dell’archeologia nell’Italia contemporanea.
AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology
Public Archaeology is a young discipline, we all know that. It’s even younger in Italy, where public archaeology has not even reached ‘adulthood’. Cited for the first time by Armando De Guio in 2000 (De Guio and Bressan 2000), it was only a decade later that Public Archaeology has started to become ‘a thing’, thanks to some pioneering experiences at the University of Florence (Bonacchi 2009; Vannini 2011), and especially after a national conference in 2012 (in Florence: see Zuanni 2013 for a summary). Italian archaeologists’ first reaction was to overlap the new discipline with the experiences already in place, which in Italy were under the category of ‘valorizzazione’ (enhancement). They were not exactly the same: while Public Archaeology is characterised by a reflection on the objectives of the research from the very start, a focus on having a reliable methodology, and a strong element linked to evaluation, ‘enhancement’ experiences – while often valuable and successful – lacked t...
Italian Prehistoric Archaeology in the International Context, in Fragmenta 2, 2008, pp. 109-123.
The author outlines a short history of the interrelationships between Italian and foreign prehistory scholars in the period going from the unification of Italy to 1945. There was a remarkable season of excavations and research during the second half of the nineteenth century that also helped to create a bond between the Italians and the scholars of other European countries. The beginning of the twentieth century was characterized by a progressive isolation of Italians studying their country's prehistory. A new phase begins in 1940 with the excavations of Luigi Bernabò Brea in the Arene Candide cave and joint projects of archaeological research and excavations became a reality starting at the end of the Second World War. t he relationship between nationalism and Italian archaeology has been dealt with at length; 1 what is still missing is a study of the complex inter-relationships between Italian pre-and protohistoric archaeologists and their european colleagues, in the period from the unification of Italy to 1945. 2 the "science of the illiterates" was the famous aphorism of theodor mommsen (although nowhere to be found in his books or articles!) quoted by giovanni Patroni in his preface to La Preistoria (1937) that labelled prehistoric archaeology. It was mommsen himself who wrote in another famous passage in his introduction to his Römische Geschichte (The History of Rome 1854-1855), how it was to be excluded that in Italy "the human race is more ancient than field cultivation and the fusion of metal". 3 In fact, four years before, giuseppe Scarabelli, "the alpha and omega of Italian prehistory" as he was called by gabriel De mortillet, 4 published the first report on palaeolithic tools found in Italy. this publication not only sparked the beginning of a remarkable season of excavations and research, which took place during the second half of the nineteenth century, but also helped to create a bond between the Italians and the scholars of other european countries.
FOSSILI VIVENTI: PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY AND COLONIAL ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS IN LIBERAL ITALY
Organon 54 pp.125-151, 2022
This article offers a first survey investigating the practice of displaying objects belonging to ancient civilisations of the Italian peninsula alongside those of the peoples living in the African coloniesand beyond-during the end of 19 th and the beginning of the 20 th centuries. I will analyse the development of the discipline known in Italy as paletnologia in close connection with the European context and how it was presented in museums through its association with artefacts belonging to the so-called present-day primitives. Finally, the article will conclude by discussing the paradigm shift happening at the time of the Fascist Empire.
Archaeology of archaeology: recostructing history of a profession in Italy
This abstract has been read during European professional associations session during EAA 20th conference in Istanbul : we tried to reconstruct the history of the archaeological profession in Italy after the second WW, focusing on some of the breakthroughs we thought were diagnostic to understand the current situation of Archaeology in Italy; it's an history of divisions and misunderstanding between professionals, but also an history from which we have to learn, if we want to succeed in representing a cathegory.