Project

HISTORY, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES OF LAPARS (Laboratory of Prehistory and experimental archaeology)

Monte d’Accoddi, S’Elighe Entosu and Canelles are sites where LaPArS is carrying out research activities.
The Laboratory was created in 2010 as a “container” for scientific and didactic activities relating to Prehistory, developed at the University of Sassari, and in particular those pertaining to the teaching of Palethnology. The principal interest of the research is directed at phenomena of European and Mediterranean Prehistory, with particular attention to craft production and the reconstruction of paleo-economic and paleo-environmental models.

The Laboratory undertakes research activities aimed at the understanding of problems related to craft production with a morphological – techno-functional approach, with the intention of identifying the methods of locating and recovering prime materials, the sequences of transformation and the usage of various resources in prehistory, including through the application of experimental archaeology.
The Laboratory conducts theoretical and practical didactic activities, such as university stages, seminars and study days, which are aimed at widening the fields of study offered by the University and broadening the spectrum of investigation into the various areas of research, favouring interaction between the various disciplines; these often involve the participation of important figures from the international scientific community.

Activities centred on experimental archaeology are encouraged, especially through events organised in collaboration with public and private bodies, with the aim of reaching as many people and organisations as possible, in order to encourage greater sensibility to the themes of heritage and the many related fields of scientific research. Some of these initiatives directed towards a wider public, in particular to pupils of primary and secondary schools, as an early approach to “understanding the life of prehistoric man”.

Other activities include, consultancies, studies and divulgation in the field of heritage for both public and private organisations and associations.
The Laboratory is open to lecturers and assistants, students, post-graduates as well as local and international specialists.
The LaPArS website was born as a support tool for research and scientific explanation, illustrating the activities and research projects of the Laboratory. In the sections dedicated to research the texts are presented with a bibliography, for the most part compiled during activities run by the Laboratory. Some texts are available to be downloaded.

STRUCTURE

The Director
The position is currently filled by Maria Grazia Melis
mgmelis@uniss.it.

Completed a Specialisation degree in Prehistoric Archaeology in 1990 and holds a Ph.D. in Prehistoric Archaeology since 1996 (the “La Sapienza” University of Rome). Assistant professor at the scientific area L-Ant/01, at the University of Sassari since 1.01.01, liaised with the Department of History, Human Sciences and Education.
Member of the Erasmus Committee of the University of Sassari and international mobility Delegate (European and extra-European, Erasmus and Ulysses programmes) of the Department of History, Human Sciences and Education.

Lecturer in Palethnology for the laurea magistrale in Archaeology. Lecturer in Methodology of archaeological research at the Post-Graduate School of underwater Archaeology and Mediterranean coastlines “Nesiotikà” (University of Sassari). Lecturer at the Doctorate School of History, culture and literature of the Mediterranean (University of Sassari).
Member of C.I.A.I.M.O. (Interdepartmental Centre of Research for the Archaeology of the Islands of the Western Mediterranean) – University of Sassari and of C.I.R.TE.BE.C. (Inter-University Centre of research of technology in Heritage). Ordinary member of the I.I.P.P. (Italian Institute of Prehistory and Proto-history). Researcher attached to LAMPEA (Laboratoire méditerranéen de Préhistoire (Europe – Afrique) – UMR 7269 AIX-en-Provence (France).

Coordinator of national and international research projects and archaeological excavations. Author of roughly 120 scientific publications.
Principal research fields: Prehistory and Proto-history of the Western Mediterranean (Southern France, Corsica, Tyrrhenian Italy, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and Tunisia); Archaeology of island environments; the Eneolithic: chronology, analysis of craft production (in particular pottery, spinning and weaving), settlements, sacred places and burials, man and the natural environment, contact and exchange in the Mediterranean.

The Board
The Board is formed of members of the Lecturing and non-Lecturing staff involved with the Laboratory.