Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
During research into the Italian Archaeological Mission to Albania, a collection of documents came to light within the archives of the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology in Rome. The documents, which included various illustrated field notebooks, specialist reports, correspondence and photographs, were the work of one of the founders of the institute, Italian prehistorian Luigi Cardini (1898-1971). Cardini was seconded to Albania with the Italian mission from 1930 to 1939, the aim of the mission was to reinforce Italian supremacy in Albania through archaeological research. Cardini spent much of the 1930s exploring the southern half of Albania in search of prehistory. His notebooks record the discovery of exciting evidence of prehistoric occupation. During research into the Italian Archaeological Mission to Albania, a collection of documents came to light within the archives of the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology in Rome. The documents, which included various illustrated field notebooks, specialist reports, correspondence and photographs, were the work of one of the founders of the institute, Italian prehistorian Luigi Cardini (1898-1971). Cardini was seconded to Albania with the Italian mission from 1930 to 1939, the aim of the mission was to reinforce Italian supremacy in Albania through archaeological research. Cardini spent much of the 1930s exploring the southern half of Albania in search of prehistory. His notebooks record the discovery of exciting evidence of prehistoric occupation.
Synopsis
In 1999 a collection of documents were found in the archives of the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology belonging to Luigi Cardini, one of the founders of the Institute. These documents included site notebooks, photographs, drawings and maps relating to work carried out in Albania from 1930-39 where he was sent on a governmental mission to reinforce Italian supremacy in Albania through archaeological research'. This monograph publishes extracts from these notebooks within a historical, political and archaeological context. The work he carried out is synthesised and a report is included on survey work carried out in 2000 and 2001 to attempt to relocate many of Cardini's cave sites described in his notebooks.