There are differents aims depending on differents curricula: - CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY The curriculum in Classical Archaeology was established and organized in order to form and train to scientific research a number of graduates in the disciplines of archaeological areas and similar field. The courses are organized so that we can focus the student's work on the methodology of theoretical and practical research, in particular the aims and methods of carrying out the research, the critical examination of the studied materials and achieved initial results. The launch and operation of a conscious critique of their production is considered an essential exercise of the courses, achieved by critical and organizational comparison with what has been published about the research of graduate students. - ARCHAEOLOGY AND POST-CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES The archaeology and post classic antiquities curriculum, structured in seminaries, let to create researchers for specific subjects of the period between III-XI A.D in the disciplinary field of Christian and medieval archaeology (L-Ant/08). Scientific and formative aim is to get ready students on archaeology subjects about late antiquity and high middle age with particular attention to Christian antiquities and institutions, urban and territorial transformations and their dynamitic, productive activities both in artistic field and craftsmanship. - ORIENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY Achievement of a deep specialistic knowledge in the field of ancient Near-Eastern civilizations, from the origins of the urban civilization (c. 3500 BC) to the end of the Roman Empire, including the regions of Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Iran, Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakinstan, the Indus Valley, and the Mediterranean basin (for the Phoenician expansion to the West). The specific branches of study of this curriculum is threefold, corresponding to the three subjects of “Archaeology and History of Art of the Ancient Near East” and “Phoenician and Punic Archaeology”. Methodology takes primarily into consideration the artistic expression and material culture in a historical-archaeological perspective; it also foresees the direct participation into “La Sapienza” excavations in the following key-sites: Syria (Ebla), Palestine (Jericho), Jordan (Kh. Al-Batrawy), Malta (Tas Silg); Sicily (Motya). Each PhD student ha sto carry on an original study on aspect of ancient near-eastern cultures in these areas and periods, which will be pursued with the help of a tutor and the aim of the final publication of the dissertation. - PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY The course aims at preparing young scholars for the prehistoric and protohistoric research by the elaboration of an original guided study. General theme is the analysis of the processes towards urban life. In this perspective, the students will take into consideration the following aspects and their transformations in a specific context: 1) the features of the environment and the subsistence activities; 2) the settlement patterns; 3) the exploitation of raw materials; 4) the craft activities and the exchange system; 5) the social and political relations inside a community and between several communities. - ETRUSCOLOGY This curriculum is aimed at the scientific progress in the study field of Etruscology, in the widest meaning of discipline focosing on the indigenous people of Pre-Roman Italy in the chronological range from the 10th to the 2nd-1st centuries BC. This field of study also wishes to strengthen investigation of Italian antiquities, according to the scholarly perspective started with the institution in 1925 of the subject Etruscology and Italic Archaeology as a distinguished teaching at Rome “La Sapienza” University, a discipline took over by Massimo Pallottino in 1945 and, from 1980, by Giovanni Colonna.The PhD curriculum of Etruscology was started by M. Pallottino in 1983 (at that time being Prof. Emeritus), and it is up to now the only one in Italy (and abroad), specifically devoted to such field of studies, raising the general appreciation of the scientific community involved on antiquities PhD students admitted to classes come not only from “La Sapienza” itself, but also from several other Italian universities (Bologna, Florence, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, Salerno, Siena e Urbino), thus showing the “national” role achieved. The basic goal of this curriculum is to teach young scholars interested in Etruscan and Italic studies, both in methodology and research practice, in order to lead them to produce results so scientifically valid to be suitable to be published as a first step in their scholarly career, both in the University or in other research institutions. - ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY The institution of a specific curriculum within the Doctoral School of Archaeology wants to characterize a specialised research area where young scholars experiment all the instruments essential to the comprehension of ancient society related to modern. Basic training requires comparing historical and documentary sources to archaeological data through a complete critical check. This involves objective analysis of results of archaeological and geological survey, excavations, monuments examination. From both points of view, methodological and thematic, topography starts from single structure analysis ending with its placing in rural/urban context relating to actually present scientific problems (planning, restoration, opening archaeological areas and tracing didactic itineraries, etc.). In order to obtain this result, topography uses methods of detailed drawing, 3D modelling and rendering, advanced technology (total station, GPS, computerized mapping, GIS), all essential means to get to a full autonomous work.