Back to the Caves OSHER 532-001 Dates: Thursdays, 9/25/2014 – 11/06/2014, no class 10/16 Times: 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM Location: Commander’s House, Fort Douglas Instructor: Corethia Qualls, PhD [email protected] Course Overview – A survey of Upper Paleolithic cave art and life, to include not only the usual French and Spanish examples, but lesser known caves in Europe and the rest of the world, cave and rock art of all kinds in all places, Utah included. Who made the paintings in Europe will be considered as the groundwork for exploring how and why the paintings, etchings, and reliefs were made. Parallels and contrasts from the portable art will be looked at, as well as the way of life of the artists. Text or Materials if applicable: There is no required textbook for the course, but students may read, or not read, from the following as they wish: Juan Luis Arsuaga The Neanderthal’s Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers Transl. Andy Klatt New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002 Paul G. Bahn The Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 Paul G. Bahn Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe London: Francis Lincoln Ltd., 2007 (Rev. ed.) Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, and Christian Hilaire Epilogue by Jean Clottes Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave, The Oldest Known Paintings in the World NY: Harry N, Abrams, Inc: 1996 Jean Clottes Cave Art NY & London: Phaidon Press Inc., 2008 (2013 repr.) Jean Clottes World Rock Art Transl. Guy Bennet LA: Getty Conservation Institute Jean Clottes and Jean Courtin The Cave beneath the Sea: Paleolithic Images at Cosquer Transl. Marilyn Garner NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc..1996 Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves NY: Henry N. Abrams, Inc.: 1998 Gregory Curtis The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s First Artists NY: Anchor Books, 2007 Especially recommended: Werner Herzog “Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Humanity’s Lost Masterpieces” MMX Creative Differences Productions, Inc., 2011 Alexander Marshack “Ancient Ice Age Ancestor?” National Geographic 174/4 (Oct. 1988): 478-481 Steven Mithen The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body London: Phoenix Paperback, 2006 Rudolf Otto The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational Oxford University Press, 1923 Available free online Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their History NY: Thames & Hudson, 2013 John E. Pfeiffer The Creative Explosion: An Inquiry into the Origins of Art and Religion NY: Harper & Row, 1982 Pedro A. Saura Ramos, photography The Cave of Altamira NY:Harry N. Abrams. Inc, 1989 Ann Sieveking The Cave Artists London: Thames and Hudson, 1979 Songsofthecaves.wordpress.com Ian Tattersall Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 Chip Walter Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived NY: Walker Books/Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc., 2013 Randall White Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., ND Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge How to Think Like a Neanderthal Oxford: Osford University Press, 2012 Online resources – by no means a complete list www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en - www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en - www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/archeosm/fr/fr-medit-prehist.htm - www.quercy.net/pechmerle/english/visite.html - www.humanities-interactive/org/ancient/iceage/index.html - www.stonepages.com Google the Internet as you like, but stay away from Wikipedia and Wiki-anything as references; pictures and captions are far more reliable. Learning Outcomes • learn the basics of the very first artistic paintings and carvings in the history of the human race • investigate how and why this art was created • appreciate the creativity of the human race as it became fully ` human Course Schedule Week 1: Just What Are We Looking at and Talking About? The discovery of the European caves, establishment of their authenticity, first experts in Paleolithic art and their views of date, composition, and their interpretations of the paintings. Week 2: Early Interpretations vs. Later Interpretations and One Uppity Woman Who believes any of the interpretations, early or late, and why or why not? Portable art is included in the weighing of opinions. Week 3: Who Dunnit? Was this art created by the Neanderthals or our own direct ancestors, variously known as Cro-Magnons or Anatomically Modern Humans? Or should we ask “Who was capable”? Week 4: What Do We Know about How the Paintings and Etchings were Done? What materials were used for which purposes? What supporting facilities were needed? Who in fact was doing the paintings and etchings? How do we know this? Week 5: What Else Did the Artists of the Upper Paleolithic produce? Where did they live, what did they work with, where do we find this “auxiliary art”? What does cooking have to do with it all? Why do we find rock art in Utah? Week 6: When All Is Said and Done, What Is Today’s Story? Why were they doing this art, what does it mean, and how do we know? .