date last updated: 25 April 2003
The Minds of Our Ancestors
Type of Course: Travel
Credits: 3 Graduate, Undergraduate,
or CEU
Course Number: INTS-675-O
Faculty: Kevin Sharpe, Ph.D., and
Leslie Van Gelder, Ph.D. (click each for a bio)
Location: The Dordogne, France
Registration Dates:
Registration deadline TBD
Course
Dates:
May 2004 (actually dates TBD)
Costs: (for 2003 course) Graduate or Undergraduate Credit
tuition $2340.00, CEU tuition $2240.00,
Family members and friends tuition $2000.00.
Participants are also responsible for their travel to
Bordeaux, reading materials, site guide tips, lunches and dinners.
Prerequisites: Undergraduate degree for pursuing Graduate
Credits
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(They must complete and submit a Registration Form.)
Course Description:
What can we learn about our prehistoric ancestors from what they left behind? What do we know about their culture, their thoughts, their worldview from the evidence we have? What are the pitfalls of attempting to interpret prehistoric art and culture? In this one-week trip in the Perigord Region of France, learners will be in the heart of Prehistoric Cave country. By exploring a variety of caves and interpretive museums, they will have the opportunity to formulate questions that might help us understand the minds of our ancestors. Dr. Sharpe has spent over 30 years engaged in exploring the prehistoric caves of the world and is a specialist in prehistoric finger flutings. He will share his ideas and questions, as well as the results of the current research, which he and Dr. Van Gelder conduct at the Grotte de Rouffignac.
The Perigord Region is one of most picturesque regions of France, with high limestone cliffs and valleys, winding rivers, and hills covered with the black oak from which the Perigord gains its name. The Perigord Region is also famous for its goose liver pate, fine cuisine and proximity to the vineyards of Bordeaux. May is warm and comfortable. The pace of life is slow, meant to be savored – giving course participants ample time to appreciate the food, people, and places that are home to some of the most unique remnants of prehistoric thought in all of the world.
Our Study Tour will be based in Perigeux and each day will be a combination of lecture/discussion, a group visit to a site(s) of significance, and free time to reflect and experience some of the local culture.
Course Objectives and Outcomes:
Through the format of an experiential travel course, learners will be exposed to the history of prehistoric art interpretation, live research sites, and study the question of what can contemporary culture learn from the study of the minds of our ancestors. This Study Tour will be based in Periguex.
The format for each day will be in four parts:
· Lecture/Discussion on a topic (listed below)
· Visit to one or more sites of interest
· Reflective time for learners to work in small groups and become situated in the local culture
· Daily large group discussion/reflection based on experience and growing knowledge base from lectures and readings
Assessment:
To receive Graduate or Undergraduate Credit for the course, a learner must complete all pre-course readings, submit a preliminary paper and a follow-up project, and participate in all group discussions and visits to sites. There are no letter grades for this course, only satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The relative weights that the elements of the course contribute to the final assessment are as follows: Preliminary paper 10%, Group discussions and visits 50%, Final project 40%.
To receive Continuing Education Units for the course, a learner must complete all pre-course readings and participate in all group discussions and visits to sites. They should not submit papers or projects to the instructors. There are no CEU letter grades for this course, only satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The relative weights that the elements of the course contribute to the final assessment are as follows: Group discussions and visits 100%.
Credit learners may request narrative evaluations for transcripts or learning plans/agreements.
Syllabus/Itinerary (subject to change):
Day 1: Arrival and evening gathering in Bordeaux.
Topic: ‘The Politics of Interpretation’
Day 2: Drive from Bordeaux to Perigeux. Visit Bara Bahau.
Topic: ‘The Power of Questions: How Questions Shape Research and Interpretation in Paleolithic Cave Art’
Day 3: Visit to Lascaux II and Le Thot Museum.
Topic: ‘The God Spot: The Role of Neurobiology in Understanding the Human Mind, Past and Present’
Day 4: Visit to Les Eyzies de Tayac with trips to Fond du Gaume and Les Combarelles. Opportunities to visit the National Museum of Prehistory and the Abri Pataud.
Topic: ‘Finger Flutings in Paleolithic Caves: An Overview’
Day 5: Visit the Grotte de Rouffignac where Drs Sharpe and Van Gelder conduct their research. Visit to Medieval Troglodyte Village.
Topic 1: ‘Archaeological Research Methods in Rouffignac’
Topic 2: ‘Storied Landscapes: Histories of the Dordogne’
Day 6: Visit to Peche Merle and Museum.
Topic: ‘A Sense of Place: The Lived Environment and Lives of the People of the Pleistocene’
Day 7: Return to Bordeaux. Visit to Aquitaine Museum. Trip conclusion.
Topic: ‘The Minds of Our Ancestors’
Logistics:
(for 2003 course) The course will leave Bordeaux, France, early on 18 May 2003 and conclude late on the 24th. Course participants will stay at an inn in the local town of Periguex and transportation will be provided to and from the sites visited. Tuitions include travel during the course, breakfasts, hotels, and admission fees. In addition, participants pay for travel to and from Bordeaux, tips for site guides, plus lunches and dinners. All course reservations and tuition payments must be made by 18 March. The sites to be visited are public, not restricted, but few if none will be accessible for wheelchairs. A release form will be sent to participants to be signed and returned before the course.
Requirements:
Prior to the Course:
Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners, and CEU learners, will complete the required readings in advance of the course. Each Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learner should also submit a five to ten page paper by email to the instructors focusing on their sense of the nature of creativity both personally and within the context of the readings.
During the Course:
Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners, and CEU learners, are expected to participate in all group discussions and visits to sites throughout the course.
Following the Course:
Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners are to complete a five to ten page follow-up paper/creative piece that incorporates their new learning and experiences into a thesis they develop during their time in France and that relates to their own thinking about their research and lives. These projects are to be submitted to the conveners within ten days of the conclusion of the course.
Credit will only be given for learners who successfully complete all aspects of the course.
Required Texts:
A collection of scholarly papers available online from www.xanedu.com.
Lewis-Williams, David. The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origin of Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
Supplemental Resources:
Bahn, Paul. Journey through the Ice Age. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Breuil, Henri. Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art. Montignac: Centre d’Etudes et Documentations Préhistoriques. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1979.
Leroi-Gourhan, André. The Art of Prehistoric Man in Western Europe. London: Thames and Hudson, 1968.
Marshack, Alexander. The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Beginnings to Man’s First Art, Symbol and Notation. 1st ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1972. 2nd ed. Mount Kisco, NY: Moyer Bell, 1991.
A travel guide to the Dordogne, such as the Michelin Tourist Guide.
Equipment and Facilities:
This course will take place on-site in the Dordogne Region of France. Meeting facilities will be provided by the hotel. Learners are not expected to have any special equipment, but should be capable of walking as the caves do not have access for wheelchairs.