Pictures on Stone: Rock Art in the Paleolithic and Ancient World

This course explores the fascinating past worlds depicted in rock art. We survey rock art traditions of pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock engravings) around the world from the earliest paleolithic traditions, including the cave art of Ice Age Europe, and the earliest rock art of Australia, Africa and Asia, to later traditions in places like the Sahara Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, the Amazon Basin, California and the American Southwest, and beyond. We will consider how rock art is studied by archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians; we will learn how interdisciplinary scientific perspectives are providing new insights into the dating and composition of ancient rock art; we will investigate how rock art relates to the larger archaeological record, and we ponder the meanings and functions of these enduring masterpieces of human expression.

Matthew (Matt) Curtis, PhD, is a lecturer in anthropology at CSUCI and College of the Canyons, and a broadly trained anthropological archaeologist specializing in the Holocene archaeology of Eastern Africa. Curtis has carried out archaeological research in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and the United States, and currently leads a regional archaeological survey project in northern Ethiopia for the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

Fifty and Better was designed to offer university-level courses (no tests, no homework) taught by experts in the field, and to host social engagement activities for individuals age 50 and older.

Cost is $35 for this six-week course.

Register

Register by Friday, Sept. 3, at 3 p.m.