Description
This course examines prehistoric forms of ritual and art, their interpretation, and their evolutionary and behavioral significance within an archaeological framework. Students are introduced to prehistoric ritual and art throughout the Old and New World-their form, content, and chronological evolution. This course reviews and assesses competing interpretive frameworks, with emphasis on understanding the social and ideological context within which prehistoric ritual and art were produced and comprehended.

Instructor
Dr. Maureen A. Hays
     Office - 88 Wentworth Room 105
     Phone - 953-6597 E-mail- haysm@cofc.edu
     Office Hours - 11:00-12:00 MWF 2:30-3:30 MW and by appointment

Course Meeting
     Monday & Wednesday 1-2:15 ECTR 107

Course Texts
Linked readings from webpage - Print on campus for ease of access. If you insist on printing at home, be warned if you only have a dial up connection this will take forever.  If you are off campus, you cannot access the readings by simply clicking on the link.  You will have to log in using the library’s off campus access to databases (This is found on the library page under databases).  Use your SS# and the password cougars.   You will then have to use JSTOR or Infotrac to  look up he article using your syllabus.  Just print on campus and save yourself some trouble.
I = Infotrac
J = JASTOR
W = Web
R = Library Reserve

Grading
  Midterm - October 22  20%
     Final - December 15 12:00 25%
     Class Participation  5%
     Class Preparation  20%
     Oral Presentation  30%
          Topic   1%
          Bibliography  4%
          Annotated Bibliography 8%
          Class Article Assignment 1%
          Outline   10%
          Presentation  5%
  Research Paper    8%

Midterm (October 22) and Final (December 15 12:00)
The midterm and final are designed to evaluate your critical thinking skills.  They will be in essay format, and will test your ability to synthesize the material from the journal articles, discussion, and lecture.  The final in cumulative.

Class Participation    Due: Daily
Students will be called on daily to actively participate in class discussions and group activities.

Class Preparation   Due: Daily
Every class students will prepare an annotation of the assigned readings (see format).  These must be typed.  This assignment will facilitate discussions and provide the instructors with a means of evaluating student comprehension of the assigned journal articles.

Oral Presentation   Due: TBA
Students will be responsible for presenting, with 4-6 other students, their topic during class. If you miss your oral presentation, you will forfeit 5% of your grade.  There will be no make-ups.

Oral Presentation Schedule  Due: Multiple Dates
   Topic Due: Monday September 8
Choose a geographic area that interests you (other than Europe in the Paleolithic) and formulate a topic.  I will collect these topics and form groups based on  your interests.  Choose your topic early, I will not allow repeated topics.  If you prefer, you might want to choose people to work with and formulate your topics together.  Don't be disappointed if I alter you topic somewhat, several people have to work together for a cohesive presentation. The individual topics should be narrowly focused.
Topics such as “I want to do a paper on the art of Australia” are not acceptable. Focus!

   Bibliography Due: Monday September 22
Prepare a working bibliography of at least 10 primary references.  These references will be specific to your part in the presentation.

   Annotated Bibliography  Due: Wednesday October 15
Prepare a 1 page annotation for each of  4 references (your choice). See format for Annotation.

   Class Article Assignment Due: Wednesday October 15
Choose an article that best represents the material for your joint presentation.  Provide me with a copy and full citation. This will be assigned to the class and used in discussion.

   Outline Due: Monday November 3
Prepare a detailed outline for your paper.  It must have at least 3 levels

   Presentation   Due: TBA
You will present orally, along with your classmates, the results of your findings.  I suggest that you divide the labor into topic areas.  Each presentation should be a total of 75 minutes allowing 5 minutes for student questions.
Room 107 is equipped with the latest in media technology.  You should familiarize yourself with the technology (power point, slide projector, overhead, blackboard) and utilize this technology to enrich your presentation.

  Research Paper    Due: Monday December 8 in Class
(8 pages, typed, double spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font, with 10 primary cited references) on your oral presentation topic.
References should be in American Antiquity style (take a look at the journal).  Papers will not be accepted late!!!

Make-Up Policy
If you miss an exam you must see me within one week after the exam to schedule a make-up.  There are no make-ups for oral projects.

Attendance Policy
Attendance will be taken every day.  More than 3 absences will result in lowering of the final grade by one letter grade. If you miss an oral presentation by one of your classmates, your final grade will be lowered by 2%.

Grade Scale
A 100-92            C+ 81-77          F 66-0
B+ 91-87            C 76-72
B 86-82              D 71-67

Week 1 August
W : Introduction
Assignment Due Mon Sept 1 (please type): Prepare 3 statements for each of the following questions:
What is art?
What is ritual?

Week 2 August
M:  What is Art? What is Ritual?
Reading:
Gould,  Stephen Jay 1996 Up against a wall. (paleolithic cave art). Natural History 105:16-24.

W: Cave Beneath the Sea

Week 3: September
M: History of Discovery

W: Dating Techniques
Reading:
Christian Züchner 2001 DATING ROCK ART BY ARCHAEOLOGICAL REASONING - AN ANTIQUATED METHOD?
 Extended version of a communication presented during the 42. Congress of the Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft at Tübingen, April
2000. (c.f.: Züchner 2001)

Clottes, Jean 1996 Thematic changes in Upper Paleolithic art: a view from the Grotte Chauvet. Antiquity 70:276-289.

Week 4: September
M: Taphonomy
Reading:
Bednarik, Robert G. 1994  A Taphonomy of Palaeoart.  Antiquity 68:68-75.

Clotte, Jean  1993  Paint Analysis from Several Magdalenian Caves in the Ariege  Region of France. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:223-235.

W:  Archaeological Background: The Acheulean

Week 5: September
M: Earliest Evidence of Art in the Acheulean
Reading:
Marshack,  Alexander 1997 The Berekhat Ram figurine: a late Acheulian carving from the Middle East. Antiquity 71:327-338.

Pelcin,  Andrew 1994 A geological explanation for the Berekhat Ram figurine. Current Anthropology 35:674-676.

W: Archaeological Background: The Mousterian

Week 6: September
M:  Earliest Evidence of Ritual: Cannibalism
Reading:
Alban Defleur,  Tim White, Patricia Valensi,  Ludovic Slimak,  Évelyne Crégut-Bonnoure, Neanderthal Cannibalism at Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, Science 286:128-131.

W:  Earliest Evidence of Ritual : Burial
Reading:
Gargett, R 1989 Grave Shortcomings. Current Anthropology 30: 157-190.

Week 7: October
M: Archaeological Background: The Early Upper Paleolithic

W: Ornamentation
Reading:
White, Randall 1995 Ivory Personal Ornaments of Aurignacian Age: Technological, Social, and Symbolic Perspectives.   In Le Travail et l'Usage de l'Ivoire au Paleolithique de Superieur edited by  J. Hahn et al. Ravello: Centro Universitario Europeo Per I Beni Culturali.

Week 8: October
M: Venus Figurines
Reading:
McDermott, LeRoy 1996  Self-representation in upper paleolithic female figurines. Current Anthropology 37:227-276.

W: Calendars
Reading:
Marshack, A Cognitive aspects of Upper paleolithic Engraving.  Current Anthropology 13:445-477.
D'Errico, F1989 Paleolithic Calendars: A case of wishful thinking.  Current Anthropology 30:117-118.

Early Performance Art and Fashion
Vandiver, P., O. Soffer, B. Klima, and J. Svoboda 1989 The Origins of Ceramic Technology at Dolni Vestonice, Czechoslovakia. Science 246:1002-1009.

Week 9: October
M: FALL BREAK  NO CLASS
W: Midterm Exam

Week 10: October
M: Archaeological Background: The Late Upper paleolithic
W: Portable Art: Functional & Miscellaneous Items

Week 11: October
M: Aggregation Sites Ritual Boundaries
Conkey, M 1980 Boundedness in Art and Society. In Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, edited by I. Hodder pp. 115-141.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hand out
The Identification of Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Aggregation Sites: The Case of Altamira Margaret W. Conkey
Current Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 5. (Oct., 1980), pp. 609-630.

W 31: Art for Art's Sake
Reading:
Halverson, J Art for Art's Sake in the Paleolithic.  Current Anthropology 28:63-85.

Week 12: November
M:  Literal Interpretations: Humans and Animals
Reading:
Mithen, S. To Hunt or to Paint: Animals and Art in the Upper Paleolithic.  Man 23:671-695.

W: Art as Information Exchange
Reading:
Barton, C. Michael, G.A. Clark, Allison E. Cohen. 1994 Art as information: explaining Upper Paleolithic art in western Europe. (Communication and Language)  World Archaeology 26:185-208.

Week 13: November
M: Entopic Phenomena
Reading:
Lewis-Williams, J.D., T.A. Dowson 1988 The signs of all times: entoptic phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic art. Current Anthropology  29:201(17) Comments. (remarks on Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic Art) Paul G. Bahn, H.G. Bandi, Robert G. Bednarik, John Clegg, Mario Consens, Whitney David, Brigitte Delluc, Gilles Delluc, John Halverson, Robert Layton, Colin Martindale, Vil Mirimanov, Christy G. Turner II, Joan M. Vastokas, Michael Winkelman, Alison Wylie. Current Anthropology 29:217-233.

Wed 19 - Near/Middle East
Cultural Associations and Mechanisms of Change in Anthropomorphic Figurines during the Neolithic in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, pp. 73-86 Brad Bartel

Week 14: November 24
Monday 24 - Africa
Magic, diversity and the ethnographic contexts of San rock paintings in southern Africa by Dr Anne Solomon (IRAC conference 1999)
 
 
 
 

THANKSGIVING  NO CLASS  WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26

Week 15: December 1-3
Monday 1 - British Isles
Smithsonian, July 2002 v33 i4 p86 Romancing the stones: who built the great megaliths and stone circles of Great Britain, and why? Researchers continue to puzzle--and marvel--over these age-old questions. David Roberts.

Wednesday 3 -
SE US Myths and Monsters  Hand Out
SW US  The Anasazi The People of the Mountains, Mesas and Grasslands

Week 16: December 8
Monday 8 - Body Art