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SUMMARY:Cultural Evolution: Interpreting the Art of the Old Stone Age and 
 the Origins of Human Nature\, 1870-1940. - Chris Manias (University of Man
 chester)\; Discussant - Peter Mandler (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20130509T123000Z
DTEND:20130509T143000Z
UID:TALK44941@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:William Carruthers
DESCRIPTION:The discovery of Palaeolithic art in western\, southern and ce
 ntral Europe in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries was one 
 of the most striking developments within the new and publicly prominent sc
 holarly field of human prehistory\, with implications which cut across the
  archaeological\, anthropological and cultural sciences\, and into wider p
 opular discourse. At La Madeleine\, Les Eyzies\, Altamira\, Dolní Věston
 ice\, and a host of other sites\, rock-paintings\, carved bones and antler
 s\, and statuettes were discovered depicting long-extinct animals\, abstra
 ct designs and a few rare human figures. More than anything else\, the art
  of the Upper Palaeolithic seemed to offer an insight into the mysterious 
 world of the Ice Age\, and potentially the origins and earliest developmen
 t of human culture.\n\nYet within this interest\, individuals from a range
  of fields – including anthropologists\, archaeologists\, neurologists\,
  art historians\, literary figures\, and public intellectuals – were spl
 it and divided over what these objects showed.  Were these the first glimm
 erings of religious or ceremonial activity?  The products of a pristine an
 d natural form of human nature\, which modernity was in danger of effacing
 ?  The sudden fully-formed flowering of “Neanthropic Man”?  Manifestat
 ions of the simultaneously savage and child-like earliest condition of the
  human race?  Or simply crude modern fakes within a field persistently dog
 ged by frauds and forgeries?  Examining the answers given to these questio
 ns as Palaeolithic art sparked excitement and debate across Europe and Nor
 th America\, this paper will examine not only the public and scholarly con
 struction of European prehistory in the early-twentieth century\, but also
  wider international debates on the development of human nature and cultur
 e.
LOCATION:Seminar Room SG1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridg
 e CB3 9DT
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