OSHER 532 - Back to the Caves

Before modern central heating and air conditioning, a cave was the most comfortable place to live on the face of the earth. This course will explore Paleolithic caves known for their fantastic art with an eye to learning who their inhabitants were. Were they homo sapiens of the Cro-Magnon persuasion or their near relatives, Neanderthals? We will look at how they lived as we consider details of the spectrum of cave art world-wide, including Russia, South Africa, Utah, and Western Europe.