Anthropology/Geosciences Seminar

Nicholas J. Conard, Director of the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tubingen

"The Evolution of Art and Music"

Thursday October 11, 2018

4:00PM

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium


This lecture draws on recent archaeological
excavations in South Africa, East Africa, the Near
East and Europe to examine the evolution of
figurative representation and musical traditions.
While modern human anatomy evolved in Africa,
the earliest evidence for figurative art, musical
instruments and other symbolic artifacts appears
about 40,000 years ago in western Eurasia. This talk
will present new archaeological data to help
explain these observations, and will focus on
continuing excavations in the Swabian Jura of
southwestern Germany and the early examples of
figurative art and musical instruments discovered at
these UNESCO World Heritage sites.

This lecture draws on recent archaeological excavations in South Africa, East Africa, the Near East and Europe to examine the evolution of figurative representation and musical traditions.

While modern human anatomy evolved in Africa, the earliest evidence for figurative art, musical instruments and other symbolic artifacts appears about 40,000 years ago in western Eurasia. This talk will present new archaeological data to help explain these observations, and will focus on continuing excavations in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany and the early examples of figurative art and musical instruments discovered at these UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Dr. Cristine H. Legare
Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
for the UConn Cognitive Science Colloquium Series