Rock Star Rock Art

Tonight we went to a lecture at PSU called The Shamans of Prehistory: New Perspectives on World Rock Art. This was my idea because I have this fascination with petroglyphs. I did not expect this to be a popular event so you can imagine my surprise when we arrived and the ballroom was packed to the gills mainly with retired age couples in L.L. Bean-wear who were very passionate about the subject matter. The lights were on in back when they started the slide presentation and I thought we were going to have a riot. The ballroom was completely full so we ended up in the adjacent room — the equivalent of the nosebleed seats, except no elevation. Jean Clottes, from France and David Whitley from the US. They talked about rock art at sites in France, South Africa and California and in particular about the role of the shaman in creating some of this art. It was a lot more interesting than I’m making it sound.