118 Geoscience Education V: Innovations in Geoscience Education

Monday, 10 October 2011
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 208CD

ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEOLOGY OF ROCK ART AND STONE ARTIFACTS: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY INTRODUCTORY-LEVEL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE COURSE

Paper number: 118-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 3:00 PM – 3:15 PM

Authors

Abstract

Among students at liberal arts colleges in the US there has traditionally been a strong interest in archaeology. These students, however, do not commonly recognize the interdisciplinary connections between archaeology and geosciences. To explore these connections, I designed an introductory course at Smith College that is cross-listed between Geosciences and Archaeology (GEO/ARC) and has the following description: “What makes a mineral or a rock particularly useful as a stone tool or attractive as a sculpture? Students in this course explore this and other questions by applying geological approaches and techniques in studying various examples of rock art and stone artifacts to learn more about human behavior, ecology and cultures in the past. This exploration across traditional boundaries between archaeology and earth sciences includes background topics of mineral and rock formation, weathering processes, and age determination, as well as investigations of petroglyphs (carvings into stone surfaces), stone artifacts and other artifactual rocks (building stone and sculptures) described in the literature, displayed in museum collections, and found in the field locally.”

The initial offering of this course (Spring 2009) attracted a large and diverse group of 33 students who used the textbooks The Sourcebook of Decorative Stone by M.T. Price, and World Rock Art by J. Clottes, and completed nine required assignments. Several assignments included exploration of objects made of stone from the Smith College Art Museum. Students also examined examples of stone use on campus, downtown and at a local cemetery. The course included trips to local basalt outcrops and a science museum to view an exhibit about the use of basalt by Native Americans in the region for carving soapstone bowls. Future plans include diversifying course topics through guest lectures by archaeology, art and chemistry colleagues. Assignment formats could also vary and include poster presentations, planning field trip stops, preparing grant–in–aid of research applications, or developing interactive web resources, in addition to short written reports and PowerPoint presentations. The course will be offered again in 2012, and I welcome the opportunity to share the idea for this course and seek feedback from the broad geosciences education community.