You have heard of and perhaps visited Stonehenge, but do you know that many other prehistoric ceremonial monuments are found in Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe, as well as throughout the world? Join us in a journey to some of the extraordinary structures and ritual landscapes that our ancestors created 6,000 to 2,800 years ago in western Europe.
Over the past decade, we have journeyed to megalithic sites across Europe. We’ve tramped through gorse and muddy fields in search of ancient stones, been transported in vans and small boats to well-known sites, taken a multitude of photographs, lingered as long as we could among the stones, and pondered the interpretations of skilled and thoughtful archaeologists.
“It is part of the human condition that we feel the need to visualize the past,” wrote archaeologist Barry Cunliffe. This is as true for us now as it was for the people who built these megalithic structures so long ago in our shared journey on earth. Both for those who study the stones professionally and for those of us who are fascinated amateurs, the surviving megaliths provide more questions than answers. What resonance do millennia old megaliths and their environments have for us today? Come join us and discover the questions these magnificent creations may have for you.
Instructor Lucie Bauer is a retired art historian, whose professional expertise is in periods several millennia later than prehistory. She has taught in a wide variety of settings from the Ivy League to the Maine State Prison. Lucie was educated at Vassar and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. A former member of the CSC board and curriculum committee, she has taught many senior college courses. She welcomes the opportunity to offer a course with her wife Annie Kiermaier.
Instructor Annie Kiermaier has recently retired as an international trainer for the Therapy Institute in Chicago. Annie’s work has taken her and Lucie around the world. In between trainings in Europe they have visited many prehistoric sites in Britain, Ireland, and the continent. Annie has a B.A. from Earlham College, an associate degree in nursing from the University of Maine at Augusta, and a MSW from the University of Maine at Orono. She is an avid hiker and backpacker.