Sojournus Antiquitus

Sojournus Antiquitus: Paleolithic Journeys through Time, Mind, and Space was a unique live-performance multimedia program produced at Schoolcraft College, Livonia, Michigan on May 17, 18 & 19, 1996. It was the sister project to The Impact of Fossils. Photos by Shekinah Errington (Left photo: left side of stage in front of scrim: two electronic keyboards, African percussion, and cello, with computers and video monitor. Behind the scrim: 8 actors and dancers for "Shamanic Dance." Right photo: right side of stage in front of scrim: 6-voice choir [SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass)], classical and steel-string guitars, and mandolin (and video monitor). Behind scrim: scrim template of famous Lascaux bull cave painting in France for the "Dawn of Purity" sequence). Program cover: Schoolcraft College Computer Graphics Technology Department.

Some facts about the original
1996 production of Sojournus Antiquitus

3 years in the making
Made possible by a grant from Schoolcraft College, Livonia, Michigan
Involved over 50 faculty, staff, and students from most of the larger universities and colleges in Southeast Michigan and neighboring Canada (institutions represented included Schoolcraft College; University of Michigan; Cranbrook Institute of Science; University of Windsor, Canada; Central Michigan University; Eastern Michigan University; Wayne State University; and Greenhills School of Ann Arbor)
Involved many local musicians, dancers, artists, and technicians
Involved the Michigan Flintknappers and flintknappers from Cranbrook Institute of Science (as well as primitive artifacts on loan from Cranbrook for the Sojournus Antiquitus Pre-Show Gallery).
Largest theatrical live-performance multimedia program ever produced at the College
The College devoted an entire semester of its Computer Graphics Technology classes to the project
Also involved Music, Media, and Computer Information Technology Departments
All three performances were sold out in the intimate 170-seat theater May 17, 18, & 19, 1996.
Sojournus Antiquitus was in the runnings for a larger production at the 1997 Ann Arbor Summer Festival but lost out to a safer-bet return performance by Ray Charles.

- This page has only just been started. There is much more to come -

Feliks, J. 1996. Sojournus Antiquitus: Paleolithic Journeys through Time, Mind, and Space. (Live-performance multimedia program touching on the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic with a focus on the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic Transition in Europe, e.g., Neanderthal people and early modern Homo sapiens). Schoolcraft College, Livonia, MI. May 17, 18, & 19, 1996.

Feliks, J. 1998. The Making of Sojournus Antiquitus: A Multidisciplinary Union of Anthropology and the Arts. Presented by Professor Judith Calleja (Central Michigan University) at the Central States Anthropological Society 75th Anniversary Meeting (American Anthropological Association), April 2-5, 1998. Kansas City, Missouri.

PUBLICATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

tn_s-antiquitus.feliks1996man&fernsdrawingjoelwilson.jpg

The "natural representations theory" as it appeared front-projected in the "North Star" sequence of Sojournus Antiquitus and as Figure 1 in The Impact of Fossils ("North Star" sequence colored pencil on illustration board drawings by Joel N. Wilson. Impact of Fossils version by John Feliks with assistance from Shekinah Errington and Gerry Hermann).

Feliks, J. 1998. The impact of fossils on the development of visual representation. Rock Art Research 15: 109-34.

Feliks, J. 2006. Musings on the Palaeolithic fan motif. In P. Chenna Reddy (ed.), Exploring the mind of ancient man: Festschrift to Robert G. Bednarik, 249-66. Research India Press, New Delhi.

Feliks, J. 2008. Phi in the Acheulian: Lower Palaeolithic intuition and the natural origins of analogy. In Bednarik, R. G. and D. Hodgson (eds), Pleistocene palaeoart of the world, pp. 11-31. Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006), BAR International Series 1804, Oxford.*

Feliks, J. 2009. A Lot of Gold in the Mix: Review of Fragment from a Nonfiction Reader. Pre-publication review of the debut science thriller by Warren Fahy (see quotation on the author's review page under FRAGMENT: Reviews).

Feliks, J. 2009. The idea of protolanguage considered in the context of archaeological evidence. Comment on "From protolanguage to true language," by Blair Bolles. Babel's Dawn [Internet]. Available at: http://www.babelsdawn.com/babels_dawn/2009/04/from-protolanguage-to-true-language.html.

Feliks, J. 2009. The handaxe shape in microliths. Comment on "Is a hand ax really a hand ax," by Michael Balter. Origins: a history of beginnings [Internet]. Available at: http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/2009/02/is-a-handax-really-a-handax.html.

Feliks, J. 2010. Ardi: How to create a science myth. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 2 (Issue 1): 1-3.

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Feliks, J. 2010. Phi-based conceptual units: Pushing math origins back to the Acheulian age. [Internet]. Available on SCIENAR at: http:/www.scienar.eu/network/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=170:phi-based-conceptual-units-pushing-math-origins-back-to-the-acheulian-age&catid=4:general-contents&Itemid=62.

Feliks, J. 2010. The golden flute of Geissenklosterle: Preview of APLIMAT 2011 paper. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 2 (Issue 6): 10.

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Feliks, J. 2010 (in press). The graphics of Bilzingsleben: Sophistication and subtlety in the mind of Homo erectus. Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006), BAR International Series, Oxford.*

Feliks, J. 2011. The graphics of Bilzingsleben series: Scientific misconduct over ancient artifact studies and why you should care: Part 3: Base grids of a suppressed Homo erectus knowledge system. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 3 (Issue 6): 12-14.

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Feliks, J. 2012. The golden flute of Geissenklosterle: Mathematical evidence for a continuity of human intelligence as opposed to evolutionary change through time. Aplimat - Journal of Applied Mathematics 4 (4): 157-62.

Feliks, J. 2012. The graphics of Bilzingsleben series: Scientific misconduct over ancient artifact studies and why you should care: Part 4: 350,000 years before Bach. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 4 (Issue 1): 10-12.

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Feliks, J. 2012. The graphics of Bilzingsleben series: Scientific misconduct over ancient artifact studies and why you should care: Part 5: Gestalten. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 4 (Issue 2): 11-13.

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Feliks, J. 2012. 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda: A superb classic film for teaching critical thinking attitude and skills. Pleistocene Coalition News Vol. 4 (Issue 2): 17.

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Feliks, J. 2012. Five Constants from an Acheulian compound line. Aplimat - Journal of Applied Mathematics 5 (1): 69-74.

*(BAR is British Archaeological Reports.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND THE WEBSITE'S PREMISE

John Feliks is an interdisciplinary scholar and theorist researching early human cognition for the past 15 years. Along with the science, he offers an inside perspective based on an extensive background in the arts. Feliks's recent work involves language and mathematics capability in Homo erectus and other early peoples which he demonstrates empirically through openly-testable geometric analyses of engraved artifacts, artifact distributions, and stone tools. In all, the results of Feliks's research greatly contrast the long-accepted standard model of gradually-evolving intelligence in the genus Homo. They suggest instead that early peoples such as Homo erectus, ergaster, Neanderthals, and heidelbergensis were just as capable as anyone living in today's modern world.

ABOUT THE WEBSITES

This Sojournus Antiquitus-only page is new and in the process of tweaking, so please be patient as it goes through changes in wording or layout. I am hoping to get the main site up and running soon. The site will offer several hundred systematic geometric studies produced over a fifteen-year period which demonstrate that early peoples such as Homo erectus and Neanderthals had artistic and intellectual capabilities equal to our own. It will also offer original color slides from the two programs presented at the XVth UISPP Congress in Lisbon, September 7, 2006.

Sojournus Antiquitus

By John Feliks A la versión española (Spanish version)