Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Beebe Bahrami is an award-winning writer and anthropologist who specializes in the intersecting worlds of European, Atlantic, and Mediterranean cultures from prehistory to the present. She earned her BA from the University of Colorado and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where she trained in the four-field anthropological tradition of cultural, biological, archaeological, and linguistic anthropology.

Beebe continues to research and write about the past and present of the lands and peoples of southwestern France and northern Spain. Her work covers a wide range of topics, from prehistoric sites, landscapes, and caves, to those of the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages, through antiquity and into the medieval and the modern era. Working with international teams, she has excavated and written about the Neanderthal sites of La Ferrassie, Pech de l’Azé, and Roc de Marsal. She also is an expert on the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain and has walked some 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) and counting, on these ancient routes, studying both the ancient pre-Christian landscapes, as well as the traditions, history, and lore that arose with the medieval pilgrimage.

Beebe has authored numerous books, including Café Oc: A Nomad's Tales of Magic, Mystery, and Finding Home in the Dordogne of Southwestern France; Café Neandertal: Excavating Our Past in One of Europe's Most Ancient Places; andThe Way of the Wild Goose: Three Pilgrimages Following Geese, Stars, and Hunches on the Camino de Santiago; as well as comprehensive travel guides such as Moon’s Camino de Santiago—Sacred Sites, Historic Villages, and Local Food & Wine.

Photo credit: Dennis Sandgathe