Rock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe : Signing the Land

Along the Atlantic seaboard, from Scotland to Spain are numerous rock carvings made 4-5000 years ago, whose interpretation poses a major challenge to the archaeologist.

This full-length treatment of the subject is based largely on recent fieldwork and asserts that these carvings should be interpreted as a series of symbolic messages that are shared between monuments, artefects and natural places in the landscape.

The author discusses the cultural setting of the rock carvings and the ways in which they can be interpreted in relation to ancient land use, the creation of ritual monuments and the burial of the dead.