Contents: Foreword/Robert G. Bednarik, Olivier Guillaume and Kapila Vatsyayan. Introduction/Michel Lorblanchet. I. Africa : 1. Rock art and cultural evolution in the prehistory of the Sahara/Fabrizio Mori. 2. The "chariot period" of the rock art chronology in the Sahara and the Maghreb: a critical reappraisal of the traditional views/Alfred Muzzolini. 3. Kenya rock art studies and the need for a discipline/Osaga Odak. 4. Cup-marks patterns as an interpretation strategy in some Southern Kenyan petroglyphs/Osaga Odak. 5. Rock painting sites near the southern perimeter road in Southeastern Lesotho/Lucas G. A. Smits. 6. Gonoa and the prehistory of Tibesti/Karl Heinz Striedter. 7. Rock art research on the Djado plateau (Niger): a preliminary report on Arkana/Karl Heinz Striedter. II. Asia : 8. Rock paintings of Pachmarhi hills/Meenakshi Dubey. 9. Archaic petroglyphs of Ladakh and Zanskar/Henri-Paul Francfort, Daniel Klodzinski & Georges Mascle. 10. Ostrich Eggshell objects and engraved pieces: new evidence for upper palaeolithic art and ornaments in India/Giriraj Kumar, Geeta Narvare & Ramesh Pancholi. 11. Preliminary report on ultrastructure of Struthio Eggshells from upper palaeolithic sites of India/Ashok Sahni. 12. Rock art studies in India/Yashodhar Mathpal. 13. Rock art in India/Erwin Neumayer. 14. Central Indian rock art/Shyam K. Pandey. 15. Significance of Chandravati engraved core in the light of prehistoric art in India/Vishwarao Sonawane. 16. Rock paintings of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh/Rakesh Tewari. 17. Decorative intricate patterns in Indian rock art/Gajendra S. Tyagi. 18. Rock painting in India/Vishnu S. Wakankar. 19. Rock art of Sri Lanka/Bilinda D. Nandadeva. 20. Rock art in Thailand/Margaret Bullen. 21. Discovery of rock art in China/Chen Zao Fu. 22. Praying figures in Zuojiang river valley/Chen Zao Fu. 23. The annotated rock art of Southern Jordan/William Jobling. III. Europe : 24. Open air rock art in the palaeolithic/Paul G. Bahn. 25. Crisis in traditional ideas about European rock art: the questions of diffusion and convergence/Antonio Beltran. 26. The bull: myth and representation/Margarita Bru. 27. Rock art of the white sea/Arsen Faradzhev. 28. The "Venus" of Laussel in the light of ethnomusicology/Dirk Huyge. 29. Finger markings in Pech Merle and their place in prehistoric art/Michel Lorblanchet. 30. Rock art in Soviet Eurasia/Miroslav Ksica. 31. Post-palaeolithic painting in Western Alps/Dario Seglie, Piero Ricchiardi, Mauro Cinquetti, Georges Nelh & Guiseppe Vicino. 32. Fontainebleau rock art: an overview/Christian Wagneur & Janine Wagneur.
"Rock Art in the Old World is an invaluable documentation of what is probably the first manifestation of the creative urge of man. It consists of selected papers from the World Congress of Rock Art held in Darwin in 1988. For the first time rock art of very broad geographical regions covering the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe have been dealt within one book. Little known traditions such as the panorama of Chinese art and that of the former Soviet Union have been studied. Samples of rock art identified only recently have been described.
"The papers presented in this volume are convincing proof of the importance of the study of rock art, both for archaeology as also ethnology and lifestyle studies. The vast spectrum shows that although there has been a history of research on rock art, as a young discipline it is exploring various avenues of growth. Several of the papers indicate the extensive research carried out in India.
"The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is a premier institution pursuing rock art research in a universal context. One important component of its programme is the establishment of the gallery of primeval sight called Adi Drsya, dedicated to everything that is understood by the word palaeo-art. This unique volume is the first in the IGNCA series of rock art studies. It is meant for wide ranging specialists and students interested in human history and art." (jacket)
