Contents: Preface. 1. The main problems in rock art research/Robert G. Bednarik. 2. Rock art in Valcamonica Paspardo, Brescia, Italy--A prehistoric Alpine calendar/Giuseppe Brunod. 3. Conservation and destruction of rock art in Portugal--some case studies/Fernando Coimbra. 4. "Cant you see my lovely anthropomorphous? Reflections about phenomena and documentation in rock art research/Mario Consens. 5. Some unique representations in rock art of Chaturbhujnath Nala in Chambal Valley in India/Giriraj Kumar. 6. Rock art in Peru, Problems and perspectives/Gori Tumi Echevarria Lopez. 7. Rock art of Saudi Arabia--a burden of beast/Majeed Khan. 8. Mount Bego, French Maritime Alps. Tthe Carlo Conti Petroglyphs casts: the discovery of a Palaeoethnological treasure/Angiolo Del Lucchese, Daniela Gandolfi, Anna Lorenzatto and Dario Seglie. 9. Rock art tourism and public access: issues, and the Bishop Loop example/Leigh Marymor. 10. Application of forensic methods to rock art investigations--a proposal "An Ounce of systematic analysis is worth - A pound of Hermeneutic Deliberations"/Yann Pierre Montelle. 11. Problems and perspectives of rock art in Portugal: a view from the Tagus Valley/Luiz Oosterbeek. 12. Casts of the prehistoric rock engravings of Val Camonica housed in the Museum of Anthropology and ethnography of the University of Turin/Rosa Boano and Emma Rabino Massa. 13. Some notes about the social space and its influence in the design of the Labyrinth figure/Manuel Santos Estevez. 14. Rock art: meta-language and metaphor/Dario Seglie. 15. Some questions and problems in the Moroccan rock art/Richard Wolff. 16. Panorama of the rock paintings in the Caribbean Islands/Racso Fernandez Ortega. 17. The rock paintings of Pintashgamachay, Pasco, Peru/Rosina Chiurazzi. 18. Recent discoveries of Megalithism in The Lanzo Valleys (Italy, Western Alps)/Adalberto Donna D'Oldenico, Francesco Rubat Borel and Giancarlo Destefanis. 19. Chronologies and dating in Scandinavian Rock Art/K.J. Sognnes. 20. Hellenic rock art--state of art, open questions and new paradigms/George Dimitriadis. 21. Why do they go so far away in order to paint?/Philippe Hameau. Index.
"In course of his continuous effort through times and spaces to comprehend the surrounding mysteries man could have been able to prove his uniqueness in his life and thought. The artistic activities of men are, no doubt, the end product of diversified interactions of his mental consciousness, aesthetic sense, nature's bountiful expressions and the panorama of the world around him. Human revelation on the worldly as well as spiritual affairs found its activated and multifarious illustrations in the performance of art at the very initial stage of his existence which had its origin at the cradle of humanity -- the Homo Sapiens. Though the fundamental manifestation of culture reflected from the deliberate stone working for the processing of tools by some Presapiens in the remotest past yet the advent of Homo Sapiens brought that attainment in full bloomed condition. They were the specific human species who could put a significant mark in the entire culture history of mankind by dint of their eloquent endeavor to transform their surveillance into the animated and symbolic designs. The canvases used to depict such figurative appeals were very naturally the walls of the caves extensively used by these prehistoric people as their fortified shelters. Thus the rocks of the cave walls and ceilings were purposefully used both for paintings and engravings adopting various indigenous ways and means." (jacket)
