Rock Art & Ritual

Academic interpretations of Neolithic rock motifs and their location within the landscape and on ancient monuments are often thought-provoking, but they invariably shy away from acknowledging the remarkable coherence exhibited by petroglyphs throughout the British Isles. In Mindscapes of Prehistory, Brian A. Smith and Alan A. Walker have taken the arguments they first developed in Rock Art and Ritual: Interpreting the Prehistoric Landscapes of the North York Moors considerably further. They advance a theory that the rock art of the Neolithic belongs to a coherent and cyclical cosmology circumscribed by sunlight and water, birth and death, and argue that the evidence is plain to see for any hillwalker or amateur archaeologist who dares to take an interest. Smith and Walker consider landscapes further afield than the North York Moors, although this region, and Northern England in general, still remains the focus of their investigations. This is a milestone publication, the result of many years of fieldwork, careful observation, research and contemplation; it promises to stimulate debate in this fascinating and understudied subject area for years to come.