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tjj wrote: I recently visited a historic town of Arundel in West Sussex; to get out of the lashing rain I ducked into a second hand book shop. What a treasure trove - its ancient history and archaeology sections were vastly superior to anywhere like Waterstones.
I found Jean McMann's Riddles of the Stone Age - Rock Carvings of Ancient Europe published way back in 1980 by Thames & Hudson. It has 153 black and white illustrations - which seem to work well with rock art (did a bit of haggling on the price, just for fun).
It inspired me to take Stan Beckensall's book Prehistoric Rock Art in Britain down from the bookshelf and I now have the two placed together. Stan Beckensall's book looks fabulous with wonderful photographs by Brian Kerr and others - I shall read them in conjunction with each other.
Just to end with the famous quote from Shakespeare from As You Like It used in Acknowledgements of SB's book ..
And this our life, exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
How wise!
Hi June,
I've never really followed rock art so apologies in advance for my ignorance, but I noticed that much of it is on external stones and rock formations. Obviously much of it took an age to complete so one assumes it was of significant importance. Does the fact that much of it is outside suggest a form of communication between people passing by and those that lived locally?
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