Symbolism in Rock Art [Paperback]

Papers from the Symbolism in Rock Art session held at the XV UISPP World Congress, Lisbon, in September 2006. Contents: 1) Faceless anthropomorphic symbols: The shift from men to gods (L??o Dubal); 2) The pentagram in rock art: Some interpretive possibilities (Fernando Augusto Coimbra); 3) A Contribution to the understanding of spirals and lozenges in the rock art of Neolithic Britain and Ireland (G. Terence Meaden); 4) The bull horn symbolism in Dionysus cult as coming out from the prehistoric rock art iconography (George Dimitriadis); 5) Footprint & handprint symbols: Having or Being? (L??o Dubal); 6) Cupmarks and triangles in British Neolithic art with particular attention to three triangular portable stones from Aveburys eastern hills, each with a cupmark at the apex (G. Terence Meaden); 7) On the symbolism of net patterned and ruled rectangles from the Neolithic to the iron age (Adolfo Zavaroni); 8) Open air rock art in the Ceira and Alva river valleys: Some symbols (Nuno Miguel C. Ribeiro); 9) Mount Pindo in Galicia and the prehistoric petroglyphs (Jos?? Luis Galovart Carrera).As the editors point out, rock art is the oldest archive of human activity , and its interpretation, although fraught with difficulty is thus of prime importance. This collection of papers, taken from the 15th UISPP congress, mainly look at specific symbols and their interpretation.