This book contributes to the current discussion on geoethics and global ethics within the geoscience and humanities communities. It provides new content and insights into developing convergent human actions in response to global anthropogenic changes, based on perspectives that make it possible to combine geoscience knowledge with humanities and social sciences approaches. Selected authors present their reflections, findings and insights regarding the vision of geoethics (ethics of responsibility towards the Earth) as global ethics from philosophical, humanities and social sciences perspectives. In addition, they discuss ethical frameworks from diverse cultural traditions, searching for points of intersection with geoethics. The goal: for global environmental problems to be managed via multi-perspective approaches that can more effectively accommodate complexity. Combining the strengths of the geosciences, humanities and social sciences can pave the way for a paradigm shift in how human societies develop adaptive, sustainable responses to environmental changes and societal inequalities.

Papers from the session 'The Intellectual and Spiritual Expression of Non-Literate Societies' given at the XVI World Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (Florianopolis, Brazil, 4-10 September 2011). Contents: Presentation (Emmanuel Anati); 1) Les adaptations humaines et l'expression spirituelle des premiers Hommes anatomiquement modernes a la transition du Paleolithique moyen au Paleolithique superieur (Janusz K. Kozlowski); 2) The Lipari Middle Paleolithic and early navigation in the Mediterranean (Emmanuel Anati); 3) The Paleolithic sanctuary at Har Karkom, Negev desert (Emmanuel Anati); 4) The Karkomian flint industry: the context of the Har Karkom sanctuary at the transition between Middle and Upper Paleolithic (Federico Mailland); 4) Geoglyphs on Har Karkom plateau: witness to the early start of the expression of conceptual ideas during the early Upper Paleolithic (Federico Mailland); 5) Astronomical representations in rock art: some examples of the cognitive and spiritual processes of non-literate people (Fernando Coimbra); 6) Ancient myths and scientific fiction: the representation of big head in the prehistoric art and its recreation in Western culture (Santiago Guimaraes); 7) The pre-contact pueblo Kachina in the American Southwest: its iconography, first appearances and contexts of symbolic meanings (Jessica Joyce Christie); 8) Deer representation in Sierra da Capivara National Park: morphology, syntax and archaeological contexts: a visual analysis (Elaine Ignacio); 9) Indigenous dolls and figurines: where sacred and social worlds merge and the implications for archaeologists (Sharon Moses); 10) Conveying an understanding of the landscape: the rock art of the Tagus and the Guadiana Valleys (Luiz Oosterbeek); 11) The deer figures in Tagus rock art (Sara Garces); 12) The geometric art of the Iberian schist plaques (Cristina Lopes); 13) Anthropozoomorphic figures and other monsters: mythical fantastic figures in Alpine rock art (Umberto Sansoni); 14) Beliefs and Practices Connected with Megalithic Burial Customs in Eastern India (Ranjana Ray); 15) Substrats neolithiques aux arts traditionnels des Balkans (Marcel Otte).

Papers from Sessions C11, C22, WS29 and C88 from the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006); Contents: 1) Landscape development in North-central littoral Portugal; Influenced by climate, anthropogenically induced or both? (Randi Danielsen); 2) Sulla scia dei Micenei: due produzioni specializzate nel sito del bronzo finale di Archi (Provincia di Chieti, Italy) (Tomaso Di Fraia); 3) La peinture sur ceramique tupiguarani: expression des valeurs regionales et ethiques des horticulteurs prehistoriques tardifs du sud et de l'est bresiliens (Andre Prous); 4) Os horticultores guaranis: problematicas, perspectivas e modelos (Andre Luis R. Soares); 5) L'occupation Tupinamba a Rio de Janeiro, Bresil (Angela Buarque); 6) The exploitation of Ursus arctos on the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age site of Villiers-sur Seine (Seine-et-Marne, France) (C. Pautret-Homerville, G. Auxiette and R. Peake); 7) La formacion de las sociedades protourbanas en el ne de la Peninsula Iberica a partir de los contextos funerarios (1100-550 Ane cal.) (Enriqueta Pons, Raimon Graells, Mariona Valldeperez); 8) Dwelling of ancient people as form of adaptation to cold climate conditions (Based on materials of Early Iron Age in Western Siberia) (Natalia Matveeva, Svetlana Berlina); 9) Food production in the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (1500-900 Cal Ane) (Joaquim Oltra Puigdomenech); 10) El complejo Marcavilca: Movilidad ciclica y territorio en las poblaciones tempranas del Morro Solar, Chorrillos (Luisa Diaz Arriola); 11) Tourism, Archaeology and Sustainable Development - A Model for Archaeological Areas Management (Fabio Carbone, Carlos M.M. Costa); 12) Mapping the Cosmos - A cognitive approach to Iberian prehistoric enclosures (Antonio Carlos Valera); 13) The ditched enclosures of the Middle Guadiana Basin (Victor Hurtado); 14) Neolithic enclosures as power expression in Mediterranean Spain (Teresa Orozco Kohler et al.); 15) Montenegro, a Neolithic enclosure in Galicia - Insights into Megalithic space (Camila Gianotti Garcia et al.); 16) Ten keys to think Southern Iberian ditched enclosures (Jose E. Marquez Romero, Victor J. Jimenez Jaimez); 17) El Lugar de Marroquies Bajos (Jaen, Espana) - Localizacion y ordenacion interna (Marcelo Castro Lopez et al.); 18) Spatial Organisation of the Alcalar Copper Age Settlement (Algarve, Portugal) (Maria Elena Moran Hernandez); 19) Scaling the social context of Copper Age Aggregations in Iberia (Pedro Diaz-del-Rio); 20) Sicilian Anthropization in the Mediterranean Background (Angelo Vintaloro); 21) Etablissements et Parcours: L'influence de l'environnement sur les strategies d'installation et sur les parcours pendant le Chalcolithique en Italie Centre-Septentrionale (Neva Chiarenza et al.).

These essays, from a session of the 15th uispp congress, investigate the ways in which prehistoric rock art interacted with the landscape to define symbolic space. The authors look at how the study of rock art can help to define prehistoric cultures and territories, as well as to symbolicaly demarcate space both in the context of a broad landscape and in, for example, an individual cave. Essays in French and English.

Eighteen essays from the 15th uispp congress which look at the iconography and symbolism of prehistoric art, focusing in the main on rock art. Papers include reports on new discoveries, such as some schematic Neolithic and Chalcothic engravingson the Ibor River in Spain, on particular symbols, such as Neolithic cruciform designs, and broader theoretical papers on issues such as the interplay between art and shamanism or the use of new techniques such as optical 3D measurements in the interpretation of rock art. Papers in English, Spanish and French.