Professor Rodrigo de Balbin has played a major role in advancing our knowledge of Palaeolithic art, and the occasion of his retirement provides an excellent opportunity to assess the value of prehistoric art studies as a factor in the study of the culture of those human groups which produced this imagery. The diverse papers in this volume, published in Professor de Balbin's honour, cover a wide variety of the decorated caves which traditionally defined Palaeolithic art, as well as the open-air art of the period, a subject in which he has done pioneering work at Siega Verde and elsewhere. The result is a new and more realistic assessment of the social and symbolic framework of human groups from 40,000 BP onwards.

This volume brings together 19 studies of open air rock carving on the prehistoric Atlantic region. Regional case studies include Ireland, Brittany, Galicia, Portugal, Morocco and Western Sahara, as well as a particular focus on the Canary Islands, where the conference from which the papers were drawn was held. A unifying thread to the collection is the desire to place the carvings as fully as possible in their landscape and thus social setting. Essays in Spanish, English and French.

The analysis in this volume is the result of 25 years of research into the later prehistory of the international Tagus. In particular the contributors examine the spectacular rock art, paintings and engravings of the area, and how they relate to megaliths in a landscape context. They conclude that the area saw far greater occupation and activity than has often been assumed. Papers in English and Spanish.