Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves at Creswell Crags on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, was the most surprising illustration of this. The discoverers (the editors of the book) brought together in 2004 a number of Palaeolithic archaeologists and rock art specialists from across the world to study the Creswell art and debate its significance, and its similarities and contrasts with contemporary Late Pleistocene ('Ice Age') art on the Continent. This comprehensively illustrated book presents the Creswell art itself, the archaeology of the caves and the region, and the wider context of the Upper Palaeolithic era in Britain, as well as a number of up-to-date studies of Palaeolithic cave art in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy which serve to contextualize the British examples.
1: Paul Pettitt: Prologue 2: Paul Bahn: The historical background to the discovery of cave art at Creswell Crags 3: Sergio Ripoll and Francisco J. Munoz: The Palaeolithic rock art of Creswell Crags: prelude to a systematic study 4: Alistair W. G. Pike, Mabs Gilmour, and Paul Pettitt: Verification of the age of the Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags 5: Alistair Carty: 3D laser scanning at Church Hole, Creswell Crags 6: D. W. Yalden: Zoological perspectives on the Late Glacial 7: Andrew T. Chamberlain: Cave archaeology and palaeontology in the Creswell region 8: R. M. Jacobi: The Stone Age archaeology of Church Hole, Creswell Crags 9: Paul Pettitt: Cultural context and form of some of the Creswell images: an interpretative model 10: Yves Martin: The engravings of Gouy: France's northernmost decorated cave 11: Margherita Mussi: Palaeolithic art in isolation: the case of Sicily and Sardinia 12: Michel Lorblanchet: The horse in the Palaeolithic parietal art of the Quercy: outline of a stylistic study 13: Genevieve Pincon: A topographical approach to parietal figures: the monumental sculptures of the Roc-aux-Sorciers (Vienne, France) 14: Cesar Gonzalez Sainz: Dating Magdalenian art in North Spain: the current situation 15: Antonio Martinho Baptista and Antonio Pedro Batarda Fernandes: Rock art and the Coa Valley Archaeological Park: a case study in the preservation of Portugal's prehistoric rupestral heritage 16: Claire Fisher and Rob Dinnis: Rewriting the history books: the Magdalenian art of Creswell Crags
Paul Pettitt is Lecturer in Human Origins, University of Sheffield. Paul Bahn is an independent researcher. Sergio Ripoll is Lecturer in Archaeology at the Spanish Open University (UNED) in Madrid.
Reviews for Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context
In archaeological terms, let alone the cave-relevant subject matter, this was an incredibly important gathering and the book an equally important outcome. Chris Howes, Descent, Vol. 197 Reading this book leaves you marvelling at the astonishing skill of the authors in seeing what generations of visitors to Creswell Crags have missed Chris Catling, Current Archaeology
