The Levantine Question: Post-Palaeolithic rock art in the Iberian Peninsula draws together many of the world’s leading experts to answer some of the fundamental questions surrounding this enigmatic art and the ancient people who created it.

Organized into 16 chapters, each published in both English and Spanish, the book explores the science behind the recording and context of Spanish Levantine rock art.  Dr Nash remarked that: “It will provide specialists and students with an essential reference to this enigmatic rock art assemblage for many years to come.”

The art dates to between 10,000 and 3,500 BC and is found mainly within 730 cave and rock shelter sites – now incorporated into UNESCO’s World Heritage list – that extend along the eastern part of Spain, from Barcelona to Cadiz (along what is called the Spanish Maesta).  The prehistoric artists mainly painted cattle, red deer, chamois, honey collectors, warring hunter-gatherers and pastoral herders.

Dr Nash first studied this art as part of his D.Phil. from the Northern University of Trondheim, Norway.  Currently a part-time lecturer and visiting fellow in Bristol’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, he has been a professional archaeologist for the past 20 years and has undertaken extensive fieldwork on prehistoric rock-art and mobility art in Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, and Sweden as well as in Spain.

Dr Nash is also an Associate Professor at the Spiru Haret University, Bucharest, Romania and senior researcher at the Museum of Prehistoric Art, Quaternary and Prehistory Geosciences Centre, Macao, Portugal.

The Levantine Question Post-Palaeolithic rock art in the Iberian Peninsula edited by José Julio García Arranz, Hipólito Collado Giraldo and George Nash is published by Archaeolingua, priced at €74.