Portable rock art (PRA) has a wide range of groupings, including slight artistic additions on tools compared to extensive art-laden embellishments on stones having little or no functionality whatsoever. Since 2017, I’ve been exploring the PRA world, culminating in my second book, More Than Meets the Eye: (re)Discovering Portable Rock Art.
Even though PRA creations go back millions of years to the earliest humans, they largely have been overlooked by Moderns due to both a single-minded focus on utilitarian characteristics and modern perceptions that are neither tuned into nor aware of artistic assemblages. Contemporary limitations that have hindered serious surveys include biases against micro art (“too small to be significant”), the subjective nature of identifying artistic enhancements, and the notion that the Ancients wouldn’t take time to embellish disposable tools with art if they had the artistic abilities.
More Than Meets The Eye addresses the history of PRA, how to identify PRA, early and contemporary researchers, descriptions of many PRA techniques along with a Guide to Portable Rock for collectors. With over 130 photos, More Than Meets The Eye may be the most comprehensive book on Portable Rock Art.
