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This book follows on from Smith and Walker's earlier Rock Art and Ritual, developing that book's findings geographically to present a universal interpretation of Britain's Neolithic rock art. They argue that sunlight and water, essentials for survival, were key to the Neolithic mind, and to the creation of a complex ritual landscape reflected in the siting and motifs of the rock art. They stress that not only the placing of the art, but also its alignment was important, with art positioned in line with the direction of the sun and of rivers, both of which are held to symbolise the cycle of life and death, with sunlight also used for calendrical and cosmological purposes.