The term ‘heritage values’ refers to the meanings and values that individuals or groups of people bestow on heritage (including collections, buildings, archaeological sites, landscapes and intangib...

This article examines the relationship between rock art landscapes and perception. It pays particular attention to vision and hearing, the two key senses for landscape awareness. Given the importance of scale in the study of rock art landscapes, a distinction is made between the adjacent landscape and the broader territorial scale. Several methodological improvements are suggested, including the importance of clipping viewsheds in GIS analysis and measuring directionality instead of orientation of the rock art shelters. In our case-study we explore the rock art landscape of the Alicante Mountains (northeastern Spain) during the Neolithic period (ca. 5600 to 2800 cal bc). A new interpretation of how the cognitive and symbolic behavior of communities changed over time is offered. We argue that the analysis of perception in rock art landscapes can provide novel ways of understanding communities’ distinctive appropriation of their landscapes, linking both the tangible and intangible aspects of their culture.

Archaeology is notoriously vulnerable to the ideological pressures of authoritarian regimes. This paper charts the political influences that shaped archaeology in Spain for some 40 years. Following the Civil War Spanish archaeologists were isolated from mainstream theoretical evolution, a situation that was exacerbated by the exile of some leading figures. The centralizing authoritarianism of the Franco régime stifled regional autonomy in administration and research, and key archaeological appointments went to committed supporters of the régime.