Social and behavioral scientists study religion or spirituality in various ways and have defined and approached the subject from different perspectives. In cultural anthropology and archaeology the understanding of what constitutes religion involves beliefs, oral traditions, practices and rituals, as well as the related material culture including artifacts, landscapes, structural features and visual representations like rock art. Researchers work to understand religious thoughts and actions that prompted their creation distinct from those created for economic, political, or social purposes. Rock art landscapes convey knowledge about sacred and spiritual ecology from generation to generation. Contributors to this global view detail how rock art can be employed to address issues regarding past dynamic interplays of religions and spiritual elements. Studies from a number of different cultural areas and time periods explore how rock art engages the emotions, materializes thoughts and actions and reflects religious organization as it intersects with sociopolitical cultural systems.

George McCall Theal (1837-1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875-1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795-1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 5 covers the colonies between 1854-1894.

This volume, in honour of John Kay Clegg, consists of papers by rock art researchers from around the world on topics such as aesthetics, the application of statistical analyses, frontier conflict and layered symbolic meanings, the deliberate use of optical illusion, and the contemporary significance of ancient and street art.