James L. Pearson has a Ph.D. in archaeology from University of California, Santa Barbara. He became an archaeologist after a long career as a business executive and is now working toward bringing archaeology to the general public.

• Chapter 1 Foreword by Brian Fagan Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Antecedents to Cognitive Archaeology Chapter 4 The Roots of Cognitive Archaeology Chapter 5 The Tools of Cognitive Archaeology Chapter 6 The Evolution of Rock Art Research Chapter 7 Rock Art Research in the Americas Chapter 8 Shamanism Chapter 9 Using the Tools of Cognitive Archaeology Chapter 10 The Non-Archaeological Case for Shamanism Chapter 11 The Archaeological Evidence for Shamanism Chapter 12 Summary and Conclusions

This is an eminently useful book in a much wider sense. It sees rock art not merely as a side alley...of archaeology but as an attractive and varied path to more general debate of archaeological theory and methodology. The clarity with which [Pearson] sets out his review of the literature, the persistent misunderstandings, and even the abuse to which some writers appear dedicated is timely and necessary if researchers are to move closer to what he calls "Archaeology's final frontier"—ancient beliefs and meanings.