Signs, symbols and images carved or painted on to rock surfaces form part of the cultural history of many societies and have led to much speculation and inquiry into their meaning, date and how they were produced. This study looks at examples of pictographs and petroglyphs in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as well as in New England, New York and New Jersey. Edward Lenik studies how the images were produced and how they might be interpreted and placed within the context of local archaeological and historical knowledge and oral history. He concludes that this art form `defines a place' in both a physical and spiritual sense and cannot be divorced from their environmental and cultural setting.