Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. It is next to impossible to appropriately acknowledge all individuals who have as sisted, aided, and abetted in the production ofan edited volume such as this one if for no other reason than because there have been so many. Some, however, clearly stand out in their contribution. Amongst these, first and foremost are Jean and Ray Auel without whose generous hospitality there would never have been the First Ore gon Archaeological Retreat where this volume began. It was a memorable experience that the participants will never forget including the nouveau Oregonian combina tion ofpizza and vintage Dom Perignon. Next, we wish to thank the California Acad emy ofsciences for independently confirming that the recent research on this topic of late Pleistocene image and symbol had reached a critical point for a lively and ma formed symposium. The Wattis Endowment, the many staff people and, most re cently, the active and supportive role played in bringing this volume to fruition by Anthropology Chair Nina Jablonski and the Scientific Publications Committee must be heralded. This volume owes its physical existence to the diligent and highly skilled efforts ofnancy Gee, who performed the typesetting, Katie Martin, who as sisted in copy editing, and Vivian Young, who designed the cover and dust jacket. We also thank Charlene Woodcock ofthe University of California Press for arrang ing that the Press would market the volume.