A Summary Research on the Rock Art of East Asia. Review of the Book: Rock Art in East Asia: A Thematic Study / Ed. by J. Clotts, B. Smith. Paris: ICOMOS International, 2019 (e-book). 148 p.

This review is devoted to a brief discussion of the book ‘Rock Art in East Asia’, published in 2019. The general structure of the book is presented. The review reveals principles of preparing and summarizing data on the rock art of the regions comprising East and South-East Asia, set forth by the editors of the volume. The high quality of the work based on this approach concerning singular sites such as those in Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East is noted. At the same time, a critical analysis of the book’s shortcomings caused by the chosen scheme of description of the material when an attempt to describe a region rich in rock art sites inevitably leads to hasty tongue twisters, is given. For example, some chapters have minimum References or none at all. In summary, the reviewed book is a useful reference edition, though descriptions of certain sites or groups of sites from the regions of Mongolia and China adjacent to Central and South-East Asia, rich in rock art given in it should be treated with extreme caution.