by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe

Many ancient cultures have recognized in a landscape shapes and forms to which they have given significance. Sacred places are frequently sited in places where in the natural features of the landscape where perceived the forms or shapes of a divine being. The naturally occurring feature is then artificially enhanced to define the perceived likeness more clearly.

This idea of perceiving forms in the landscape (albeit in this case within the landscape) is first encountered in the caves at Lascaux where natural shapes and forms in the walls and ceiling of the cave reminded the painter and engraver of animals which he or she then enhanced with paint or graving tool.