Most is situated at viewpoints overlooking fertile valleys. Although it can be at the highest point in the locality, it does not have to be so in order to command wide views. Few of the marked rocks can be seen from a distance, and people must have known where the rocks were in order to view them. In some cases, such as the Brimham Rocks, Broomridge and Dod Law, there are prominent natural landscape features such as cliffs or dramatically-eroded outcrops that create an unusual focal point. Even so, most motifs are on near-horizontal surfaces and would soon become obscured by vegetation.
Many marked surfaces are less than a metre in size.
The motifs make use of the shape of and irregularities in the rocks, so that motifs and rocks blend into the landscape of the high moorland sympathetically. Bob Trubshaw Richard Bradley is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading and is highly respected for his original approach to both the social prehistory of Britain and, with Altering the Earth , to the study of megalith monuments as parts of the landscape. His ability to synthesise the research of other archaeologists into innovative and wide-ranging interpretations is rare. The ability to do so and present the results in a readable style is unique. By attempting to integrate rock art studies into wider issues in prehistoric archaeology, Bradley brings new interpretations to both the rock art itself and to the wider issues of prehistory and, as a result, reassesses the fundamentals of approaches to landscape archaeology.