Prehistoric people often represented their worldand perhaps their beliefs- through
visual images.
Art emerged with the appearance and dispersion
of fully modern people through Africa, Europe,
Asia, Australasia, and the Americas. Paintings,
sculptures, engravings, and, later, pottery reveal
not only a quest for beauty but also complex
social systems and spiritual concepts.
• The first art that we can recognize appears in association with the
remains of fully modern people.
• The oldest known works of art, including paintings, sculptures, and
engravings
• They are the products of minds as intellectually capable and
sophisticated as our own.
• Of all the known prehistoric works of art, some 70 per cent may be
attributed to hunters, 13 per cent to herders and stock raisers, and 17
per cent to people with an organized economy (farmers, livestock
breeders, and the like).
• The cave art of all social groups consists of five principal motifs:
human figures, animals, tools and weapons, rudimentary local maps,
and symbols or ideograms.
Animals are to be found everywhere
in prehistoric art, being the favorite
subjects of hunters, herdsmen, and
breeders.
Horse
c. 15,000-10,000 BC, France
Bison
c. 15,000-12,000 BC
Altamira, Spain
Wounded bison attacking a man
c. 15,000-10,000 BC
France
Hands arc frequently encountered in Upper Paleolithic cave art.
Prints were obtained either "in positive", by pressing the hands,
smeared with red, white, or black, over the wall surface; "in
negative", by outlining the hands in color; or in "pseudo-positive",
by outlining the hands in one color and pressing them against the
wall, which was painted with a different color.
Prehistoric Art
William V. Ganis, PhD
Dating Conventions and
Abbreviations
B.C.=before Christ
B.C.E.=before the Common Era
A.D.=Anno Domini (the year of our
Lord)
C.E.=Common Era
c.
or ca.= circa
C.=century
Pebble resembling a human face
from Makaspansgat South Africa
ca. 3,000,000 B.C.E.
reddish brown jasperite
approximately 2 3/8 in. wide
Apollo 11 Cave
Namibia
ca. 23,000 B.C.E.
charcoal on stone
5 in x 4 3/4 in.
Human with Feline Head
from Hohlenstein-Stadel,
Germany
ca. 30,000-28,000 B.C.E.
mammoth ivory
11 5/8 in. high
Human with Feline Head
from Hohlenstein-Stadel,
Germany
ca. 30,000-28,000 B.C.E.
mammoth ivory
11 5/8 in. high
Venus of Willendorf
from Willendorf, Austria
ca. 28,000-25,000 B.C.E.
limestone
4 1/4 in. high
Woman of Lespugue
from cave of Les Rideaux,
France
ca. 20,000 B.C.E.
mammoth ivory
5 3/4 in. high
Various European “Venus” figures
Woman of Laussel
from a cave in
Laussel, Dordogne, France
ca. 25,000-20,000 B.C.E.
painted limestone
approximately 18 in. high
Bison reliefs
from a cave at Le Tuc
d’Audoubert, Ariége, France
ca. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E.
clay
each approximately 2 feet long
Chauvet Cave paintings
Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, Ardèche,
France
ca. 30,000-28,000
pigment on stone
B.C.E.
Pech-Merle Cave paintings
Lot, France
ca. 22,000 B.C.E.
pigment on stone
Altamira Cave paintings
Santander, Spain
ca. 12,000-11,000 B.C.E.
pigment on stone
Lascaux Cave paintings
Lascaux, Dordogne, France
ca. 15,000-13,000
pigment on stone
B.C.E.
Mammoth bone dwelling
from Ukraine
ca. 16,000-10,000
B.C.E.
Great Stone Tower of
Settlement Wall
Jericho, Israel/Gaza
ca. 8,000-7,000
B.C.E.
Human Skulls with
Restored Features
from Jericho,
Israel/Gaza
ca. 7,000-6,000 B.C.E.
skulls, plaster, shells
Human figure
From Ain Ghazal,
Jordan
ca. 6,750-6,250 B.C.E.
plaster, painted and
inlaid with cowrie shell
and bitumen
Çatal Höyük
Turkey
ca. 6,000-5,900
B.C.E.
Deer Hunt
detail of a wall painting
from Level III
Çatal Höyük, Turkey
ca. 5,750
B.C.E.
Çatal Höyük
Turkey
ca. 6,000-5,900
B.C.E.
Landscape with Volcanic
Eruption
Çatal Höyük, Turkey
ca. 6150
watercolor copy of a wall painting
Figures of Man and Woman
From Cernavoda, Romania
ca. 4,000-3,500
ceramic
4 1/2 in. high
B.C.E.
Menhir alignments at Ménec,
Carnac, France
ca. 4,250-3,750
B.C.E.
various Menhirs
Ireland, Scotland, England,
France
Dolmens
Ireland, Scotland, England, France
Stonehenge
Salisury Plain, Wiltshire,
England
ca. 2,550-1,600 B.C.E.
sarsen and bluestone
Language and art: From
paleolithic art to writing
Four lectures
12th Early Fall School of Semiotics
“Semiotics of Genre”
September 10-20, 2006
Sozopol (Bulgaria)
Wolfgang Wildgen, Bremen (Germany)
1
First lecture
The cognitive
presuppositions of art
and writing
1.1 Periods of hominid evolution leading to art and
language
1.2 The evolution of the neo-cortex as predisposition for
art and language
1.3 From animal motion to animal sign behavior
1.4 Instrumentality in higher mammals and man
2
Possible evolutionary
steps leading to cave art
Cave art
H. sapiens, language
Homo erectus, stone tools
Australopithecus, upright
Primates like gorillas, orang-utans and chimpanzees
10 million y.
7 million y.
2 million y.
400.000 y.
40.000
3
Evolution of the brain
HSS
Calculated brain
size (in g) in
relation to the
evolutionary
time scale in
millions of
years.
AF=Australopethecus Africanus, AB= Australopethecus Boisei, HH= Homo
habilis, HE= Homo erectus, HSP=Homo sapiens praeneanderthaliensis,
HSN= Homo sapiens neanderthaliensis, HSS= Homo sapiens sapiens 4
Overlapping of brain sizes (cf. Martin, 1998: 51)
5
Changes in the geometry of the crane
Comparison of the cavities used for
articulation: a newborn child (adapted
size), b: Chimpanzee, c: Neanderthal man
(Chapelle- aux-Saints ), d: adult man 6
Maturation of the brain and overall growth of the body
Curves of growth for
humans and
chimpanzees
(the age scale of
chimpanzees has ben
adapted to the age
scale of chimpanzees)
(taken from Lenneberg)
Vertical scales:
Weight of the body /the
brain
Horizontal scales:
relative age in years
with relevant phases
7
Evolution of cerebral areas and blood flow while words are
seen or heard
Evolutionary comparison of the
brains of :
Rats, cats, apes and humans
Measured energy transport in
the visual and the acoustic
8
mode of language
Instrumentality in higher
mammals and man
z
z
z
The use of instruments and the goal-oriented adaptation
(manufacturing) of tools can be observed in many orders of
animals: ants (insects), birds, and mammals all use simple
instruments. In some cases, this allows them to access
difficult areas of their body (elephants) or to reach under
surfaces. Chimpanzees shape twigs to facilitate “fishing” for
termites in termite-hills.
The use of instruments may be inborn and even the evolution
of limbs may be connected to instrumental functions, i.e.,
limbs are “shaped” evolutionarily to adapt for specific
instrumental functions. Thus, primate and human hands take
over functions originally located in the head (mouth) for
attack, defense, preparation of food, for mastication, etc.
Our gestured language, facial expressions, art practices and
vocal language presuppose a kind of “instrumental” evolution
of the human (and hominid) hand and face.
9
The evolution of tool use
The development of tool-use and tool making
implies learning, social imitation or even teaching.
Tembrok (1977: 186 f) distinguishes six levels:
z ad-hoc tool-using
z purposeful tool-using
z tool-modifying for immediate purpose
z tool-modifying for future eventuality
z ad-hoc-tool-making
z cultural tool-making
The last stage, “cultural tool-making”, can only be
observed in primates and in man.
z
10
Human tool use in the Paleolithic
Lithic technologies. Left:
reconstruction of the technique; right:
products of the Levallois technique
11
The Design of Lithic Instruments
The industry had to consider the following factors:
z Form and quality of a stone found (this includes
a geographic knowledge of places, where they
may be found).
z Splitting of the stone and isolation of the kernel.
z Separation of sharp blades from the kernel.
z Use of instruments for choking stone on one
side and use of stone instruments for the
manufacturing of other instruments (bone and
wood).
12
„Chopper“ of the
Olduwai.-culture
East-Africa
13
Handaxe in the
early Paleolithic
(above)
AbbévillienBiface (Le Stade)
Le Champs de
Mars
(below)
Middle
Acheuléen
(Saint Acheul)
(cf. Weiner, 1972:
130)
Abbévillien= 600.000-350.000, second glacial period;
Acheuléen= 350.000-100.000; third glacial period
14
(left) Moustérien; until 40.000, fourth glacial period; Charente
(middle), La Quina
(right) , La Quina (all in the Mousterian period)
15
Blades
from the
Solutrean
Blades
from the
Magdalenean
16
Second lecture
The beginning of graphical art
and the first steps in its
evolution
2.1
General lines of the evolution of art in the
Paleolithic
•The engravings on tools
•Paleolithic sculptures
•Paleolithic cave paintings
2.2
Moving forms in the classical cave-paintings
(Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira)
17
Stages of
glaciations
(measured by
isotopes of
oxygen)
Interglacial
(5e)
Early
glacial/temperate
(5d-a)
ky BP
Lithic
technologies
(Neanderthals,
recent man)
Stylistic periods of cave art
in France (recent man)
128- Core/chopping
118 tool
From tooluse to
cave art
118-75 Flake,
core/chopping
tool
Early glacial,
glacial (4,3)
75-32 Handaxes,
scrapers
Full glacial
(2)
32-13 Blades
Perigordian (ca. 34 ky19 ky)
Aurignacian (33 ky- 18 ky)
Late
glacial (1)
13-10 Microlithic
elements
Solutrean (18 ky –16 ky)
Magdalenian (16 ky –
10 ky)
Current
interglacial
10-0
Periods
in ky =
1000y.
18
He beginning of graphical art
z
The beginning of graphical arts can be dated by the first
appearance of concentrated color pigments in the
context of hominid dwellings. Barham (2001) reports that
in south central Africa pieces of iron hematite (often
called ochre) and specularite were recovered from an
archeological site near Twin Rivers, in Zambia. They had
been brought to the site, processed and rubbed against
surfaces. One can infer that these materials were used
to color objects, bodies or surfaces. The use of such
pigments establishes a continuity, which reaches from
the archeological sites mentioned (i.e., from 270.000y.
BP) to contemporary hunter-gathers in the Kalahari. The
first engravings on stone were also found in Africa and
can be dated to 70.000y. BP. One can conclude that
archaic Homo sapiens used colors to paint (e.g., their
bodies, objects, and/or large surfaces).
19
Rock-engravings and color use
z
z
z
Rock engravings and later plastic art in stone
may be understood as the origin of
representational art.
As this line also leads to the invention abstract
(motivated by cultural memory) signs and finally
to writing, the modern cultures of fine arts and
literature have their origin in Paleolithic symbol
techniques.
Color was originally used for body-painting, later
in the context of funeral practices, and finally in
the art of caves (after 40.000 BP)
20
Drawings on portable art
Bone of a mammoth with ornaments from Mezin (Ucrainia)
The engraved bone in the possession of a person and the engraving
on it may be used as a prototype (or a model of imitation) which
orients further perception of similar objects. It is also an object of
value (it can be given, stolen, inherited or buried with the owner).
Becoming an object of value marks the point of transition to ritual
and magical objects.
21
Varieties of Venus-Figures in
Western- and Eastern
Europe.
A: Willendorf; B: Lespuge;
C: Grimaldi; D: Dolné-Vêstonice,;
E,F und L: Kostienki;
G: Khotylevo; H und J: Avdevo;
I und K: Gargarino
The dominance of female
statuettes and female symbols
(“vulvas”) was interpreted as
the consequence of a more
“gendered” society in the Upper
Paleolithic. Eventually a more
egalitarian society was replaced
by a society with social
differentiation and a divergence
between female and male roles
From: Sanchidrián, 2001: 12
22
Abstract
representations of
human bodies
Males and females
Russia
23
Paleolithic cave paintings
z
z
Cave paintings occur mainly in an area north and west of the
Pyrenees: mainly in Périgord, Toulouse (France) and
Cantabrica (Spain). Probably the area was a very early
economic “Kulturbund” (network of civilizations) in Europe.
The herds of reindeer (as in northern Finland today) defined
the relevant ecological dynamics. They probably came to the
plains in winter and returned to higher grounds in the
Pyrenees, the Cantabrica Mountains or the Massif Central in
France in summer. The populations of Cro-Magnon men
followed the herds and thus met other populations in southern
France and northern Spain.
Other forms of Paleolithic art show an extension of this
cultural region to Switzerland, Italy, Southern Germany and
Eastern Europe.
24
Magdalenean caves
in France
25
26
Magdalenean caves in Central and Eastern Europe. Maps from Sacchi, 2003:14f.
The syntax of
cave paintings
(narrative or
hierarchical)
The field of depicted animals
on the ceiling of the cave in
Altamira (Northern Spain).
Main features:
•Natural shape of a herd
•Filling of a given surface
with a quasi-regular structure
order
•Question: is the sequence a
narrative one or is the order
rather hierarchical?
27
Drawing techniques and body motion
Monochrome drawing of a horse (Peña de Candamo)
28
z
z
Patterns of locomotion are not only relevant for the content of
pictures but also for their production. Beltran et al (1998: 72)
have shown that painters in the cave of Altamira stood with
their left arm on the cave wall and traced along it to get a long
curved line; i.e., they used their (left) arm and hand as a mold
for lines. In a similar way the natural motion of the arm with
fixed body was the basis for larger curved lines, e.g., the
shoulder and back of a bison, i.e., the human limbs were used
as instruments in a ritualized act of painting. The drawing of a
bison can thus be decomposed into a series of natural motion
patterns, which begin at the head and end at the hind legs
(variants of this technique are common).
The surface can be further structured by lines which separate
light and dark parts, or by areas with different color or texture
and further details can be added. In this context it is
worthwhile to note that certain body parts of animals receive
special attention: the hair of a bison or its eye and nose (in
Altamira), the heads of horses (e.g., a sequence of four
heads with necks in cave Chauvet) and of lions (e.g., the
sketched or elaborated heads and necks in cave
29
Polychrome pictures of moving animals in the
Cave Chauvet (France)
Battle between two rhinozeros
The oldest cave with high-level painting yet known is the cave Chauvet in the
valley of the Ardèche (confluent of the Rhône north of Orange). Different periods
of visitation are dated between 31 and 23.000y. and thus belong to the
Aurignacian. Picture taken from: Chauvet (1997: 64 f.).
30
A group of chasing lions; Cave Chauvet. Picture taken
from: Chauvet (1997: 64 f.).
31
A bison
which turns
ist head in
attack;
Taken from
Chauvet, 1997
32
Details of
horses
Taken from
Chauvet, 1997
33
z
z
z
z
The cultural achievement of Paleolithic art presupposes a
rather general grid of meanings on the level of values in a
probably multilingual society of hunters. It would be
exceptional if the existence of a large-scale system of
values for exchange had not produced a collective system
of meanings.
The diversity of conventional signs (cf. Leroi-Gourhan,
1992: 137-140) shows a range of distribution
corresponding in size to actual dialect-areas and suggests
that the populations living in the Franco-Cantabric area
had many different subcultures.
Nevertheless these “dialects” formed an assembly on the
level of basic semantics and pragmatics used in cultural
contacts, rituals, in the oral tradition of myths and the
practice of rituals.
They formed probably one of the largest preliterate
symbolic civilizations before the introduction of writing.
34
Third lecture
The evolution of art in the Mesolithic
3.1
From iconic schemata to abstract signs
3.2
The representation of humans in a social
context
3.3
The disappearance of the Sahara civilizations
35
z
z
z
z
Paleolithic paintings contain many signs, which cannot
be interpreted as pictures or figures. The transition
between iconic signs and abstract signs (symbols)
occurs first with very frequent contents. Two human
body-parts appear regularly in the paintings and
engravings:
The human hand.
The female vulva.
In the case of the hand the most concrete picture is
created either by pressing the (left) hand on the wall
and painting the contours (or by spraying chewed color
with the mouth) or by painting the hand with color and
pressing it against the wall. The picture is really the
trace of the hand (it indicates the act of touching the
wall with the hand). Other tokens abstract the shape of
the human hand to a line (a band) with three, four, five
branches
36
First signs of
abstraction
Styled Representations of hands
Cave Santian (Spain)).
37
z
The relation of hands to their body is
metonymical (pars pro toto), i.e., one can
guess the whole if one has the necessary
knowledge, which is easy in the case of the
hand. In some cases, the hands are
deformed (e.g., have only four fingers); they
could therefore be the personal signature of a
painter; some authors even guessed an
underlying gestured language.
38
Methonymic abstraction
Sketch of a
deer’s head
Contours
of a deer’s
head
Giant deer
39
Many other pictures cannot be linked with specific
contents, from which they are derived. LeroiGourhan (1992: chapter IX) made an inventory of
the Franco-Cantabric signs and distinguished three
major classes:
z small signs (e.g., sticks and ramified forms),
z full signs; e.g., triangles, squares, rectangles (tectiforms), key shapes (clavi-forms), and
z punctuated signs.
Leroi-Gourhan comes to the conclusion that all these
signs have only a very indirect association with the
animals represented in the paintings. They are a
supplementary code. This is very clear in Lascaux,
where signs and pictures are systematically
combined into one gestalt and have corresponding
sizes (cf. ibidem: 337).
40
z
Combination
(and
separation) of
pictorial and
abstract signs
in the
Paleolithic
period.
z
(cf. J. Jelinek, 1975,
433)
The abstract sign is of the
tectiform type
41
z
z
The small signs could be derived by “disjunction”,
i.e., certain figural features from pictures are
isolated, cut off. The general tendency is one of
geometrical abstraction. Small pictures as in
portable art could have triggered the abstraction.
The conventionalized miniature signs were later
added to full-scale pictures in the cave paintings.
This is the same process as the one observed in
the evolution of early writing systems, e.g., in
Egypt.
Leroi-Gourhan associates these signs with the
male sex (as phallic symbols). Full signs are
associated with the female sex. Either they are
derived from the form of the vulva, or from a
female profile (without head and feet).
42
z
z
The signs called “tecti-forms” or rectangular (cf.
ibidem: 208 f.) look like huts or shelters and could
refer secondarily to the domain of females (In a
matrilineal society, daughters inherit the house and
objects in the house and these are associated with
the female sex). Figure 17 shows some examples
from Leroi-Gourhan (1992: 319).
The punctuated signs can be related to a basic
technique of painting and engraving, i.e., to aligned
points, which produce a curve or two rows of them,
which fill a surface. It is thus a discrete variant in the
representation of lines and surfaces. There is some
evidence that counting or representing mathematical
structures may underlie these signs
43
A list of abstract symbols
Tectiform
symbols
1-16;
1-10 Dordogne
( Les Eyzies)
11-16: Northern
Spain (Altamira,
Castillo, u.a.)
17 23: isolated
signs
44
The transition to the Mesolithic (after the
last ice-age and after the Magdalenean
17.00to 11.000)
In the period between 12.000 and 7.000y. BP, i.e., just before or
after the rise of agriculture, a wealth of engravings is found in
which humans occupy the central place. The arrow had been
invented and chasing (probably also warfare) had been
sophisticated. The individual huntsman or the group of
hunters and the animal (sometimes the enemy) are the major
topics. The scenes are very dynamic as they show people
and animals running, attacking, fleeing. In many cases, there
is a basic relation, e.g., a huntsman shoots at an attacking
ibex, four huntsmen with a leader, or a battle between two
groups, etc. We could say a relation or a valence schema is
realized in the painting.
45
Art of the Levante (Spain) ca. 9-8 000 BP
46
Transition to the Meso- und
Neolithic
Northern Sahara (Kargur Talh) (Neolithic 4-5. Thou. B.C.)
The Franco-Cantabric had parallels in northern Africa; the style resembles the
rock engravings in the Sahara Atlas and the oasis Fezzan (south of Tripoli).
Between 7 and 6.000y. BP cultures based on cattle breeding reached this area
from Sudan. They continued the same realistic style (mainly with contours
engraved in the rock) but with different contents.
47
The disappearance of the
Sahara civilizations
The transition between Mesolithic and Neolithic
civilizations may have its origin in the area north
of the Sahara, which was an ideal zone for
hunting and later for cattle breeding. A huge
amount of rock engraving has been discovered
in this area. Probably this civilization which was
in contact with first cattle breeding civilizations
in the Sudan immigrated to Egypt and the near
East, when the climate became hot and the
water supplies were dramatically reduced.
48
Distribution of
rock-engravings in
Northern Africa
Transition
between an
iconic engraving
and an ideogram
The neolithic cultures of the Sahara had not only cattle breeding, they also
demonstrate the domestification of sheep, horse and (later) dromedary.
Taken from: Striedter,1983: 258 (map) and 11 (pictures)
49
Rock-engravings in the Alps as a
reminiscence of a cultural stage
preceding the modern writing systems
z
z
z
The rock-engraving in Neolithic Europe will continue
these traditions and there are even current
populations in Australia and south Africa who still
practice rock-engraving with a similar function (one
may even consider modern graffiti as a
contemporary use with the same expressive
function).
The European Alps are a zone where these
traditions were conserved (e.g. in Trentino and Val
Camonica).
As some pictures resemble popular games, one may
even assume an origin of visual plays like chess and
others in the graphical tradition of rock-engravings.
50
The distribution of menhirs with
pictures in the province
Trentino
The Menhir of
Algund
Museum of Meran
(Ebers/Wollenik
1982: 47)
51
Selection of
typical items
in Capo di
Ponte (prov.
Brescia)
(Ebers/Woll
enik
1982:98f)
These rock-engravings belong already to the Neolithic period and
continued until the Bronze age. An archeological sensation was the
discovery of the Ötzi-man in the Alps who lived 6000 y BP
52
Type of figure found in rockengravings in the Alps
Such geometrical patterns
were probably also the
starting point for the
invention of many rulegoverned games using
graphical schemata.
If de Saussure was
inspired by chess as a
metaphor of language as a
rule governed system, he
should rather have
referred to the Mesolithic /
Neolithic evolution of
symbolic games than to the
much older system of
language.
53
Fourth lecture
The evolution of writing
4.1
Developments after the Neolithic revolution
4.2
Some aspect of the Egyptian writing system
and the transition to alphabets
54
z
z
As the Nilotic cultures melted into the civilization of early
Egypt, there was possibly a continuity (in the Mesolithic
period) between Paleolithic art in Northern Africa and
early writing systems (e.g., in Egypt and Mesopatamia).
The hieroglyphic characters are pictorial (although
schematized) and sequential, i.e., they are at the level of
semi-symbolic signs in the hierarchy. As soon as signs
for a word with one consonant were used as signs for this
consonant, a consonantal alphabet could be created. It
remains controversial if Mesolithic sign systems really
contributed to the evolution of writing. Coulmas (1989:17)
enumerates three characteristics of writing:
1. It consists of artificial graphical marks on a durable
surface; 2. its purpose is to communicate something; 3.
this purpose is achieved by virtue of the marks’
conventional relation to language.
55
From object-language to
writing
z
z
z
z
Between 8000 BC and 3000 BC very simple „object
languages“, where small-scale sculptures represent their
objects, existged.
Later two-dimensional contours represented the objectsigns included in a jar.
They finally lead to the first systems which may truly be
called writing systems. These presuppose the political and
economic organization of the first empires and cities.
Cf. Schmandt-Besserat (1978: 82)
56
Transition to writing (the last
10.000 years): Object signs
Original functions:
•Representation of objects for the
purpose of bookkeeping (a sign stands
for an object in the economic world)
•Creation of a representational universe
of discourse (where the buying, selling,
transfer., loss etc. of objects is
represented).
•Calculation (origin of mathematics)
57
z
z
The abstraction process from pictures to writing symbols
corresponds to a general mnemonic principle. This is also
valid for messages in an object language employed by
Yoruba tribes and in Australian messenger-sticks. The
message is coded for the messenger, who “reads” it when
he arrives after a long journey. This guarantees that he
does not forget important contents, but it presupposes that
he knows the message. This means that the written
message can only be “read” accurately if the reader has a
knowledge of its contents independently from the “written”
document (cf. Friedrich, 1960: 17).
Full-fledged writing-systems presuppose a writing industry,
i.e., the frequent production and usage of writing in proper
contexts. The Paleolithic stone industries established the
context for the manufacturing of functionally optimal
artifacts (weapons, tools), the Mesolithic and Neolithic
picture and symbol industries established the necessary
context for writing systems
58
z
z
The communicative/functional usage of writing was
systematically developed in Mesopotamia, which became a
melting pot of many cultures and concentrated large populations
into one organized political system. The paths for the exchange
of goods, values, and ideas became complex and difficult to
control. The civilizations of Mesopotamia (and the “golden
crescent”) took their new shape between 11 and 8.000y. BP. The
first “token” systems, called “object languages” by SchmandtBesserat (1978), appeared ca. during this area and were not
dramatically changed for almost five millennia. Only in the
Bronze Age, between 7,500y. BP and 5,100y. BP, did the
number of tokens increase and their shape differentiate and
finally give rise to Sumerian writing (ca. 5.000y. BP; cf. also
Friedrich, 1966: 42 f.). The context was not religious but
economic. The storage, transport and control of goods motivated
a system of bookkeeping. A closed jar contained a number of
symbolic objects, which stood for the goods sent to a destination.
On the jar, a list of the symbolic objects in the jar was marked.
The next slide shows the state of the system in the intermediate
period of the Bronze age (before Sumerian writing arrived).
59
Early objectsymbols
(choice from a
field of 12
categories)
60
z
z
If we look closer at the symbolic objects in the table
given by Schmandt-Besserat (1978: 87 f.) we notice the
geometrical and abstract character of the signs: spheres,
discs, pyramids, cones, tetrahedrons, biconoids, and
ovoid are the basic shapes. On these bases, other
abstract geometrical shapes are marked (in a lower
dimension): holes, lines in/on the sphere, disk, etc. The
Sumerian pictograms later flatten the symbolic objects to
two-dimensional shapes.
The direction of writing was first rather accidental, later
an organization into vertical columns came up with the
order of columns from left to right and inside the columns
from top to bottom. Finally the whole arrangement was
rotated by 90o; the first column on the left became the
first line on the top. In the same move the symbols were
rotated by 90o.
61
Writing industries in Egypt
The scribe and
his
instruments. A
wood cut 4700
years old
The scribe of the
pharao, Hesire, has:
On his shoulder a plate
„ ink-cake“,
1. A container in wood
for the brush,
2. A container with
water to make the
brush wet
(taken from: Claiborne,
1976: 93)
62
Hieroglyph of life from the grave
of Tutanchamun (3450 years
old)
INSCRIPTION IN THE MIDDLE:
Neb = hieroglyph for basket
Kheper (hieroglyph for the
Skarabäus)
Re = hieroglyph for the Sun
Together they compose the
proper name of the possessor:
Nebkheperure
The three strokes below the
Skarabäus stand for the vowel
„u“
(taken from: Claiborne, 1975:
107)
63
Hieroglyphs in Egypt
Signs for
nouns
/concrete
contents
Signs for verbs
/processes
64
As a word stood for a whole family of words with the same
root, determina-tives were used to distinguish different
word-forms. As only consonantal patterns were
mapped into written symbols, the written forms were
still ambiguous. There were two major methods of
disambiguation:
z By a kind of “punctuation” the vowels could be marked.
The method of punctuation was adopted by many
civilizations and languages in the Near East (still
observable today in Arabic and Hebrew).
z Special symbols for vowels were inserted into the
sequence of consonantal symbols. This method was
first adopted by the Phoenician and later by the Greek,
Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. For this purpose signs of
consonants not used could be reinterpreted.
65
Further developments in Egypt
Hieroglyphs:
First
simplifications in
the 3rd
millennium B.C.
Hieratic :
Latest text 3rd
century AD
Demotic:
Latest text: 476
AD
Friedrich, 1966:195
66
Diffusion of the writing-systems between
1600 BC. (yellow) and alphabets 450 BC.
(green)
67
The evolution of the Greek alphabet
from the Phoenician
Friedrich, 1966:
275
Partial list
68
A rough summary of the evolution of writing
Paleolithic
period
36.-12.000 BP
Mesolithic
period
12.000 - …..
BP
(the
end
depends on the
region)
Abstract
symbols besides
realistic
pictures
Rock
Rock
Cuneiform
engravings and engravings,
writing
paintings in the object languages hieroglyphs
Levante
and
Atlas
Alphabet writing
systems
Realistic
pictures
dominate
Abstract
increase
form a
lexicon
Dominance
of
systems based on
the phonological
motivation
of
writing
Neolithic period
10.000-5.000
BP
(before the rise
of the classical
“high” cultures)
signs Beginning
and writing
huge industries
Cultures
in
Mesopotamia and
Egypt 5.000-1500
BP (latest text
476 AD)
of Complex systems
of writing evolve;
which imply also
a
phonological
analysis
Phoenician
–
Greek, Roman …
cultures 2.500 to
modernity
69
Ideographic systems
Different solutions for the design of writing systems
were in conflict and in Europe and western Asia the
ideographic systems disappeared and the
alphabetic principle expanded into all directions.
Only in China did the ideographic writing system
survive. It had found its very abstract shape already
in the old bone-engravings (1 400-1 200 B.C.). The
basic economy of these systems has, in spite of its
ideographic character, structural similarities with the
alphabetic systems.
In Japan and Korea mixed systems were created. In
Japan phonetic syllables are designed by writing
symbols and completed by Chinese ideograms.
70
z
z
z
The ideogram can be decomposed into more
elementary strokes (ca. 20). Thus the number of
elementary signs corresponds roughly to the
number of signs in an alphabet (22 to 30).
At the next level of complexity one can distinguish
24 different radicals. Thus the sign for sun (see
above) consists of four strokes.
The complete signs are fitted to an imaginary
square. Similar tendencies can be observed in
Hebraic quadratic letters, Roman capital letters
and the “Antiqua” introduced in the Renaissance.
71
Chinese signs for words and their
original pictorial form
Child
Tree
Door
Arrow
Heart
Word
Rain
Dog
Snail
Hand
Richness
Field
72
Conclusions
z
z
z
There is a line which leads continuously from
artifact-industries already presupposing the
semantics and pragmatics of a natural language to
art, writing and mathematics.
The basic principles which organize these levels of
semiotic evolution should be formulated in a
common language.
Such a scientific language must have geometrical
and combinatorial powers.
73
Bibliography (selected)
z
z
z
z
z
z
Barham, Lawrence S. (2002). Systematic Pigment Use in the
Middle Pleistocene of South-Central Africa. Current
Anthropology, 43 (1), 181-190.
Bax, Marcel, Barend van Heusden and Wolfgang Wildgen
(eds.), 2004. Semiotic Evolu-tion and the Dynamics of Culture.
Lang, Bern.
Chauvet, Jean-Marie, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, Christian
Hillaire (1995). La grotte Chauvet à Vallon-Pont-d’Arc. Paris:
Seuil.
Coulmas, Florian (1992). The Writing Systems of the World.
Oxford : Blackwell Daniel, Hal (1989). The Vestibular System
and Language Acquisition. In Wind et alii (1989: 257-271).
Földes-Papp, Karoly (1984). Vom Felsbild zum Alphabet. Die
Geschichte der Schrift von ihren frühesten Vorstufen bis zur
modernen lateinischen Schreibschrift. Stuttgart: Belser.
Foley, William (1997). Anthropological Linguistics. An
Introduction. London: Blackwell.
74
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
Friedrich, Johannes (1966). Geschichte der Schrift. Unter
besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer geistigen Entwicklung.
Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
Gamble, Clive (1986). The Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe.
Cambridge: Cambridge U.P. Gamble, Clive (1999). The Palaeolithic
Societies of Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P..
Gibson, Kathleen R. & Tim Ingold (Eds.) (1993). Tools, Language
and Cognition in Human Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P.
Jelinek, Jan (1975). Das große Bilderlexikon des Menschen in der
Vorzeit. Bertelsmann: Munich.
Lenneberg, Eric H. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language
(with appendices by Noam Chomsky & Otto Marx). New York: Wiley
Leroi-Gourhan, André (1992). L’art pariétal. Langage de la
préhistoire. Grenoble: Jerôme Million.
Martin, Alex (1998). Organization of Semantic Knowledge and the
Origin of Words in the Brain. In Jablonski & Aiello (1998: 69-87).
Rhotert, Hans (1956). Die Kunst der Altsteinzeit. In Weigert (1956:
9-52
75
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
Sacchi, Dominque (2003) Le Magdalénien. Apogée de
l’art quaternaire. La maison des roches, Paris.
Sanchidrian, José Luis (2001). Manual de arte
preistorico. Barcelona: Ariel.
Schmandt-Besserat, Denise (1978). The Earliest
Precursor of Writing. Scientific American, June 1978
(reprinted in Wang, 1982 (chap. 10): 81-89).
Striedter, Karl Heinz (1983) Felsbilder Nordafrikas and
der Sahara. Steiner: Wiesbaden.
Tembrok, Günter (1977). Grundlagen des Tierverhaltens.
Braunschweig: Vieweg.
Weigert, Hans (Ed.) (1956). Kleine Kunstgeschichte der
Vorzeit und der Naturvölker. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Weiner, J. S. (1972). Entstehungsgeschichte des
Menschen. Lausanne: Editions Rencontre
76
z
z
z
z
z
Wenke, Robert J. (1999). Patterns in Prehistory. Humankind’s first
Three Million Years. Oxford: Oxford U.P.
Wildgen, Wolfgang (2001). The Paleolithic Origins of Art, its
Dynamic and Topological Aspects, and the Transition to Writing, in
M. Bax, B. van Heusden & W. Wildgen (Eds.), Semiotic Evolution
and the Dynamics of Culture., Bern: Lang.
Wildgen, Wolfgang, 2004. The Evolution of Human Languages.
Scenarios, Principles, and Cultural Dynamics. Series: Advances in
Consciousness Research, Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Wildgen, Wolfgang, 2005. Le problème du continu/discontinu dans
la sémiotique de René Thom et l’évolution des langues. in: Cahiers
de Praxématique 42 :121.143.
Wildgen, Wolfgang, 2006. The Semiotic Hypercycle and the RunAway Process of Linguistic (Symbolic) Evolution. Contribution to the:
Cradle of Language Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 7 – 10
Nov 2006.
77