Prehistoric Communication and Art

• Early prehistoric humans (100,000 years ago) communicated through non-verbal gestures, including hand signs and facial movements.
• Later prehistoric periods (50,000 to 10,000 BCE) show more sophisticated communication gestures.
• Decorated graves and adorned burial sites from this time are seen as signs of culture and religion.

Venus of Willendorf

• Approximately 30,000 years old.
• Discovered in Germany.
• It's an interpreted symbol of fertility and reproduction, emphasizing hips, breasts, and stomach.
• It reflects cultural and spiritual priorities of the time.

Lascaux Cave Painting

• Dates back 20,000 years.
• This cave painting contains thousands of images, mostly of animals and spices.
• Significant to early humans, these paintings may have been used for storytelling and symbols.
• Before written language, early humans used symbols and images to convey messages and organize knowledge.
• This indicates that Neanderthals had culture.
• Alexander Marshak determined that early humans used these markers to signify dates and passage of time.

15,000 BCE

• Early humans used notched bones and tusks with tally systems for one-to-one correspondence.
• Schmandt-Basserat connects this to the eventual development of numeracy.
• Animal kills and days were examples of what they counted

8000-3200 BCE

• Counters or markers were used to track goods sold and bought, preceding full writing systems.
• Their use led to the appearance of a writing system in Sumer in 3200 BCE.
• Tokens were used as a tally system in a pictographic alphabet developed by Sumerians.
• One token could represent a large number of items.

8000 BCE

• The rise of political authorities coincided with the appearance of tokens.
• People with access to the coins could relay any information that they wanted.
• Control of knowledge and power came with the rise of writing
• Tokens were used for taxes, laws, and temple economics.
• Tokens were arbitrary in nature.

3200 BCE Writing and Empire Innis

• The Sumerians in ancient Iraq/Syria developed Cuneiform, one of the oldest forms of writing.
• This system allowed for the expression of more complex ideas.
• Cuneiform combined physical objects and ideas with semantic and phonetic sounds.
• For example, "h-o-r-s" represented a horse, and "$" represented money.

Importance of Keeping Track

• Cuneiform aided in tracking hierarchies in politics.
• It supported the development of administration, bureaucracy, and economy, allowing for writing laws, tracking taxes, and payments.
• Access to writing led to the concentration and dissemination of power and authority.

Sumerian Clay Tablets

• These were used for legal contracts, deeds of sale, land transfers, inventories, and temple accounts.
• The tablets facilitated the collection of knowledge, allowing for future analysis and transmission to the next generation.
• The creation of writing contributed to the creation of new cultures.
• Oral cultures rely on memory and verbal transmission.
• Literate cultures make use of writing for culture preservation and accuracy.
• Harold Innis believed dominant mediums of communications had different uses.
• Tablets were used in a stationary place for more information and to mark down laws
• Papyrus, more durable and light, was used for day-to-day communication.
• Media forms affect messages through their weight, durability, and portability.
• Heavier mediums were useful for recording laws and large/serious decisions.
• Lighter mediums were applicable for trade records and smaller messages.

Inca Empire 1400-1500 CE

• Located in modern-day Peru.
• The Quipu, a cord with colored strings and knots of different sizes, was a primary form of communication.
• The Quipu was essential for recording data, taxes, and inventories.
• Walter Ong identified that sound is spherical and vision is directional in oral cultures

Oral vs. Literate Cultures

• In oral cultures, knowledge is deeply connected to memory and transmitted through storytelling, open to rebuttal.
• Spoken language is ephemeral (lasting for a short time).
• Writing transformed human consciousness, enabling more complex and analyzed thought.
• Speakers in oral cultures can be questioned, but writing is context-free and can't be challenged immediately.
• Patterned forms of thought in oral cultures are ingrained in communication itself

Ong

• Thought is expressed directly through patterned forms of oral cultures
• Using memory aids for thoughts and ideas is more efficient.

Literacy

• Facilitates new ideas and ways of thinking.

The Print Revolution

• Knowledge dissemination through new media heavily influences socio-economic and political aspects of the world

Greek Alphabet

• Havelock regarded the Greek alphabet as a significant advancement due to its simplicity and ability to protect language.
• Craft literacy (for specialists) was replaced by literacy for common readers.
• Ordinary people could now read and write instead of only special people.
• Massive information retrieval became possible, enabling more analytical sophistication and complexity.
• Which encouraged advancements in science, art, and technology.

Havelock on the Greek Alphabet

• Easier reading and writing increased Greek society literacy.
• More brain space was accessible for critical thinking since information was written down.

Explore early human communication through gestures and art. Discover the Venus of Willendorf, a symbol of fertility. Examine Lascaux Cave paintings, revealing storytelling and symbolic expression before written language. These artifacts indicate Neanderthal culture and early human knowledge organization.