ACS 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Chauvet Cave, Behavioral Modernity, Cave Painting
3 May 2018
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Representing Language
ACS106!
-What is the function of writing?!
-Why was it developed?!
-Writing relies on the visual system.!
•Handwriting !
•Braille !
•Printing !
•Electronic displays !
-While spoken language is nearly effortless, written language requires conscious
instruction and effort. !
Origins
-The idea that ideas could be expressed non-verbally first came about ~30,000 years
ago with the development of cave art. !
-Chauvet Cave, part of the Aurignation Culture in France launched a period of
behavioural modernity in humans. !
-Cave depictions are non-arbitrary and direct. !
•Storytelling !
•Figurative cave paintings (rock art)!
•Sculpture and material culture. !
Key Terms and Systems
-Pictograms: those images that are used to express a thing in a consistent manner.
These are language-dependant and usually have a direct correspondence to the
object represented. !
-Ideograms: the ways that ideas are expressed in writing. These may be linguistically
and culturally dependant for proper interpretation and may be stylized. In this way,
similar concepts may use the same sort of symbol, such as sun, heat, and daytime
being represented by the same ideogram.!
-Logograms: symbols or forms that have no clear connection with the thing they are
representing and so the relationship is indirect and arbitrary. !
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Pictograms
-Known also as “picture writing”!
•This directly represents that object that it intends to represent. !
•Meaning through direct resemblance. !
•There is a literal representation of the object. !
•There is a form of communication found throughout the ancient and modern world.!
•Can be distinguished from other kinds of representation because of its legibility
across time and cultural contexts. !
-Think of one example of pictograms that you personally use on the daily?!
Ideograms
-These are similar to pictograms, but they primarily represent ideas that are not
interpretable across contexts. !
•Idea pictures or idea writing. !
•Can represent a word, phrase or concept.!
•The difference between pictograms and ideograms is often blurry. !
•Ideograms typically require previous cultural knowledge to interpret, while
pictograms have direct non-arbitrary meaning. !
Quick Note
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Rough Timeline of the Roman Alphabet
- 4000 BCE: Sumerian cuneiform.!
- 3000 BCE: Hieroglyphs.!
- 1500 BCE: West Semitic Syllabary of
the Phoenicians.!
- 1000 BCE: Greeks borrow
Phoenician consonantal alphabet. !
- 750 BCE: Etruscans borrow Greek
alphabet.!
- 500 BCE: Romans adapt the
Etruscan/Greek alphabet to Latin. !
Cuneiform Origins
-Ancient Mesopotamian form of writing developed by Sumerians in what we now
know to be Iraq using pictographic form (Sumerian script)!
-~3100 BCE.!
-Carved into clay tablets. !
-Mostly administrative in nature. !
•Business documents, prayers, poems, proverbs, practices. !
-The complexity and stylization of these increased over time. !
Cuneiform
-High stylized form of writing developed into system called cuneiform. !
•This means “wedge shaped”!
•By the time we get to a high degree of stylization, there is little resemblance
between form and meaning. !
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Document Summary
Writing relies on the visual system: handwriting, braille, printing, electronic displays. While spoken language is nearly e ortless, written language requires conscious instruction and e ort. The idea that ideas could be expressed non-verbally rst came about ~30,000 years ago with the development of cave art. Chauvet cave, part of the aurignation culture in france launched a period of behavioural modernity in humans. Cave depictions are non-arbitrary and direct: storytelling, figurative cave paintings (rock art, sculpture and material culture. Pictograms: those images that are used to express a thing in a consistent manner. These are language-dependant and usually have a direct correspondence to the object represented. Ideograms: the ways that ideas are expressed in writing. These may be linguistically and culturally dependant for proper interpretation and may be stylized. In this way, similar concepts may use the same sort of symbol, such as sun, heat, and daytime being represented by the same ideogram.
