Semiotics and the origin of language in the Lower Palaeolithic



Barham, Lawrence ORCID: 0000-0002-5474-4668 and Everett, Daniel
(2021) Semiotics and the origin of language in the Lower Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 28 (2). pp. 535-579.

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Abstract

This paper argues that the origins of language can be detected one million years ago, if not earlier, in the archaeological record of Homo erectus. This controversial claim is based on a broad theoretical and evidential foundation with language defined as communication based on symbols rather than grammar. Peirce’s theory of signs (semiotics) underpins our analysis with its progression of signs (icon, index and symbol) used to identify artefact forms operating at the level of symbols. We draw on generalisations about the multiple social roles of technology in pre-industrial societies and on the contexts tool-use among non-human primates to argue for a deep evolutionary foundation for hominin symbol use. We conclude that symbol-based language is expressed materially in arbitrary social conventions that permeate the technologies of Homo erectus and its descendants, and in the extended planning involved in the caching of tools and in the early settlement of island Southeast Asia.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: language evolution, Peirce's theory of signs, tools as symbols, Acheulean technology, sea-faring
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Jul 2020 08:42
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 23:46
DOI: 10.1007/s10816-020-09480-9
Open Access URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-0...
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3093846