The speaker, a researcher, studies the oldest art in the world, specifically the geometric signs found in caves across Europe, created by early artists between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago. These signs, such as lines, triangles, and circles, appear in similar forms across the continent, suggesting a shared system of graphic communication. The speaker believes that these signs, while not a full writing system, represent a protosystem that laid the foundation for later writing systems. The research suggests that these early artists were making intentional choices when creating these signs, which may have represented various concepts, objects, or ideas. The speaker argues that understanding the origins and development of graphic communication is essential to understanding human history and the evolution of creativity, imagination, and abstract thought.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Ancient people in Europe entered underground caves and left behind mysterious engravings and paintings.
2. These engravings and paintings include geometric signs, animals, and humans.
3. The oldest art in Europe was created between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago.
4. The development of modern human communication is linked to the invention of graphic communication.
5. There are three main types of communication: spoken, gestural, and graphic.
6. Graphic communication decouples the relationship between the sender and receiver of a message.
7. Europe is one of the first places where graphic marks regularly appear in caves, rock shelters, and open-air sites.
8. Over 350 Ice Age rock art sites have been found across Europe.
9. The majority of study has focused on the animal images found in these sites.
10. Geometric signs far outnumber animal and human images at most sites.
11. A researcher compiled a database of all known geometric signs from rock art sites in Europe.
12. There are only 32 geometric signs found across a 30,000-year time span in Europe.
13. These signs are not random doodles or decorations, but rather intentional choices made by the artists.
14. The repetition of the same signs across space and time suggests that they had culturally recognized meanings.
15. The geometric signs may be one of the oldest systems of graphic communication in the world.
16. The oldest systems of writing, such as Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, emerged between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.
17. These early writing systems developed from earlier protosystems made up of counting marks and pictographic representations.
18. The geometric signs from Ice Age Europe were likely used for counting and creating stylized representations of objects in the world.
19. Researchers have begun to ask questions about the meaning of specific signs at certain sites.
20. The development of writing systems did not come out of a vacuum, but rather built upon earlier forms of graphic communication.