Transcript The Media of Early Civilisation

The Media of Early Civilisation
before writing
References
 David Crowley and Paul Heyer.
Communication in History. 4 ed. Sydney:
Pearson, 2003. Part 1, chapter 1–5.
 Supplementary Reading:
- Ronald M Berndt & Catherine H Berndt with
John E Stanton. Aboriginal Australian Art.
Sydney, London, Cape Town, Singapore:
New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd, 1998, pp.
40-44, 104-112.
OVERVIEW
 The next six slides introduce the six
essays for this module.
Becoming human
 What is communication?
 Why is the development of expression a
measure of humanity?
 Do you agree with this?
Marshack: The Art and
Symbols of Ice Age Man
 What is Marshack’s fundamental claim?
 artifacts are not ‘ritual magic’
 artifacts are communications media; that
is, a systematic attempt at using symbols
to record information for others to use
 indicative of a ‘cultural revolution’.
Rudgley: A New Rosetta
Stone
 What is the ‘Rosetta Stone’?
 a record of trade transactions.
 In what way is his argument similar to
Marshack’s?
 What is an ideogram?
 a sign that does not look like what it represents
 possible indication of language development.
Innis: Media in Ancient
Civilisations
 Why do different cultures adopt different
types of communication mediums?
 What are the media?
 stone > ‘time-biased’ medium
 papyrus > ‘space-biased’ medium
Ascher(s):Civilization without
Writing
 Is writing necessary for civilisation?
 The quipu.
 space-biased medium that allowed
administration over great distances.
Robinson: The Origins of
Writing
 Writing styles:
 similar across civilisations
 provided information for a complex society
 allowed negotiation of complex ideas and
relationships.
 Principles of rudimentary writing styles
still present in today’s society.
FOCUS: Innis, Media in
Ancient Empires
 Hieroglyphics evolved independently
 Medw Netjer – ‘the god’s words’
 ‘The Book of the Dead’ used to traverse
the Underworld
 ‘Coffin Texts’ empowered the soul to
evade the weighing of the heart
The weighing of the heart
(Gahlin, L 2001, Egypt – gods, myths and religion, Lorenz Books, London, p. 144)
Innis, Media in Ancient
Empires
 Break down of the ‘divine kingship’ of the
Pharaohs.
 Establishment of a central, more democratic
system of government.
 Increase in administrative correspondence
necessitated the conversion to papyrus.
 Hieroglyphics gave way to a more simplified,
cursive form of writing called ‘Hieratic’.
 Durability of stone and the impermanence of
papyrus.
FOCUS: Robinson, The
Origins of Writing
 evolved from ‘pictograms’
 linked to the development of agriculture
 Did writing spread from Mesopotamia or did it
evolve individually in other cultures?
 Could the development of writing be a direct
result of necessity?
 Various cultures ‘borrowed’ from other writing
styles.
 “…all writing systems use a mixture of
phonetic and semantic signs” (Robinson
2003:38).
Phonography versus Logography
Robinson, The Origins of
Writing
 Are phonetics necessarily an essential
component of writing?
 What “has sound got to do with the
actual process of writing and reading?”
(Robinson 2003:38)
 ‘Modern hieroglyphics’ – universal
independent communicator.
Australian Perspective
 Aboriginal Art
Berndt, R. M et al. 1998, Aboriginal Australian Art, New Holland Publishers
Ltd, Sydney, London, Cape Town, Singapore, p.44
Aboriginal Art
 example of “non-verbal communication”
(Berndt et al. 1998:40)
 contains numerous layers of information
 dependent on an individual’s age,
gender and position within the
community
 acquired during ‘religious revelations’ on
particular subjects.