Picture: The Last Humans (Skull). Photo credit: Phillippe De Gobert
Line drawings are among the first manifestations of cognitive communication in early human behavior. These visible traces form the beginning of a mnemonic revolution, expanding human brain capacity enormously by externalizing memory. The specific signification of most drawings and petroglyphs got lost along the way, but their graphic endurance trough time, even into the present day (think #), invites us to recognize its importance for human evolution in general.
Starting with arguably the earliest example of an external memory device (a piece of ochre with crosshatched traces that was found in the Blombos cave in South Africa), my research follows the evolution and role of abstract signs and symbols as communication technology to expand, transform and transmit knowledge and information