Keywords In and Out of Context

Further related to my “semiotic thresholds” paper in the Journal of Documentation, I noted on page 1016 that

“Eco’s upper boundaries (1976, pp. 21–28) are delineated by a presumed threshold between semiosis and symbolism, a milestone in hominin history, as symbolic cognition must have been present prior to the development of language capabilities and has clearly continued alongside these. Eco’s example of the existence of stone tools used by Australopithecine hominins illustrates this threshold: the creation of a stone tool cannot be considered semiotic until its function is actually identified, named, and communicated. Language is not necessary for this, but shared semiosis is, and the fossil record indicates that early hominins were capable of some forms of semiotic behavior. Beyond that, as Sonesson (2019) points out, it is still unclear as to how the upper semiotic threshold into symbolic culture was crossed, and by whom.”

New reports on the Homo naledi findings in South Africa and what appears to be a history of their purposeful burial and geometric carvings within the Rising Star cave complex indicates that this species may have crossed the symbolic boundary long before Homo sapiens did.. and provides a warning to us that even shared symbolism does not ensure species survival.

As an aside, I was also sorry to learn that Dr. Göran Sonesson has recently passed away, as he was an extraordinary contributor to the field of cognitive semiotics.