The History of Visual Communication and Writing Systems

Prehistoric Visual Communication

  • Early Human Markings: Found in Africa, dating back over 200,000200,000 years. Cave paintings span Paleolithic to Neolithic periods (35,000–4000 BCE35,000\text{--}4000\text{ BCE}); notable example is Lascaux Caves in southern France.
  • Key Definitions:
    • Petroglyphs: Carved, incised, or scratched figures in rock.
    • Pictograph: Painted image on rock representing an object or scene.
    • Ideograph: Symbol representing an idea or concept.
  • Materials & Pigments:
    • Charcoal: Black pigment from burned wood/plant material.
    • Iron Oxides: Yellow and red-brown pigments.
    • Binder: Fat used to bind pigments to cave walls.

Early Writing in Mesopotamia

  • Mesopotamia: Meaning "land between rivers," considered a cradle of civilization (developed cities, government, writing, culture).
  • Sumerian Writing:
    • Proto-Cuneiform: Early writing system (~3100 BCE3100\text{ BCE}) using pictographic/ideographic signs in grid zones.
    • Clay Tablet Process: Kneaded clay \rightarrow triangular wedge reed stylus \rightarrow dried \rightarrow baked/fired for durability.
  • Code of Hammurabi (1792–1750 BCE1792\text{--}1750\text{ BCE}): Law code depicted on stone showing Hammurabi receiving authority from the sun god Shamash.
  • Cylinder Seals: Allowed reproduction of images, serving as a precursor to printing.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Papyrus

  • Hieroglyphics Structure: Combines pictograms (objects), phonograms (sounds), and determinatives (categories).
  • Rebus Principle: Uses pictures to represent words or syllables based on phonetic similarity.
  • Papyrus: Made from Cyperus papyrus plant along the Nile by stripping rind, laying inner pith strips horizontally and vertically (recto and verso), soaking, pressing, drying, and polishing.

Illustrated Manuscripts

  • Evolution: Pyramid Texts \rightarrow Coffin Texts \rightarrow Papyrus manuscripts \rightarrow Book of the Dead.
  • Book of the Dead: Illustrated papyrus scrolls containing spells and protection to guide the deceased through the underworld, such as Anubis weighing a heart against a feather.

Development of the Alphabet

  • Alphabet Concept: Replaced hundreds of complex cuneiform/hieroglyphic signs with 20–3020\text{--}30 simple signs representing spoken sounds (derived from Greek Alpha + Beta).
  • Early Systems:
    • Cretan / Minoan: Picture symbols (~2800 BCE2800\text{ BCE}), linear script (~1700 BCE1700\text{ BCE}), and Phaistos Disk (241241 signs).
    • North Semitic / Phoenician: Developed by Canaanites, Hebrews, and Phoenicians; spread across the Mediterranean by Phoenician merchants.
  • Adaptations & Evolution:
    • Greek Alphabet: Adopted ~1000 BCE1000\text{ BCE}, converted 55 consonants to vowels.
    • Latin Alphabet: Transmitted from Greece via Etruscans; featured Capitalis Quadrata (Square Capitals) and Capitalis Rustica (Rustic Capitals).
    • Parchment: Animal skin medium (calves, sheep, goats) common ~190 BCE190\text{ BCE}; Vellum is the finest grade from newborn or unborn calves.
    • Hangul (Korean Alphabet): Decreed by King Sejong in 1446 CE1446\text{ CE}; features 1414 consonants (based on mouth/tongue shape) and 1010 vowels (lines/dots for person, earth, heaven) arranged in rectangular syllable blocks.