Evolution in COMMUNICATION

Hauser, M. D. (1997). The evolution of communication. MIT Press. Pinker, S. (2007). The stuff of thought: Language as a window into human nature. Viking.

Prepared by: Rica Marcet O. Funtecha, MAEL

What do you see? Can you make out a message from the image?
Humans have evolved from simple forms of
communication, such as gestures and grunts, to complex
systems of language and writing. This evolution has been
driven by a variety of factors, including the need to
cooperate, share knowledge, and express emotions.

Understanding the evolution of communication can help

us better appreciate the diversity of human languages,
and appreciate developing new forms of communication
technology.
PETROGLYPHS
- these are illustrations created by abolishing a part of a rock surface by incising or carving
as a form of rock art.

The Angono - Binangonan Petroglyphs

are petroglyphs carved into a rock wall in
Binangonan, Rizal, Philippines. It consists
of 127 human and animal figures engraved
on the rock wall carved in the late Neolithic,
or before 2000 BC.

They are the oldest known work of art in the

Philippines. The engravings are mostly
symbolic representations and are
associated with healing and magic. The site
is sacred for indigenous Tagalog folk
religion and is believed to be a home
for anitos.
Animal figures such as goats (male goats with
very large and pointed horns), feliformia (cat-like
carnivore), Canidae (dog-like carnivore), horses,
dromedaries (one-hump camel), owls, fish, tigers,
cows, and birds. Also carved are herb figures and
images of martial arts, magic dance, pregnant
women, camel caravans, and people with big
hands.
Teymareh (or Teimareh) Petroglyphs in Tehran, Iran

In March 2020, a team of entomologists and

archaeologists concluded that a previously found
petroglyph depicts a six-limbed creature with the
head and arms of a praying mantis.

The rare 14-centimeter rock carving was first

discovered during surveys between 2017 and
2018.
Tehran Times, 5.28.23
 CAVE PAINTINGS
are painted drawings on cave walls or
ceilings.

- evidence showed that these were not

merely ornaments of living areas since
the places which these were found
don’t have traces of ongoing habitation.

- A theory by archaeologist David

Lewis-Williams states that paintings
were made by Paleolithic shamans who
Lascaux cave in Dordogne, France
would evacuate into the blackness of
the caves enter into a hypnotic trance,
and then painted images of their
visions.
 Cave Drawings in Peñablanca,
Cagayan.

The drawing depicting a human-

like figure on a cave wall is
considered Southeast Asia’s first
directly dated rock art.

Using the radiocarbon method, it

was learned that the pigment
samples were approximately
3,500 years old.

Panela, S. (2021). 3,500-year-old Rock Art Found in Cagayan. Rappler

Bharatanatyam is an Indian classical
dance which began as a temple dance for
women, to express Hindu religious stories
and devotions.

The dance is characterized by its distinctive

movements, hand gestures and facial
expressions. These elements work together
to convey stories, emotions, and ideas.
Each movement has a specific meaning,
enabling dancers to narrate tales from
epics or depict the beauty of nature and
emotions like love, anger, and joy.
 HAKA
Known as a 'war challenge' or
'war cry' in Māori culture, the
haka was traditionally
performed by men before
going to war.

The aggressive facial

expressions were meant to
scare the opponents, while
the cry itself was to lift their
own morale and call on God
for help to win.
BODY ART
- examples are tattoos, piercings, and
scarification. These have served as forms of
communication for millennia across various
cultures. It has been used to convey social status,
religious beliefs, tribal affiliations, and personal
narratives.

Today, body art is still a relevant form of

Devotees travel to the Wat Bang Phra
communication. In modern societies, body art can Monastery in Thailand, to adorn their
be seen as a way to express individuality, bodies with tattoos they believe to
challenge societal norms, or commemorate have mystical powers, ward off bad
luck, and protect them from harm.
significant life events. It continues to be a powerful Reuters, 3.26.24

tool for personal expression and cultural identity.

Body painting on the face and nude
male body is part of the psychological
preparation for war for Indigenous
American societies.

The designs evoke spiritual protection

& makes them look ferocious as
possible and evoke spiritual protection.
After battle, successful warriors were
painted with symbols to reflect his
achievements.

The nose piercings of Apatani

women mean:
- the larger the plugs, the more
attractive a woman is.
- the higher the social class, the
larger and more elaborate are the
piercings.
- enhancement of fertility. Thus it
is a common adornment for
women of childbearing age.
 WRITING
- Cuneiform Script is the oldest form of writing in the world. This writing system is not an alphabet,
and it doesn’t have letters. Instead it used between 600 -1,000 characters to write words (or parts of
them) or syllables (or parts of them).

- Originating in Mesopotamia, each cuneiform sign represented a syllable. The name "cuneiform" derives
from the Latin word "cuneus," meaning "wedge," as the script is composed of wedge-shaped marks
pressed into the clay. These clay tablets were then baked to preserve the inscriptions.

Translation: An upright jar with a pointed base symbolizing beer appears 3x on the
tablet. Beer was the most popular drink in Mesopotamia and was issued as rations to
workers. Alongside the pictographs are five different shaped impressions, representing
numerical symbols.

The signs are grouped into boxes and is read from top to bottom and right to left. One
sign, in the bottom row on the left, shows a bowl tipped towards a schematic human
head. This is the sign for “to eat.”
 WRITING
- Hieroglyphics/ Hieroglyphs
is a complex writing system that
originated in Ancient Egypt. They
primarily represent objects or ideas
The Rosetta Stone was a
through pictures, sound, revealed form of propaganda, then.
much about Egyptian astronomy, The inscription, written in
medicine, and mathematics, and three languages—formal
hieroglyphs, demotic (the
preserved ancient Egyptian “everyday” Egyptian script),
literature, religious texts, myths, and ancient Greek—
and historical accounts. declared that its readers
must hail Ptolemy V, “the
god who maketh himself
- Hieroglyphs were written on manifest, whose deeds are
papyrus, carved in stone on tomb beautiful.”
and temple walls, and used to
decorate many objects of cultic and
daily life use.
Kieger, P. (2021). 8 Facts About Ancient Egypt’s Hieroglyphic Writing. History.
 ALPHABET
The Phoenician Alphabet

-is the oldest confirmed alphabet

containing 22 letters, all of which are
consonants. It was acquired from
Egyptian hieroglyphics and was spread
by Phoenician merchants where it
expanded & was adopted by many
cultures.

- the 8th century BCE, the Greeks

borrowed this & adopted it in their own
language, thereby developing the “true
alphabet” in which vowels were included.
Gras, M, P. Rouillard, J. Teixidor. L'univers phénicien. Hachette, 2006
 DRAMA
Is a form of storytelling through performance, and was a powerful tool for communication throughout
history. It has been used to convey cultural values, teach moral lessons, and entertain audiences.

Greek Tragedies such as those by Kabuki is a Japanese theatrical Kathakali is a classical Indian
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, form where it features elaborate dance-drama form, known for its
explored themes of fate, morality, and costumes, dramatic makeup, and elaborate makeup, vibrant
the human condition. stylized acting. The play often costumes, & stylized movements, It
depicts historical events, love tells stories from Hindu mythology
stories, and supernatural themes. and epics.
Cornford, F. M. (1935). The origin of Attic comedy. Princeton University Press.
 PAPER
- Paper was first made in China by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese
court official. Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags
with water, mashed it into pulp, pressed out the liquid and
hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.

-300 years after Ts’ai’s discovery, the secret traveled to

the Middle East, and took another 500 years for
papermaking to enter Europe. One of the first paper mills
was built in Spain, and soon, paper was being made at
mills all across Europe.

-In 1690, the first U.S. paper mill was built in

Pennsylvania. Paper mills used the Chinese method of
shredding old rags and clothes into individual fibers to
make paper. As demand grew, the mills used fiber from
trees because wood was less expensive and more
abundant than cloth.
PRINTING PRESS

- This was invented by German Johannes

Gutenberg around 1440. He developed an
entire printing system which fulfilled the
printing operation through all of its stages.

- It is an apparatus for administering

pressure to an inked surface recessing
upon a print medium (paper/ cloth), thereby
transferring the ink.

- This invention was one of the prominent

events in the second millennium, and
marked the period of innovation.
 TELEGRAPHY
- This is the long distance broadcast of
textual or symbolic (as opposed to verbal
& audio) messages.

- An electrical telegraph was self-

sufficiently advanced & patented in the
US in 1837 by Samuel Morse. The first
telegram my Morse was sent on January
11, 1838 across 3 km of wire.

- In 1844, he sent the message WHAT

HATH GOD WROUGHT from the Capitol
in Washington to Baltimore.
 Alexander Graham Bell

TELEPHONE
-This is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a
conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. A telephone converts sound,
typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via
cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound
to the receiving user.
- The telephone was the first device in history that enabled people to talk directly with each
other across large distances.
FILM

-This is also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film, or photoplay.

This is a series of still images that when shown on a screen, generates
the illusion of moving images.

- This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion

between separate objects viewed in rapid succession. The process
of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.

-Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those
cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an
important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful
medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens.
- The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication
 RADIO
-Is the technology of using radio
waves to carry information, such
as sound, by systematically
modulating properties of
electromagnetic energy waves
transmitted through space.

- Before television, commercial

radio broadcasts included not only
news and music, but dramas
comedies, and variety shows. It
was exceptional among methods
of dramatic presentation because
it used only sound.
TELEVISION

-This is a telecommunication
medium used for transmitting
moving images
in monochrome (black and
white), or in color, and in two
or three dimensions.

-It is a mass medium for

entertainment, education,
news, and advertising. TV is
still by far the most effective
advertising medium.
PERSONAL COMPUTER

-The PC is a general-purpose
computer. Its size, capabilities,
and novel sale price make it
beneficial for individuals.

- It is envisioned to be worked
directly by an end-user with no
prevailing computer time-
sharing models that permitted
larger, more lavish
minicomputer and mainframe
systems to be used by many
people, usually at the same
time
MOBILE PHONE
-This is a portable telephone which can produce and receive calls over a radio frequency
carrier. Most services use a cellular network manner, and therefore they are often called
cellular telephones or cell phones.

-In 1973, the first handheld mobile phone was invented by John F. Mitchell and Martin
Cooper of Motorola. As of 2024, the top mobile phone manufacturers are: Apple, Samsung,
Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo.
 Suggested videos to watch and articles to read:

Petroglyphs in Angono (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK8FPm2Ii24

The Invention of Writing (Hieroglyph - Cuneiform) (video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IteCVkQJMTc

Morse Code & the Telegraph (website)

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph

Traditional Dances Of Asia: The Beauty, Spirituality And Cultural Heritage Of Asia (blog)
https://www.secret-retreats.com/blog/general-info/traditional-dances-of-asia-a-kaleidoscope-of-the-beauty-
spirituality-and-cultural-heritage-of-asia.html