By employing a cognitive semiotic theory based on pragmatism and enactivism, this book explores the nature and emergence of early body ornamentation, which has long been at the forefront of the debate on modern human origins.
Using a range of artefacts including the Blombos Cave Beads, ostrich eggshells, and engraved pieces of ochre, the book examines the connection between early body ornaments and the semiotic mind, and addresses the question of whether early body ornaments were made by a symbolic mind, or whether they provided the material and semiotic scaffolding required for such a mind to emerge.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introducing the Case of Early Body Ornaments
2. Searching for a Theory to Describe the Nature of Past Material Signs
3. Presenting the Semiotic Theory of Charles Sanders Peirce
4. Applying Peircean Semiotics to the Case of Early Body Ornaments
5. Searching for a Theory to Trace the Emergence of Past Material Signs
6. Composing a Pragmatic and Enactive Theory of Cognitive Semiotics
7. Applying Cognitive Semiotics to the Case of Early Body Ornaments
8. Concluding Thoughts on the Origins of our Semiotic Mind
Appendix: An Unorthodox Phenomenology of Round Shells
References
Index
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