A computational linguistic methodology for assessing semiotic structure in prehistoric art and the meaning of southern Scandinavian Mesolithic ornamentation
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Non-figurative prehistoric art is comparatively common yet challenging to decode and hence to understand. At the heart of the difficulty of assessing the presence of semiotic structure in prehistoric art is a lack of appropriate, replicable, and case-transferable methodologies. We here propose a novel approach derived from computational linguistics, in which k-skip-n-gram (skipgram) models and associated pointwise mutual information (PMI) measures are customised to the analysis of prehistoric art. In applying this methodology to a large corpus of portable art from the South Scandinavian Mesolithic, we demonstrate how the mutual relationship between individual motifs can be established. In the case of Mesolithic portable art, our analysis strongly suggests that there is no evident semiotic structure – this was likely not a form of proto-writing – but salient changes of motif occurrence over time are detectable. These changes are sensitive to changes in population density, structure, and connectedness, and may relate to increased territoriality in the Late Mesolithic. The method presented here is readily case-transferable and renders possible further linguistic and semiotic analyses of prehistoric art.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Archaeological Science is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes focus articles, original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance. The journal provides an international forum for archaeologists and scientists from widely different scientific backgrounds who share a common interest in developing and applying scientific methods to inform major debates through improving the quality and reliability of scientific information derived from archaeological research.