A Shared Graphic Communication System Among Ancient Neolithic Societies?
Researchers from the University of Bologna have identified a series of visual codes with associative, repeated, and interconnected rules by analysing images and figurative objects made over ten thousand years ago by societies spread across present-day Türkiye and northern Syria
Had ancient Neolithic societies already developed a shared and standardised graphic communication system? This is the hypothesis put forward by Mattia Cartolano and Silvia Ferrara, researchers at the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies of the University of Bologna, in an analysis published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.
The study reveals that in the early stages of Neolithic, over ten thousand years ago, societies spread across present-day Türkiye and northern Syria were already producing images that were part of a system of visual codes with associative, repeated, and interconnected rules.
“We have identified some figures with particular traits, such as X-shaped snakes and stylised birds, which follow layouts and structures corresponding to specific and coded messages”, says Silvia Ferrara. “Therefore, it is likely that the creation of coded sequences of this type had a significant impact on the social life of ancient cultures as early as the Neolithic period”.
During the early Neolithic period (9,700–6,600 BC), human settlements across the Near East and Anatolia saw the emergence of several innovations, including animal domestication and breeding, the first cultivations, and the foundation of the first large villages. These advancements have had a profound impact on social relations and are also reflected in material culture, with numerous elements indicating contact and connections between different and distant communities.
Among these elements, the production of images and figurative objects plays a central role. By analysing various finds uncovered at ancient archaeological sites, the researchers from the University of Bologna sought to verify the presence of graphic codes — clear, easily understandable patterns that can be combined and related to one another.
Sequences of X-shaped snakes in composite figures (with details highlighted in red), birds and other stylised animal figures
“The findings we analysed show that several Neolithic communities across present-day Syria and Türkiye relied on shared graphic codes to mediate their increasingly numerous and complex relationships with animals, plants, and other human groups”, says Mattia Cartolano. “By comparing images and inscriptions from the archaeological sites, we can observe an experimental phase in which a series of different communication approaches were tested and modified over time”.
Amid significant socioeconomic changes, such as the foundation of the first large agricultural villages and the domestication of animals and plants, it is plausible that the early Neolithic communities began to use a series of coded images as a first communication tool.
“This system is neither clearly linear nor continuous; rather, it includes experimental phases and attempts with various communicative approaches”, says Silvia Ferrara. “Nevertheless, the development of shared graphic systems may have played a crucial role in influencing social and cultural dynamics during this pivotal prehistoric phase”.
The study was published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal with the title “Codes in the making. A New Appraisal of Neolithic Imagery in Southwest Asia.” The authors are Mattia Cartolano and Silvia Ferrara of the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies of the University of Bologna.
