Overview

This innovative collection offers a holistic portrait of the multimodal communication potential of images from the Upper Paleolithic through to today, showcasing image-based creativity throughout the centuries. The volume seeks to extend the boundaries of our understanding of what language and writing can do to show how language can be understood as part of broader codes, as well as how images and figural objects can contribute to meaning-making in communication. The book is divided into four parts, each exploring a different dimension of the interplay between representation, symbolic meaning, and perception in the study of images, drawing on case studies from around the world. The first part looks at cognitive approaches to the earliest symbol-making while the second considers the interaction between images and writing in early scripts. The third part addresses images outside their boxes, showcasing how ancient communication devices can be reinterpreted. The final part features chapters reflecting on embodied semiotic approaches to the representation of images. This book will be of interest to scholars in semiotics, archaeology, cognitive psychology, and linguistic and cultural anthropology. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license 4.0 license.

Full Product Details

Author:   Silvia Ferrara ,  Mattia Cartolano ,  Ludovica Ottaviano
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.490kg
ISBN:  

9781032712994

ISBN 10:   1032712996
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   30 January 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Contents List of Contributors List of Plates List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Can Images Talk? (Silvia Ferrara and Ludovica Ottaviano) Part 1: The Earliest Images, Symbols, and Cognition 1. Marks, Signs, Symbols: Behavioural Modernity and the Early Homo sapiens (Enza Elena Spinapolice) 2. Between Nature and Culture: Interpreting Changes in Human Representations During the Early Neolithic in Northern Mesopotamia (Marion Benz and Joachim Bauer) Part 2: When Images Interact with Writing 3. Images Hidden in Script: The Invention of Writing in Ancient Iran (Kathryn Kelley) 4. Emblem Glyphs: Orthography and the Political World of Classic Maya Scribes (Mallory E. Matsumoto) Part 3. Images Outside their Boxes 5. Europe’s Other Writing: ‘Ominous Hieroglyphics’ and Belated Ekphrasis in the 19th Century (Christopher Pinney) 6. Aghori - The Voyage of an Anti-Hero: Comic Book Images and the Art of Storytelling (Roma Chatterji) Part 4: Representing Images through Lines, Bodies and Language 7. Art from Calligraphy: Chinese Writing Turns into Pictorial Images, Performative Actions, Design Products, and Graffiti Works (Adriana Iezzi) 8. Facial Scripts: The Semiotic Journey of Maori Tattoos from Colonial Gaze to Cultural Revival (Massimo Leone) 9. From Expressive Sign to Denotative Sign: On Some Semiotic Passages Connected to the Invention of Writing (Claudio Paolucci) Epilogue: Images Talking Through Time and Space (Mattia Cartolano) Index

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Author Information

Silvia Ferrara is Professor of Philology and Civilizations of the Aegean and Pre-Classical Mediterranean in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy. Mattia Cartolano is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy. Ludovica Ottaviano is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy.

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