Early Body Ornaments and the Origins of Our Semiotic Mind

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.

Antonis Iliopoulos is a postdoctoral researcher for the ERC HANDMADE project at the University of Oxford, UK, which explores creative gesture in pottery-making.