The material dimensions of signification: Rethinking the nature and emergence of semiosis in the debate on human origins

In this paper, I suggest that these theoretical fallacies about the nature and emergence of material signification can be overcome by combining a pragmatic semiotic theory with an enactive theory of cognition. Briefly put, a pragmatic semiotic theory describes the nature of material signification by recognising that significative concepts can be founded on physical qualities and relations, whereas an enactive theory of cognition accounts for the emergence of material signification by explaining how significative concepts are brought forth through the constitutive entwinement of mind and matter. Through the synergistic fusion of these theoretical tenets, the origins of material signification can be examined from an ontological perspective that treats the generation of significative meaning as the emergent product of material engagement. In its light, the preoccupation of most evolutionary archaeologists with the notion of “modernity” appears to be inherently problematic. It is therefore ultimately proposed that the dominant symbolic interpretation of material signification need be replaced with a pragmatic and enactive theory of cognitive semiotics that is suitably geared to trace the evolution of prehistoric material signs.