This paper addresses the question of the nature of art, how it came to be, how it fits with other communications revolutions, and the implications of the emergence of art as a means of visual communication. How did iconic imagery emerge from other mark-making among humans and their ancestors and what has been its significance? I situate visual communication as the second revolution of the six communication revolutions during human evolution: the emergence of language, iconic imagery, writing, printing, various means of communication at a distance, and the digital electronic revolution. I begin by discussing the context of deliberate production of marks in the environment, with emphasis on the relations between (1) the producer of the mark and the mark, (2) the producer of the mark and an informed observer at the time, (3) the mark and the informed observer in the absence of the producer and (4) the uninformed observer and the mark. It is fundamental that at some stage the producer intended the mark to represent something, a subject in the real or imagined world. I emphasize the importance of telling stories and singing songs in secular and ritual contexts. Out of this framework, I discuss some of the earliest objects called art in relation to their semiotic elements. I outline my arguments about how these semiotic categories were transformed in the emergence of pictures during archaeohistory. I go on to discuss how all these examples of image production connect to that which is called art in western society. I conclude by reflecting on the impact of these changes of means of communication on human cognition. Each of the revolutions involved changes in the relationships among the communicative act (sensu lato), the agent and receivers of the communication, the perception and interpretation of the communication and the persistence of it through time and ultimately across space.

中文翻译：

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商标，图片和艺术：它们对传播革命的贡献

本文探讨了艺术的本质，它是如何发展，如何与其他传播革命相适应的问题，以及艺术作为一种视觉传播手段的出现所带来的影响。标志性图像是如何从人类及其祖先的其他标记中出现的？它的意义是什么？我将视觉通信定位为人类进化过程中六次通信革命的第二次革命：语言的出现，标志性图像，文字，印刷，远距离的各种通信方式以及数字电子革命。我首先讨论环境中故意制造商标的背景，重点是（1）商标的生产者与商标之间的关系，（2）商标的生产者与当时知情的观察者之间的关系，（3）在生产者不在场的情况下，商标和知情的观察员；以及（4）在不知情的情况下，观察员和商标。在某个阶段，生产者意图使商标代表某种东西，这是现实世界或想象中的世界，这是至关重要的。我强调在世俗和仪式场合讲故事和唱歌的重要性。在这个框架之外，我将讨论与符号符号有关的一些最早的对象，称为艺术。我概述了有关考古历史期间图片出现时这些符号学类别是如何转变的论点。我将继续讨论所有这些图像制作实例如何与西方社会所谓的艺术联系起来。最后，我通过反思这些交流方式的变化对人类认知的影响。sensu lato），通信的主体和接收者，对通信的感知和解释以及它在时间上以及在整个空间中的持久性。