What is the origin of visual symbols? The artifacts that are viewed as the first visual symbols-or at least their prototypes-are the remains of stones and other objects with engravings and colorful markings. Our only access to the origin of this behavior that we share with our ancestors within the genus Homo is through skeletons, artifacts, and genetic testing, and we can only draw indirect conclusions about the reasons for their behavior and the underlying cognitive capacities. Yet indications from different disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and psychology, fit together to form an overall picture. Through empirical studies, we can analyze and draw conclusions from the advantageous visual effects caused by material symbols. In this review, we first examine a definition of visual symbols that captures their essential characteristics and also provide an overview of the evolution of Homo sapiens and the emergence of the species' cultural behavior. Next, we present two prominent theories regarding the origin of material symbols: a cultural intensification across the entire evolution of the genus Homo versus a later cultural revolution involving only anatomically modern humans and the assumption of additional anatomical or genetic changes, and we describe the difficulties each theory faces. We then examine differences in the cultural behaviors of different primates and indicate which aspects of the two theories are testable, discussing the advantages and limitations of experimental approaches. In conclusion, we clarify how the invention of material symbols can be embedded in the (cultural) evolution of Homo sapiens. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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关于视觉符号的由来。

视觉符号的起源是什么？被视为第一个视觉符号的人工制品（至少是它们的原型）是石头和带有雕刻和彩色标记的其他物体的残骸。我们与人类同源的祖先共有这种行为起源的唯一途径是通过骨骼，人工制品和基因测试，并且我们只能得出关于其行为原因和潜在认知能力的间接结论。然而，来自不同学科（包括人类学，考古学，进化生物学和心理学）的适应症一起构成了一个整体。通过实证研究，我们可以从物质符号引起的有利视觉效果进行分析并得出结论。在这篇评论中 我们首先检查视觉符号的定义，以捕捉其基本特征，并概述人类的进化以及该物种文化行为的出现。接下来，我们提出两种有关物质符号起源的著名理论：人类整个进化过程中的文化强化与仅涉及现代解剖学人类的后来文化革命以及其他解剖学或遗传学变化的假设，并描述了困难每个理论都面临。然后，我们研究了不同灵长类动物在文化行为上的差异，并指出了这两种理论的哪些方面是可检验的，并讨论了实验方法的优点和局限性。结论，我们阐明了物质符号的发明如何可以嵌入到智人的（文化）进化中。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。