Milevski & Levy/Framing Archaeology, 4. Semiotics in Action

Between 6500 - 5500 B.C. significant changes occurred in different parts of Central Anatolia. Those multidimensional transformations included changes of the Neolithic imagery exemplified by the gradual disappearance of in - house wall paintings and installations in favor of increase of decorated pottery, making imagery more mobile. In Neolithic sites like Çatalhöyük a consistent repertoire of images was used and reproduced through time. Some of them have been ‘inherited’ by younger communities. This paper is an attempt of explaining the reproduction of old Neolithic images across the Chalcolithic Central Anatolia. Theoretical approach employed here draws on the semiotics of Charles. S. Peirce which offers a set of powerful concepts well suitable for investigating the imagery. I will use selected Peircean terms, in particular replica and replication to explain the spread of the Neolithic imagery in the later periods.