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Evolution and Theories of Communication | 63

The Roots of the Present
Invention of printing started the modern age in the field of communication.
The technique of multiple reproductions, by the printing of images and
writings initially engraved on stone or wood, first appeared 2,500 years ago.
The impact of this invention was more spectacular initially in promoting the
spread and proliferation of knowledge and ideas than in developing mass
information as this came to be understood later. The important advance in
book production came with the invention of paper. The next invention was
of printing and when the age of printing and diffusion of books arrived, the
way was open for the transformations, which led to the Renaissance and
the Reformation.

sTages in The DevelopmenT of human CommuniCaTion

A Theory of Transitions
It is the mastery of the communication system used for information storage,
exchange, and dissemination that represents the critical points of change in
human history and even prehistory. It was the increasing ability to commu-
nicate fully and accurately that led to the escalating development of complex
technology, and to myths, legends, explanations, logic, and the complex rules
for behaviour that make civilization possible.
The age of signs and signals started very early in the progression of
pre-hominid and early pre-human life, long before our primitive ancestors
walked upright. Inherited or instinctual responses played a significant role
in such communication, and learned communication behaviour was at a
basic minimum. As brain capacity slowly increased, the processes and their
importance were reversed. Literally, millions and millions of years passed
before it became possible to adopt at least some standardized—learned and
shared—gestures, sounds, and other kinds of signals that could be used by
succeeding generations to engage in the basic exchanges needed for a social
life. This could be achieved through the category of speech. Many animals
use cries, shrieks, and bodily postures to signal danger, the presence of food,
availability for mating, and conditional hunting.
A radical change occurred rather quickly (in terms of the sweep of
time we are considering) when humans moved into the age of speech and
language. Compelling evidence now exists that this age began rather recently
with the sudden appearance of the Cro Magnon, a new form of Homo sapiens.
Although this conclusion is not universally shared, it appears that these—
our most immediate ancestors—began to talk somewhere between 90,000
and 40,000 years ago. About 35,000 years ago language was in use.

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