8 - The Art of Memory: Memory, Inscription, and Place

Summary

Prehistoric societies are often referred to as societies without texts, societies before written history. I have yielded to the overarching distinction between prehistory and history as all the prehistoric examples I have discussed so far have focussed on the nontextual and implicit use of artefacts in commemorative practices. In Chapters 8 and 9 I shift my focus to inscription as a possible form of explicit commemorative practice.

The appearance of writing has traditionally been seen to accompany a shift in social organisation. Childe (1981[1950]) considered writing to be one of the defining components of civilisation; a corollary of the ‘urban revolution’ (Childe 1981[1950], 144–5). However, the simplistic relationship between writing and the emergence of states is called into question by the existence of the quipu or khipu, a knotted cord artefact used to convey information, in use by the Inka state. As Salomon remarks: ‘the fact that some huge states got along without writing should invite searching questions about whether grammatological or anthropological understandings of writing are really up to the task of explaining relations among language, inscription, social practice and socio-political integration’ (Salomon 2001, 1). Another example comes from the use of writing in the Shang period of China c. 1500–1045 BC. Written scripts are found on the plastron (lower shell) of tortoises, which are subsequently burnt and fragmented. It is likely this early script was used on these ‘oracle bones’ for the purposes of divination rather than administration (Highham 2005, 558–9).