Project Description
2024-2028
Humans store information outside of their minds. This capacity for information encoding is reflected in symbols and written language, and it underlies artificial computing systems. It is a hallmark of human evolution. Traces of this capacity have "fossilized" in the archaeological record reaching back into the Paleolithic of c. 400 000 to 11 000 thousand years ago. The EVINE project (Evolution of Visual INformation Encoding) proposes to digitize large scale samples of paleolithic finds, and to compare their information encoding potential to ancient and modern writing. This enables us to pinpoint the transitions in information encoding from the first signs to the information age.
This project is funded by an ERC Starting Grant (ERC, EVINE, 101117111).
Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum (Switzerland)
June 2026Ewa Dutkiewicz visits the Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum in Zurich and the Sammlungszentrum in Affoltern am Albis. Thanks to the curator of the Stone and Bronze Age department Jacqueline Perifanakis for her hospitality and help with the finds.
International Conference, PETRI Berlin
May 6-8Ewa Dutkiewicz, Christian Bentz, and Éva David organized the International Conference on "Engraving Bones" at the PETRI Berlin. Many thanks to Marieluise Hahn, Carla Olabe, and Gizem Özbey for their support with conference organization. Finally, thanks also to all the participants for making this an inspiring meeting!
