On the problem of the interpretation of symbols and symbolism in archaeology

This chapter discusses the use of the terms symbols, symbolism, and symboling in the archaeological literature. The lack of definition and any grounding in cognitive theory makes identifying prehistoric symbols and symboling more art than science. A multiplicity of claims from the literature highlight the tendency to claim almost any form from any period of prehistory as symbolic. After the problem is defined, an alternative approach is proposed. The alternative suggests grounding symbols and symboling in contemporary cognitive theory; this would permit the construct to be operationalized as qualities potentially discernable in prehistoric material forms. A multi-level construct is also proposed, one that is not only capable of differentiating symbolic cognition as exhibited by the human species today from the presumably non-symbolic cognition of contemporary non-human primates but which is also able to differentiate both from the emergent symboling capacities of ancestral hominins.