Mapping communication. A contextual approach to gestures in the art of Bronze Age Crete

Dr Ute Günkel-Maschek from the University of Heidelberg delivered the talk on 22 January 2020.

The Late Bronze Age culture of Minoan Crete (c. 1700 to 1200 BC) has left us with a body of two- and three-dimensional depicTons of vividly gesturing human (and animal) figures. The lack of readable written sources, however, which could reveal at least some of the figures’ identity and action, means that we have no knowledge whatsoever of the depicted gestures’ function and meaning.

In her paper, Ute elaborates on the problems posed by the depictions of gestures in Minoan art and proposes a contextual approach, which uses concept mapping to visualize the structural integration of gestures within the contexts of Minoan figural scenes and statues. The aim of this approach is to understand patterns of communication with gestures by revealing their conceptual fields and how they were structurally integrated within them. Together with the formal specification of the depicted gesture, this method fundamentally improves our understanding of how gestures were used as a means of communication in Minoan art and paves the way for further interpretation.