History of communication

The history of communication traces how people have shared information through speech, writing, symbols, and technologies, and how those methods reshaped societies.

Oral tradition: The transmission of knowledge, stories, and customs through spoken language across generations. Before widespread writing, memory and performance preserved shared knowledge.
Cave painting: A prehistoric image made on a cave wall or ceiling. Cave images are among the earliest surviving evidence of humans conveying meaning through symbols.
Postal system: An organized service for collecting, transporting, and delivering letters and parcels. Postal networks connected distant communities through regular, physical message delivery.
Literacy: The ability to read and write in a language or other symbolic system. The spread of writing and print changed who could access and produce information.
Media ecology: The study of how media technologies shape human perception, social organization, and culture. This approach treats communication environments as forces that alter society.
Writing: A system of visible marks that represents language or other information. Writing made messages durable and separable from the speaker.
Cuneiform: An ancient writing system made with wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay. Its development in Mesopotamia provides an early example of writing used for administration and recordkeeping.
Newspaper: A periodical publication reporting news and other information to the public. Newspapers turned print into a recurring channel for shared current events.
Reformation: A sixteenth-century religious movement that divided Western Christianity and reshaped European institutions. Printed texts helped reformers circulate arguments beyond local audiences.
Technological determinism: The view that technology strongly determines social and cultural change. It offers a technology-centered explanation for historical shifts in communication.

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