Principles of semiotic analysis

Giorgio Buccellati – November 2006, April 2026

Intro

From morphology to semiotics

The integrative dimension, or lack thereof, must not however become a handicap that prevents publication, no more than a lack of a full depositional understanding, or of typological analysis, should hold us back from recognizing the emplacement data’s rightful claim to immediate publication. Hence in many a case (particularly in the future as we expect to arrive at a full publication shortly after the completion of any given season) integrative reflection may be wanting from the early version of any given excavation Unit. Also, in many cases integrative analysis may pertain more properly to a broader Area (e.g., AA) then to a single Unit (e.g., A16).

Integrative analysis relies on comparative material from other sites, and on their interpretation. This applies both to structures and objects. For instance, the Urkesh Temple Terrace can best be understood in relationship to the analogous structure in Tell Chuera and in contrast with the ziggurats in the south. Similarly, the distinctive realistic style of Urkesh glyptics can be appreciated especially when seen in constrast with the more stylized Sumerian glyptics on the one hand, or with the different realistic style of Akkadian glyptics on the other.

Clustering

The concept of clustering provides the fundamental conceptual underpinning for integrative analysis – building on the inner-referential clustering of stratigraphic and typological analysis, and expanding it to include any possible element from whatever context. A complex interaction among elements emerges, which opens ever wider windows onto the historical significance of the finds from the excavation.

There are two major types of clustering, along temporal or functional lines, resulting in periodization and comparative analysis.

Semiotics – three fields

refer to Typology principles

Semiotics – integrative

Periodization: temporal clustering

The Urkesh Global Record will make room for integrative analysis in the measure in which the excavators may present some reflections from the very early stages of their work, leaving further room for more in depth contributions at later stages of the research. But one aspect of integrative analysis which must be taken into account from the very beginning relates to periodization.

This requires linking chronometry to chronology, i. e., the configurstion of strata (derived from the analysis of contact association amo;ng elements in the ground) with what is known as absolute chronology, i. e., the wider chronological spectrum established on the basis of evidence from other sources.

Comparative analysis: functional clustering

The recognition of typologically defined elements is helped and enlarged by comparative analysis with elements that are not only not in contact in the same excavation, but also and especially with elements from other sites. This applies to elements of the built environment as well as to movable items: a “palace” or a “temple” can be so defined because of the structural similarities with what is found at other sites, and the same goes for a seal or a ceramic vessel.

Organization of space

Perceptual topography

Within the framework of our grammar, and on the limited basis of what I have called contextual archaeology, we will focus on the spatial arrangement of features and items that can, under certain conditions, be understood as having been the stimulus for specific perceptions by the ancient observers. These perceptions can be argued and assessed, with procedures that are outlined below.

This is especially so in view of the quality of permanence that shared perceptions develop, so that they become as if reified over space and time. I consider these procedures to be in line with, and in some ways alternative to, the goals of cognitive archaeology.

There are recognizable ways in which space is organized, on at least three levels:

collocational analysis: architectural spaces are seen in terms of the impact that coordinated volumes have on perception;
taxonomical analysis: the aggregation of objects in distinct formal classes is perceived in its typological coherence;
environmental analysis: the built environment is seen in its wider natural setting.

Perceptual analysis simply pays attention to patterns of correlation in these various areas, which may be interpreted as reflecting choices made by the ancients, and I will give in what follows a few examples for each of these three areas. The fundamental theoretical presupposition is that the analysis be based on clearly definable formal patterns: pointing these out will always retain a primary value, even if further interpretations built on the initial recognition may be questionable. In other words, we may safely attribute intentionality to the formal patterns, even if we may be less certain as to the intended perceptual goal underlying the initial intention.

It may be noted that this approach is especially useful when there is coherence of the built environment over a large urban scene. This is often lacking in the archaeological context, but to the extent that it is available, we must develop the appropriate sensitivity for recognizing its presence. Baroque architecture is one of the best example of architecture conceived as on a stage, whereby this very aspect of “staging” calls for an audience properly located, i.e., so placed as to allow the best possible view of the architecture.

Objects in space

The placement of objects in space is less likely to be preserved as it was originally intended. Short of clear cases of a destruction not followed by attempts at retrieval, it is mostly the moments of abandonment and discard that cause the arrangement we find in the ground today. Additionally, we do not find perishable items such as rugs, tapestries and wooden items that would have substantially modified the appearance of interior spaces.

Still, it is worth paying attention to cases where the arrangement of non-perishable elements suggests an intentional organization of items, one that has implications for the perceptual response this would have evoked. Take for examaple the location of bread ovens (tannurs) and andirons, which would have served as focal points in directing the attention of people in the room. Or the rows of stones parallel to the revetment wall of the Temple Terrace (= BT), which I have called “curtain walls” (though only two or three rows high), on the assumption that they served to establish a symbolically inaccessible buffer in front of the wall itself, thus setting off the wall as the unsurmountable barrier this side of the divine world.

Even patterns of discard may be meaningful. In the service wing of the royal Palace of Urkesh, the floor in room B1 was strewn with discarded pieces of sealings that had been broken when opening containers such as jars. These fragments are embedded in the soft accumulation that piled up gradually on the thinly plastered earthen floor. It appears additionally that the matrix of these accumulations varies in color between a buff pink and a dark grey, an alternation that correlates to the presence or absence of door sills. My interpretation is that as the accumulations rose, new doors were set in place with new door sills: following each such new installation, the room was more tightly sealed, and little or no ash could come into the room from the adjacent courtyard (hence the pink strata, resulting from the deposition of “clean” dust); as the door became less effective, more ash would instead filter into the closed space and be deposited on the ground. We may accordingly reconstruct a perception of the room as being heavily used, with such constant activity that no amount of cleaning could eliminate all discards, which would instead become firmly embedded in the ground through a process of heavy compaction.

Perceptual geography

Perceptual geography has been defined as the way in which factual geographical features are recomposed in the vision of the onlooker, through perceptual registers that are not only proper to a given individual, but are also explicitly transmitted within a given social group. The built environment is always a part of its wider geographical setting, and we must be mindful of this dimension as well within the purview of perceptual analysis.

In Mozan, the landscape still reflects the situation that obtained at the time of Urkesh. Other sites in the area are not so fortunate. As a result we can include today’s geographical scene in our attempt to identify appropriate points of view of the built environment which we are slowly bringing to light.

The most apparent dimension is that of the northern highlands, which form a splendid backdrop to the city as one approaches it from the south. This applies in particular to the monumental Temple Terrace, which is indeed approached from the south through the wide open space of the Plaza (= JP). I have suggested that the triangular pattern along the face of the revetment wall of the Temple Terrace may represent an explicit ideological reference to the mountains. This would represent an intentional expression of a precise perceptual dimension. In any case, the Temple Terrace, this major monumental embodiment of religious ideology, emerges as an even more unified whole when framed against the high ridge which dominates, at not a great distance, its northern horizon.

perceptual topography

see perception

see constructional

review

The recognition of typologically defined elements is helped and enlarged by comparative analysis with elements that are no only not in contact in the same excavation, but also and especially by elements from other sites. This applies to elements of the built environment as well as to movable items: a “palace” or a “temple” can be so defined because of the structural similarities with what is found at other sites, and the same goes for a seal or a ceramic vessel.