Institute For Ice Age Studies

Representation and the Evolution of Cultural Memory

This notion of representation is also useful in understanding cultural memory. A newspaper article, a family photograph, a soldier's uniform, a computer image, a spoken word, a handshake and a cave painting are all linked by the fact that they are representations of some experienced reality. This very process of representation, especially when it takes material form, is critical to the ability of human societies to store experience and to reproduce it in subsequent generations.