I found this comic to be very clever and humorous. I am an anthropology minor, so archaeology-related stuff is interesting to me off the bat. The caption of the comic, ‘Archaeologists Discover the Earliest Ancient Texts’, was funny because it plays on words. When speaking of archaeological texts, people are usually referring to something like the Rosetta Stone. In this comic, the creator flips this idea around and depicts some archaeologists studying what appear to be text messages carved in to a cave wall. On the wall, there are some basic carvings of a horse and a buffalo like those we imagine in a typical archaeological cave setting. However, there are also texting abbreviations and smiley faces among the more traditional carvings.
I was a little surprised to do some outside reading and discover that the use of abbreviation was actually very common in earlier times. This makes sense when you consider the length that people had to go through to express their ideas in writing, but for some reason, when I think of writing from the Middle Ages, I think of something very fancy and proper. Today, abbreviations are often associated with laziness and/or unintelligence. Abbreviations are pretty much relegated to text messaging and casual communication. Abbreviations are even too informal for e-mails in many cases.
I think it’s important to note that even though abbreviations tend to have a negative connotation today, they have been useful as a way to do less work and still get the message successfully across throughout history. I also think this comic should make us think about the legacy we’re leaving, what our society will be known for, and what that will mean. It’s easy to assume that societies that came before us were great and wise beyond their years, but to some extent, we are reading only what we want to read into the records we find. Today, in our age of iPhones and emojis, we are more technologically advanced and connected than ever. Some people may consider this a negative thing, claiming that we are all relying too heavily on technology, but I think advances are a good thing and changes are unavoidable.
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