General introduction: Communicating in the past; connecting with the past

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that it is the quintessential nature of humans to communicate with each other. Good communications, bad communications, miscommunications, or no communications at all have driven everything from world events to the most mundane of interactions. An awareness of a communication's context is what gives that communication efficacy. The main theme of the book is communication: how it was done, what intended message was communicated, and the relationships/identities that were established through communication between people. The context of situation is really the total environment in which a communication unfolds. Delimiting registers is neither simple nor wholly objective. Still, ancient registers are increasingly possible to articulate based on social-semiotic considerations due to the growing amount of evidence gained through archaeological excavation and, unfortunately in some cases, looting.