Celia: The Co-Evolution of Language, Interaction and Architecture

CELIA is a loosely-knit interest group which formed as a result of a workshop initiated by the InteractionLab and Kenan Hochuli from the University of Zürich (see description, program and abstracts below). The group comprises established and early career researchers from a variety of disciplines interested in the exploration of spatial, linguistic and interactional aspects integrating evolutionary and archaeological perspectives. Currently, the group is planning a follow-up meeting in the autumn of 2025. As our plans become more concrete, updates and information will be available on this page. If you would like to join our group, please send an email to antje.wilton-franklin[at]fu-berlin.de.

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Workshop 2024

The Co-Evolution of Language, Interaction and Architecture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Exploring the dynamic interplay between human interaction and architecture, this workshop investigated how humans through time have shaped and adapted their surroundings to fit practical as well as social purposes, providing a locus for these activities. Emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach, we presented contributions that highlight the co-evolution of language, interaction, and the material environment from their disciplinary perspectives, from such diverse areas as linguistics, sociology, architectural studies, (experimental) archaeology, anthropology and primatology. The aim was to provide an informal platform for discussion and exchange, identifying potential avenues for future research and collaboration.

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Impressions

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Program

	Wednesday, May 22
from 18:00	Warming up	Restaurant Piaggio www.ristorante-piaggio.de
	Thursday, May 23
09:00	Welcome & Introduction	Antje Wilton & Kenan Hochuli
09:30	Environmental affordances in great ape communication: Insights from studies on wild and captive orangutans	Marlen Fröhlich (Tübingen, Germany)
10:15	Break
10:45	Information Encoding in the Paleolithic	Christian Bentz (Tübingen, Germany) & Eva Dutkiewicz (Berlin, Germany)
11:30	Language and the Neolithic	Steven Mithen (Reading, UK)
12:15	Lunch
14:00	Creating a space for communication: evidence from early human evolution	Miriam Haidle (Tübingen, Germany)
14:45	The Origin and Evolution of the Home: An Archaeological Perspective	Amy Clark (Harvard, USA)
15:30	Break
16:00	Shadow, fire, and facewall – architecture and interaction in evolution	Kenan Hochuli (Zürich, Switzerland)
16:45	Project Report: Digital Visualisation	Bjarne Kortmann (DAI, FU Berlin, Germany)
17:00	Discussion	Discussant: Heiko Hausendorf (Zürich, Switzerland)
18:00	End of day 1
19:00	Dinner	Restaurant Luise www.luise-dahlem.de
	Friday, May 24
09:00	Exploring the Past, Building the Future: Earthen Architecture in the Mediterranean Through Architectural Studies, Sensory Perception and Experimental Archaeology	Marta Lorenzon (Helsinki, Finland)
09:45	Drawing Drumadoon – Understanding Place Making, Building and Interaction in the Past	Lesley McFadyen (London, UK)
10:30	Break
11:00	Considering Space within the Sociomaterial Arrangements of Glasgow’s Showpeople	Graham Skeate (Leuven, Belgium & Edinburgh, UK)
11:45	Semantic Specifity and Dense Forest Environments – A View from Amazonia	Karolin Obert (Lund, Sweden)
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Ephemeral structures, sleeping safely, and language as evolutionary advantages	Linda Hurcombe (Exeter, UK)
14:45	Data Session: Making Space	Antje Wilton (Berlin, Germany)
15:45	Break
16:15	Final discussion	Discussant: Heiko Hausendorf (Zürich, Switzerland)
17:30	End of workshop

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Abstracts

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Information