ABSTRACT
Pictorial images consist of marks made on a two-dimensional surface. The marks themselves can be produced by a multitude of means – by pencil, paint, dyes, silver crystals or electronically activated phosphors – and the surfaces on which they can be made are equally varied. Picture production has a history that is almost as long as that for humankind. No early records remain of any marks made on decomposable surfaces, like skin or bark, but there is ample evidence of the pictures and designs that were made on stone implements and on cave walls. Thus, it seems as though pictures serve some fundamental function in human societies, although what that function might be remains a topic for speculation and debate.
