Federico-Thesis
Wi_o_logy_
Pre electrical long range communication system
First (and probably only) axiom: I don't think I should use the word wireless in this first chapter since in this epoque wires didn't exist.
I think there are mainly two macro categories in the pre electrical time, talking about long range. Ephemeral and device-less tecniques such as smoke signals and whistle language are very ancient disciplines that often belong to the inner culture of a community. Let's think about the Silco Gomero, used in La Gomera, an island in the archipelago of Canarie: a whistle language composed by two whistled vowels and four consonants, probably originated in the 15th Century. [1] An interesting adopting of the languge, in the last century, was to alarm La Gomera people about the spanish police "Guardia Civil": "When some inhabitants in La Gomera were being chased by the police Guardia Civil, people would quickly call in Silbo: Careful! Here's comes the Guardia Civil and is looking for you! Go hide!"
But actually I would prefer to focus on long-range systems that imply a device, an external tool where the information is deployed.
A static example is the menhir, one of the first examples of artifacts, a stone changed from its original settlment by a human force. The desire that push humans to elevate a rock in order to spread meaning of existance has a double nature: first, Menhir are one of the first examples of architecture, artifects aimed to be hotspots for communities.[2] Then, the inner symbolic meaning is methonimic, the information of its existance is spread thanks to the menhir itself, thanks to its size in its artificial settlment. A menhir it's subsequently a basic beacon: it sends one signal (its existance and variables attributes set by people) and we can consider them as an ancient form of optical telegraph. Beacons has been quite important in history of communication, as soon variables has been added to them, and protocols as well, beacons became a multi-signal device with an incredible inner power.