Geometric ornament as material knowledge: Ethnogeometric structures of spatial cognition

Abstract

This article proposes a method for analysing recurring geometric relationships in Chalcolithic Botai material culture in northern Kazakhstan. Ornamented artefacts, dwelling architecture and settlement layout are examined without assuming a single symbolic code or historical continuity. The methodology integrates ethnogeometry, Material Engagement Theory, the enactive signification hypothesis and Peircean and material semiotics. Analysis proceeds through four levels of inference, from observable material features to culturally specific interpretations. Results show that comparable geometric relationships are materialised differently through production, object orientation, bodily interaction, movement and spatial organisation. The unit of comparison is not a motif but a geometric relationship arising within a specific material practice. Formal similarity alone cannot establish ritual or cosmological meaning. Comparative cases from Sakha culture and Çatalhöyük are used asymmetrically to distinguish evidence-based conclusions from speculation. The article therefore treats geometric ornament as a form of embodied material knowledge while defining explicit evidential limits for archaeological interpretation.