The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts
Title | The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts PDF eBook |
Author | Marilina Betrò |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Pages | 386 |
Release | 2024-03-04 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 3111360806 |
Written artefacts are traditionally studied because of their content. Material aspects of these artefacts enrich the study of ancient history in many ways. Eleven case studies in five sections on the ancient world, including the Near East, Egypt, the Mediterranean, China and India, demonstrate the impact of a holistic approach that considers materiality and content alike. Following an introductory sketch of relevant research, the first section, 'Methodological Considerations', critically examines the limitations the evidence available imposes on our understanding. 'Early Uses of Writing' addresses material and spatial aspects of inscriptions, and their communicative functions over the textual ones. The third section, 'Material Features', deals with clay, wooden and papyrus manuscripts and demonstrates the importance of an integrated approach. The contributions to 'Co-presence of Written Artefacts' take into account that written artefacts come in clusters. The final section, 'Cultural Encounters', presents studies on the interactions between social strata and ethnic groups, challenging previous ideas. The volume contributes to the comparative study of written artefacts in ancient history, stimulating cross-disciplinary and -cultural research.
The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts
Title | The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts PDF eBook |
Author | Marilina Betrò, Jesper Eidem, Gianluca Miniaci, Michael Friedrich, Cécile Michel |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Pages | 435 |
Release | 2024-03-04 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 3111361187 |
Writing from Invention to Decipherment
Title | Writing from Invention to Decipherment PDF eBook |
Author | Silvia Ferrara |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 349 |
Release | 2024-08-27 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0198908768 |
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Writing from Invention to Decipherment contains a wealth of global scholarship on ancient writing systems from China, Mesopotamia, Central America, and the Mediterranean, to more recent newly created scripts such as the Rongorongo from Easter Island, the Caroline Island scripts, as well as the alphabet. The aim is to dig into the foundations of writing, showcasing the complexities and varieties of scripts, from their invention to the potential decipherment of poorly understood scripts. The volume offers state-of-the-art research on undeciphered scripts from the Aegean (as for example, Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A) or not completely deciphered (as for example Maya) scripts. From a methodological perspective, these contributions lay out how and why writing was invented, who used it, and to what ends. Here writing is presented as a multi-modal cultural phenomenon, that intersects and transcends neat discipline boundaries, within an inclusive approach bridging archaeology, linguistics, epigraphy, and cognitive studies.
Between Artifacts and Texts
Title | Between Artifacts and Texts PDF eBook |
Author | Anders Andrén |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Pages | 236 |
Release | 1998-01-31 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 9780306455568 |
This is the first truly global survey of the relationship between artifacts and texts from historiographical, methodological, and analytical perspectives. It analyzes the crucial relationship between material culture and writing in ancient societies, employing examples from twelve major disciplines in historical archaeology and summarizing their role in five global methodological approaches. It is valuable reading for advanced (under/post) graduate students, and instructors in any historical archaeological subject.
Knowledge Networks and Craft Traditions in the Ancient World
Title | Knowledge Networks and Craft Traditions in the Ancient World PDF eBook |
Author | Katharina Rebay-Salisbury |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 239 |
Release | 2014-08-07 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1135014442 |
This edited volume investigates knowledge networks based on materials and associated technologies in Prehistoric Europe and the Classical Mediterranean. It emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance, and collapse of networks of various forms – which are central to explanations of cultural contact and change. Focusing on the materiality of objects and on the way in which materials are used adds a multidimensional quality to networks. The properties, functions, and styles of different materials are intrinsically linked to the way in which knowledge flows and technologies are transmitted. Transmission of technologies from one craft to another is one of the main drivers of innovation, whilst sharing knowledge is enabled and limited by the extent of associated social networks in place. Archaeological research has often been limited to studying objects made of one particular material in depth, be it lithic materials, ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood or others. The knowledge flow and transfer between crafts that deal with different materials have often been overlooked. This book takes a fresh approach to the reconstruction of knowledge networks by integrating two or more craft traditions in each of its chapters. The authors, well-known experts and early career researchers, provide concise case studies that cover a wide range of materials. The scope of the book extends from networks of craft traditions to implications for society in a wider sense: materials, objects, and the technologies used to make and distribute them are interwoven with social meaning. People make objects, but objects make people – the materiality of objects shapes our understanding of the world and our place within it. In this book, objects are treated as clues to social networks of different sorts that can be contrasted and compared, both spatially and diachronically.
Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures
Title | Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures PDF eBook |
Author | Anna Krauß |
Publisher | de Gruyter |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2020 |
Genre | Bibles |
ISBN | 9783110635850 |
This publication seeks to endeavour the relationship between material artefacts and reading practices in ancient and medieval cultures. While the acts of reception of written artefacts in former times are irretrievably lost, some of the involved artefacts are preserved and might comprise hints to the ancient reading practices. In form of case studies, the contributions to this volume examine various forms of written artefacts as to their implications on modes of reading. Analyzing different Qumran scrolls, codices, Tefillin, Mezuzot, magical texts, tablets, bricks, and statues as well as meta-textual and iconographic aspects, the articles inquire the possibilities of how to correlate material aspects to assumed modes of reception and practices of reading. The contributions stem from Egyptology, Papyrology, Qumran Studies, Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, Ancient Christianity, and Islamic Studies. In total, this volume contributes to the research on practices of reception in times past and demonstrates the potential hidden in text-bearing artefacts.
Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field
Title | Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field PDF eBook |
Author | Jörg Quenzer |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Pages | 345 |
Release | 2014-12-12 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 3110384825 |
Script and writing were among the most important inventions in human history, and until the invention of printing, the handwritten book was the primary medium of literary and cultural transmission. Although the study of manuscripts is already quite advanced for many regions of the world, no unified discipline of ‘manuscript studies’ has yet evolved which is capable of treating handwritten books from East Asia, India and the Islamic world equally alongside the European manuscript tradition. This book, which aims to begin the interdisciplinary dialogue needed to arrive at a truly systematic and comparative approach to manuscript cultures worldwide, brings together papers by leading researchers concerned with material, philological and cultural aspects of different manuscript traditions.