Egypt
Equinox Books
The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Perspectives on Literacy and Communication
Edited by: John Baines, John Bennet, Stephen Houston
Specifications and contents on the above page.
- New Book: The Shape Of Script
SAR The Shape of Script. How and Why Writing Systems Change Edited by Stephen D. Houston This book builds on earlier projects about the origins and extinctions of script traditions throughout the world in an effort to address the fundamental questions...
- Book Review: Arqueología De La Palabra
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Roger Wright) Ana Rodríguez Mayorgas, Arqueología de la palabra: oralidad y escritura en el mundo antiguo. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 2010. Ana Rodríguez Mayorgas works at the Instituto de Historiografía...
- New Book: Visible Language
Oriental Institute Thanks to Rhio Barnhart for the above link. Available as a PDF download. 12.33MB OIMP 32. Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond Writing, the ability to make language visible and permanent, is...
- Book Review: The Disappearance Of Writing Systems
Nature (Andrew Robinson) The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Perspectives on Literacy and Communication Edited by John Baines, John Bennet and Stephen Houston Equinox: 2008. Here's an extract of the review: The book came out of the first major conference...
- Origins Of Early Writing
Origins of Early Writing Systems It is a really slow news day so this is thrown in for anyone interested in the origins of early writing systems. The Proceedings from the conference Origins of Early Writing Systems have been posted online. But as surprising...
Egypt
New Book: The Disappearance of Writing Systems
Equinox Books
The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Perspectives on Literacy and Communication
Edited by: John Baines, John Bennet, Stephen Houston
Description
This volume gathers papers from the first conference ever to be held on the disappearance of writing systems, in Oxford in March 2004. While the invention and decipherment of writing systems have long been focuses of research, their eclipse or replacement have been little studied. Because writing is so important in many cultures and civilizations, its disappearance – followed by a period without it or by replacement by a different writing system – is of almost equal significance to invention as a mark of radical change. Probably more writing systems have disappeared than survived in the last five thousand years.
Case studies from the Old and New Worlds are presented, ranging over periods from the first millennium BC to the present. In order to address many types of transmission, the broadest possible definition of ‘writing’ is used, notably including Mexican pictography and the Andean khipu system. One chapter discusses the larger proportion of known human societies which have not possessed complex material codes like writing, offering an alternative perspective on the long-term transmission of socially salient subjects. A concluding essay draws out common themes and offers an initial synthesis of results.
The volume offers a new perspective on approaches to writing that will be significant for the understanding of writing systems and their social functions, literacy, memory, and high-cultural communication systems in general.
Specifications and contents on the above page.
- New Book: The Shape Of Script
SAR The Shape of Script. How and Why Writing Systems Change Edited by Stephen D. Houston This book builds on earlier projects about the origins and extinctions of script traditions throughout the world in an effort to address the fundamental questions...
- Book Review: Arqueología De La Palabra
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Roger Wright) Ana Rodríguez Mayorgas, Arqueología de la palabra: oralidad y escritura en el mundo antiguo. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 2010. Ana Rodríguez Mayorgas works at the Instituto de Historiografía...
- New Book: Visible Language
Oriental Institute Thanks to Rhio Barnhart for the above link. Available as a PDF download. 12.33MB OIMP 32. Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond Writing, the ability to make language visible and permanent, is...
- Book Review: The Disappearance Of Writing Systems
Nature (Andrew Robinson) The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Perspectives on Literacy and Communication Edited by John Baines, John Bennet and Stephen Houston Equinox: 2008. Here's an extract of the review: The book came out of the first major conference...
- Origins Of Early Writing
Origins of Early Writing Systems It is a really slow news day so this is thrown in for anyone interested in the origins of early writing systems. The Proceedings from the conference Origins of Early Writing Systems have been posted online. But as surprising...