Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium
Edited by Kathryn E. Piquette & Ruth D. Whitehouse
City: London
Year: 2013
Publisher: Ubiquity Press
Description: Hardback, xviii & 342 p., illustrated throughout in colour & b/w, 25,4x17,8 cm
Abstract
Writing as Material Practice grapples with the issue of writing as a form of material culture in its ancient and more recent manifestations, and in the contexts of production and consumption. Fifteen case studies explore the artefactual nature of writing – the ways in which materials, techniques, colour, scale, orientation and visibility inform the creation of inscribed objects and spaces, as well as structure subsequent engagement, perception and meaning making. Covering a temporal span of some 5000 years, from c.3200 BCE to the present day, and ranging in spatial context from the Americas to the Near East, the chapters in this volume bring a variety of perspectives which contribute to both specific and broader questions of writing materialities. The authors also aim to place past graphical systems in their social contexts so they can be understood in relation to the people who created and attributed meaning to writing and associated symbolic modes through a diverse array of individual and wider social practices.
Contents
Acknowledgements [iii]
Contributors [v]
Abstracts [ix]
Chapter 1. Kathryn E. Piquette & Ruth D. Whitehouse, Introduction: Developing an approach to writing as material practice [1-13]
Chapter 2. Frank Salomon, The Twisting Paths of Recall: Khipu (Andean cord notation) as artifact [15-43]
Chapter 3. Sarah E. Jackson, Writing as Material Technology: Orientation within landscapes of the Classic Maya world [45-63]
Chapter 4. Roger Matthews, Writing (and Reading) as Material Practice: The world of cuneiform culture as an arena for investigation [65-74]
Chapter 5. Rachael Thyrza Sparks, Re-writing the Script: Decoding the textual experience in the Bronze Age Levant (c.2000–1150 BC) [75-104]
Chapter 6. Helène Whittaker, The Function and Meaning of Writing in the Prehistoric Aegean: Some reflections on the social and symbolic significance of writing from a material perspective [105-121]
Chapter 7. Sarah Finlayson, Form Follows Function: Writing and its supports in the Aegean Bronze Age [123-142]
Chapter 8. Georgia Flouda, Materiality of Minoan Writing: Modes of display and perception [143-174]
Chapter 9. Helena Tomas, Saving on Clay: The Linear B practice of cutting tablets [175-191]
Chapter 10. Alan Johnston, Straight, Crooked and Joined-up Writing: An early Mediterranean view [193-212]
Chapter 11. Kathryn E. Piquette, “It Is Written”?: Making, remaking and unmaking early ‘writing’ in the lower Nile Valley [213-238]
Chapter 12. Stephen Kidd, Written Greek but Drawn Egyptian: Script changes in a bilingual dream papyrus [239-252]
Chapter 13. Elisa Perego, The Other Writing: Iconic literacy and Situla Art in pre-Roman Veneto (Italy) [253-270]
Chapter 14. Ruth D. Whitehouse, ‘Tombstones’ in the North Italian Iron Age: Careless writers or athletic readers? [271-288]
Chapter 15. Craig Cessford, Different Times, Different Materials and Different Purposes: Writing on objects at the Grand Arcade site in Cambridge [289-317]
Chapter 16. Elizabeth Pye, Writing Conservation: The impact of text on conservation decisions and practice [319-333]
Chapter 17. John Bennet, Epilogue [335-342]
Comments
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