The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Perspectives on Literacy and Communication

by Baines, John; Bennet, John; Houston, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781845530136
• ISBN10: 1845530136
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

"This volume gathers papers from the first conference ever to be held on the disappearance of writing systems, in Oxford in March 2004. Case studies from the Old and New Worlds are presented, ranging over periods from the second millennium B.C. 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."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Now You See It; Now You Don't! The Disappearance of the Linear A Script on Crete	p. 1
The Disappearance of Writing Systems: Hieroglyphic Luwian	p. 31
The Obsolescence and Demise of Cuneiform Writing in Elam	p. 45
Increasingly Redundant: The Growing Obsolescence of the Cuneiform Script in Babylonia from 539 B.C	p. 73
Postscript: Redundancy Reconsidered: Reflections on David Brown's Thesis	p. 103
Script Obsolescence in Ancient Italy: From Pre-Roman to Roman Writing	p. 109
Whatever Happened to Kharosthi? The Fate of a Forgotten India Script	p. 139
On the Demise of Egyptian Writing: Working with Problematic Source Basis	p. 157
The Last Traces of Meroitic? A Tentative Scenario for the Disappearance of the Meroitic Script	p. 183
The Phoenix of Phoinikeia: Alphabetic Reincarnation in Arabia	p. 207
The Small Deaths of Maya Writing	p. 231
The Death of Mexican Pictography	p. 253
Late Khipu Use	p. 285
Disappearance of Writing Systems: The Manchu Case	p. 311
Revelatory Scripts, 'the Unlettered Genius', and the Appearance and Disappearance of Writing	p. 323
History without Text	p. 335
Writing and its Multiple Disappearances	p. 347
Index	p. 365
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