Open Access Book: Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium

Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium

Edited by Kathryn E. Piquette and Ruth D. Whitehouse
Published by
Ubiquity Press Ltd.
Gordon House
29 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PP
www.ubiquitypress.com
Text © The Authors 2013
First published 2013
ISBN (hardback): 978-1-909188-24-2
ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-909188-25-9
ISBN (PDF): 978-1-909188-26-6
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bai

Contents
Acknowledgements iii
Contributors v
Abstracts ix
Chapter 1. Introduction: Developing an approach to writing as material practice (Kathryn E. Piquette and Ruth D. Whitehouse) 1
Chapter 2. The Twisting Paths of Recall: Khipu (Andean cord notation) as artifact (Frank Salomon) 15
Chapter 3. Writing as Material Technology: Orientation within landscapes of the Classic Maya world (Sarah E. Jackson) 45
Chapter 4. Writing (and Reading) as Material Practice: The world of cuneiform culture as an arena for investigation (Roger Matthews) 65
Chapter 5. Re-writing the Script: Decoding the textual experience in the Bronze Age Levant (c.2000–1150 bc) (Rachael Thyrza Sparks) 75
Chapter 6. The Function and Meaning of Writing in the Prehistoric Aegean: Some reflections on the social and symbolic significance of writing from a material perspective (Helène Whittaker) 105
Chapter 7. Form Follows Function: Writing and its supports in the Aegean Bronze Age (Sarah Finlayson) 123
Chapter 8. Materiality of Minoan Writing: Modes of display and perception (Georgia Flouda) 143
Chapter 9. Saving on Clay: The Linear B practice of cutting tablets (Helena Tomas) 175
Chapter 10. Straight, Crooked and Joined-up Writing: An early Mediterranean view (Alan Johnston) 193
Chapter 11. “It Is Written”?: Making, remaking and unmaking early ‘writing’ in the lower Nile Valley (Kathryn E. Piquette) 213
Chapter 12. Written Greek but Drawn Egyptian: Script changes in a bilingual dream papyrus (Stephen Kidd) 239
ii Writing as Material Practice
Chapter 13. The Other Writing: Iconic literacy and Situla Art in pre-Roman Veneto (Italy) (Elisa Perego) 253
Chapter 14. ‘Tombstones’ in the North Italian Iron Age: Careless writers or athletic readers? (Ruth D. Whitehouse) 271
Chapter 15. Different Times, Different Materials and Different Purposes: Writing on objects at the Grand Arcade site in Cambridge (Craig Cessford) 289
Chapter 16. Writing Conservation: The impact of text on conservation decisions and practice (Elizabeth Pye) 319
Chapter 17. Epilogue (John Bennet) 335