Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - CREWS (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems)

Berichtszeitraum: 2020-10-01 bis 2022-09-30

The CREWS project ('Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems') took an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the history of writing, developing new methodologies for studying scripts and their social context. The researchers worked on case studies relating to the ancient Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, Levant and North Africa (2nd and 1st millennia BC), areas that played key roles in the dissemination and propagation of writing. Employing multiple disciplinary viewpoints (epigraphic, linguistic, archaeological, historical, anthropological, socio-cultural), pursued in different combinations, the team focused on questions of script relations and developments (e.g. processes of adaptation, situations of contact, linguistic strategies and identity-making) and social contexts of writing (e.g. writing as practice, social-archaeological approaches, material context and cultural attitudes to writing).

This project shapes a new agenda and created new ways of thinking about writing practices, their social context and the ways in which ideas were exchanged. Writing has been an important aspect of cultural heritage in many societies over thousands of years, and CREWS has demonstrated the modern relevance of studying ancient writing traditions by establishing links between contextual factors and writing system vitality (a serious issue for endangered writing systems across the world today), and by pursuing an innovative outreach programme aimed at public engagement and education.

Individual research:

Philippa Steele (PI): Interdisciplinary analysis of writing traditions in the Bronze Age Aegean (with comparative perspectives in Cyprus), combining epigraphic, linguistic, material, anthropological, socio-cultural and cognitive approaches, culminating in the development of a framework for studying writing system vitality; also research on the development of the regional Greek alphabets in the Iron Age. Published monograph: Exploring Writing Systems and Practices in Bronze Age Aegean (forthcoming 2023).

Natalia Elvira Astoreca (PhD student): Research on linguistic relationships between regional alphabets scripts based on the earliest samples of alphabetic writing in Greece (8th-7th centuries BC), including the a database of inscriptions; also the adoption of the Greek alphabet in Etruria, a point of comparison for how other Mediterranean cultures borrowed foreign writing systems. PhD 2020. Published monograph: Early Greek Alphabetic Writing: A Linguistic Approach (2021).

Philip Boyes (Research Associate): Research on the social context of writing at Late Bronze Age Ugarit, political and cultural concerns affecting the development and adoption of the cuneiform alphabet and questions of who wrote in Ugarit compared with other Near Eastern societies; methodological questions about how writing can be approached archaeologically. Published monograph: Script and Society: The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit (2021).

Robert Crellin (Research Associate): Research on vowel notation in early West Semitic writing, and on the representation word division in North West Semitic writing; theoretical perspectives on the way structural properties of a writing system affect the society using it as well as metaphysical properties of writing. Published monograph: The Semantics of Word Division in Northwest Semitic Writing Systems: Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite and Greek (2022).

Collaborative research:

Conference 1: Understanding Relations Between Scripts II: Early Alphabets (held 2017, published 2019).
Conference 2: Exploring the Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Systems (held 2019, published 2021, most papers available on CREWS YouTube channel).
Conference 3: Writing around the Ancient Mediterranean: Practices and Adaptations (held 2021, published 2022, most papers available on CREWS YouTube channel).
Non-CREWS conferences: The Early Greek Alphabets, proceedings co-edited by Philippa Steele (2021); AWLL 11th Workshop in Writing Systems and Literacy (Writing systems: Past, present (… and future?)), proceedings co-edited by Robert Crellin (2019).
Training seminars: Ugaritic cuneiform (2017), Egyptian hieroglyphs (2018), Cypro-Minoan (2019).
Seminars: Sixteen seminars (or in some cases conference presentations) by CREWS Visiting Fellows from 2019-2022 (most available on YouTube).

CREWS researchers have also presented at conferences in UK, Spain, Japan, Latvia, Finland, France and Greece, and have produced numerous articles beyond the above publications.

Wider dissemination of CREWS research has taken place through outreach work, in particular the project blog website with accessible posts and a wealth of educational resources (287,161 views from visitors in over 200 countries) and social media engagement through a vibrant Twitter feed (5,680,655 impressions, 4,922 followers) and YouTube channel (41,211 total views, 502 subscribers). We have given numerous outreach talks and workshops, and arranged a special CREWS display at the Fitzwilliam Museum (in association with the British Museum), reaching an audience of thousands of visitors.

The CREWS project has broken new ground in research on the history of writing by bringing together different disciplinary perspectives to work in synergy, resulting in methodological innovation. This includes new ways of approaching the social context of writing through archaeological and anthropological perspectives; linguistic, cultural and cognitive aspects of the development and propagation of writing, practical experiments revealing methods of writing practice and computational methods for assessing linguistic features of writing systems. A particularly innovative research theme pursued the concept of vitality and endangerment in writing traditions, with powerful implications for the modern world.

Four project monographs (three published, one forthcoming) showcase the innovative research of the CREWS research team: Script and Society: The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit (2021) by Philip Boyes, Early Greek Alphabetic Writing: A Linguistic Approach (2021) by Natalia Elvira Astoreca, The Semantics of Word Division in Northwest Semitic Writing Systems: Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite and Greek (2022) by Robert Crellin, Exploring Writing Systems and Practices in Bronze Age Aegean (2023) by Philippa Steele.

Three CREWS conferences pushed the interdisciplinary agenda further by including a wider range of perspectives from scholars working on writing traditions around the ancient, medieval and modern worlds, and developing a lively and ongoing global network. The conference publications are Understanding Relations Between Scripts II: Early Alphabets (2019), Exploring the Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Systems (2021), Writing around the Ancient Mediterranean: Practices and Adaptations (2022).

Numerous publications in journals and collected volumes further disseminate the research of the CREWS team, many already available and others in press.

The pioneering CREWS Visiting Fellowship scheme has helped build research networks, foster and encourage emerging scholarship and has helped CREWS shape research agendas and the state of the art much more broadly. This also gave an opportunity to support and advance the research of early career researchers as well as more established scholars.

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - CREWS (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems)

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