Project description
Reassessing the role of writing in one of the earliest civilisations
The EU-funded WritEMe project aims to reassess how writing emerged, developed, and interplayed with accounting devices in the early urban cultures of the ancient Near East. Recent archaeological discoveries — accounting devices from Turkey and pigments on early cuneiform tablets from Iraq – prompt us to consider a diverse scenario, which is more complex than previously thought in terms of media, actors, and techniques for the transmission of knowledge. Challenging old evolutionary models, the project will focus on both philology of cuneiform sources and analysis of the art history record, informed by innovative digital humanities solutions for data mining of ancient sources. The evidence thus gathered will be framed in a broad interdisciplinary discourse on ancient history and cultural evolution.
Objective
The project aims to reconsider the interplay between writing and accounting devices in early Mesopotamia, challenging old evolutionary models. As recent discoveries in Turkey make clear, writing did not replace prehistoric means of administration throughout Mesopotamian history. In addition, newly found traces of pigments on early cuneiform tablets invite us to reconsider the main writing medium – i.e. clay – as a complex one. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the project will output an innovative monograph, which will re-assess the role of writing in the ancient urban cultures of the Near East, and more broadly in cultural evolution. The research will focus on both Philology of cuneiform sources — no coherent study on ancient terminology for writing and accounting is presently available —, and Art History, in order to look for as yet unrecognized representations of ancient devices in the iconographic record. The research will be informed by original Digital Humanities solutions for data mining of cuneiform texts (PostgreSQL database, Python scripts). In addition, comparative Anthropology will provide a broader theoretical background to test assumptions and possible interpretations. The action will open up diverse academic opportunities for the researcher, including a professorship in Europe, either in History of the Ancient Near East or in Digital Humanities, thanks to the newly acquired expertise in History of sciences and programming languages. Through seminars and workshops, the host will benefit from the researcher’s expertise in comparative study of writing systems, as well as from his academic network. The results have great potential for exploitation in History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Cultural evolution, Digital Humanities. The project focuses on the historical developments of one of the core feature of civilization — namely writing — which is of great interest to both scholars and wide public within the European community.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history ancient history
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- humanities arts art history
- humanities languages and literature literature studies history of literature
- humanities other humanities library sciences digital humanities
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.