Writing from Invention to Decipherment

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Writing from Invention to Decipherment contains a wealth of global scholarship on ancient writing systems from China, Mesopotamia, Central America, and the Mediterranean, to more recent newly created scripts such as the Rongorongo from Easter Island, the Caroline Island scripts, as well as the alphabet. The aim is to dig into the foundations of writing, showcasing the complexities and varieties of scripts, from their invention to the potential decipherment of poorly understood scripts.

The volume offers state-of-the-art research on undeciphered scripts from the Aegean (as for example, Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A) or not completely deciphered (as for example Maya) scripts. From a methodological perspective, these contributions lay out how and why writing was invented, who used it, and to what ends. Here writing is presented as a multi-modal cultural phenomenon, that intersects and transcends neat discipline boundaries, within an inclusive approach bridging archaeology, linguistics, epigraphy, and cognitive studies.

Silvia Ferrara, Professor of Philology and Civilizations of the Aegean and Pre-Classical Mediterranean, University of Bologna,Barbara Montecchi, Independent scholar, ,Miguel Valerio, María Zambrano Postdoctoral Researcher, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Silvia Ferrara is Professor of Philology and Civilizations of the Aegean and Pre-Classical Mediterranean at the University of Bologna and PI of the ERC Consolidator Grant INSCRIBE Invention of Scripts and their Beginnings.

Barbara Montecchi specialized in Aegean Archaeology at the Italian Archaeological School at Athens and then earned a PhD in History and Archaeology of the Ancient World from the University of Florence. She was Assistant Professor and INSCRIBE team member at the University of Bologna from 2019 to 2022. Currently, she works for the Museums of the University of Florence, dealing with museum communication, accessibility, and public engagement.

Miguel Valério is a María Zambrano postdoctoral researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Department of Prehistory). He was trained in Archaeology and earned a PhD in 'Languages and Cultures of the Ancient World and their Survival' at the University of Barcelona. His primary academic activities and publications focus on the archaeology of early state societies, the origins of writing, and undeciphered scripts.

Introduction, Silvia Ferrara, Barbara Montecchi, and Miguel ValérioPART I: BEGINNINGS OF WRITING1. Cognition, iconography, and graphic communication systems on portable objects in the Near Eastern Neolithic, Mattia Cartolano2. The origins of Chinese writing, Paola Demattè3. The failure and success of the early alphabet, Aaron J. Koller4. Closing the gap: writing in the Aegean from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, Willemijn Waal5. The Caroline Islands Script: how one script informs five debates, Alex de VoogtPART II: THE FUTURE OF UNDECIPHERED SCRIPTS6. Deciphering a writing system: luck, intuition, or method?, Ignasi-Xavier Adiego7. The cat in the Cretan Hieroglyphic script: ma, what it means, and where it leads, Judith Weingarten8. The Phaistos disk: placing an enigmatic artefact in its cultural context, Giorgia Baldacci9. Design and origins of Linear A picture-based signs, Barbara Montecchi10. The Rongorongo 'lunar calendar' of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the type of script, Miguel ValérioPART III: CURRENT APPROACHES TO EARLY WRITING AND READING11. IDIOM - A digital research environment for the documentation and study of Maya hieroglyphic texts and language, Christian M. Prager, Katja Diederichs, Antje Grothe, Nikolai Grube, Guido Krempel, Mallory Matsumoto, Tobias Mercer, Cristina Vertan, and Elisabeth Wagner12. Looking for readers in the Bronze Age Aegean, Sarah Finlayson13. Looking for writers in the archives of King Nestor, Louis Godart