This volume gathers papers from the first conference ever to be held on the disappearance of writing systems, in Oxford in March 2004. While the invention and decipherment of writing systems have long been focuses of research, their eclipse or replacement have been little studied. Because writing is so important in many cultures and civilizations, its disappearance - followed by a period without it or by replacement by a different writing system - is of almost equal significance to invention as a mark of radical change. Probably more writing systems have disappeared than survived in the last five thousand years. Case studies from the Old and New Worlds are presented, ranging over periods from the first millennium BC 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. This volume offers a new perspective on approaches to writing that will be significant for the understanding of writing systems and their social functions, literacy, memory, and high-cultural communication systems in general.

Writing is not just a set of systems for transcribing language and communicating meaning, but an important element of human practice, deeply embedded in the cultures where it is present and fundamentally interconnected with all other aspects of human life. The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices explores these relationships in a number of different cultural contexts and from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including archaeological, anthropological and linguistic. It offers new ways of approaching the study of writing and integrating it into wider debates and discussions about culture, history and archaeology.

Working with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts is a highly readable and well-illustrated guide to manuscript study for students and fledgling researchers in Anglo-Saxon history and literature.Bringing together invaluable advice and information from a group of eminent scholars, it aims to develop in the reader an informed and realistic approach to the mechanisms for accessing and handling manuscripts in what may be limited time. In addition to an exploration of the various manuscript resources available in libraries and their research potential, the book appraises recent developments in electronic resources, making it a beneficial aid for teachers as well as individual researchers working away from the location of manuscripts.The book includes a clear and comprehensive guide to palaeography and codicology. Chapters on Old English prose, Old English poetry and Anglo-Latin texts introduce readers to the whole range of written material extant in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Manuscript art is uniquely presented in the context of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts as a whole, moving beyond traditional approaches, while the chapter 'Reading between (and beyond) the lines' demonstrates some of the fascinating detail of glosses and marginalia, and reveals how the life of the manuscript continued beyond the writing of its main text.