| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Introduction : individual intentionality, social structure, and material agency in early writing and emerging script technologies / Joshua Englehardt and Dimitri Nakassis -- The mediated image : reflections on semasiographic notation in the ancient Americas / Margaret A. Jackson -- Bureaucratic backlashes : bureaucrats as agents of socioeconomic change in proto-historic Mesopotamia / Clemens Reichel -- Are writing systems intelligently designed? / Adam D. Smith -- Agency in death : early Egyptian writing from mortuary contexts / Laurel Bestock -- Reembodying identity : seals and seal impressions as agents of social change on late prepalatial Crete / Emily S.K. Anderson -- Performance, presence, and genre in Maya hieroglyphs : a case study in the agency of writing / Michael D. Carrasco -- Contingency and innovation in native transcriptions of encrypted cuneiform (ud.gal.nun) / J. Cale Johnson and Adam Johnson -- Structuration of the conjuncture : agency in classic Maya iconography and texts / Joshua Englehardt -- Inscriptions from Zhongshan : Chinese texts and the archaeology of agency / Wang Haicheng -- Structuration and the state in Mycenaean Greece / Dimitri Nakassis -- Epilogue : agency and writing / Ruth D. Whitehouse |
| Summary |
"Through the lens of agency, contributors successfully rethink the nature of ancient texts. In so doing they ably demonstrate that when a new theoretical orientation is applied to a taken-for-granted category of data it invigorates both the data and our understanding of the past."--Marcia-Anne Dobres, University of Main Individual agents are frequently evident in early writing and notational systems, yet these systems have rarely been subjected to the concept of agency as it is traceable in archeology. Agency in Ancient Writing addresses this oversight, allowing archeologists to identify and discuss real, observable actors and actions in the archaeological record. Embracing myriad ways in which agency can be interpreted, ancient writing systems from Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, China, and Greece are examined from a textual perspective as both archaeological objects and nascent historical documents. This allows for distinction among intentions, consequences, meanings, and motivations, increasing understanding and aiding interpretation of the subjectivity of social actors. Chapters focusing on acts of writing and public recitation overlap with those addressing the materiality of texts, interweaving archaeology, epigraphy, and the study of visual symbol systems. Agency in Ancient Writing leads to a more thorough and meaningful discussion of agency as an archaeological concept and will be of interest to anyone interested in ancient texts, including archaeologists, historians, linguists, epigraphers, and art historians, as well as scholars studying agency and structuration theory |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Writing -- Social aspects -- Case studies
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Agent (Philosophy) -- Case studies
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Paleography -- Case studies
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Social archaeology -- Case studies
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Alphabets & Writing Systems.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Spelling.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
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Agent (Philosophy)
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Paleography
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Social archaeology
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Writing -- Social aspects
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Hochkultur
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Schriftsystem
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Sozialarchäologie
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Paläographie
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Agentschappen.
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Sociale aspecten.
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Archeologische aspecten.
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Epigrafie.
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Schriftcultuur.
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| Genre/Form |
Case studies
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Englehardt, Joshua, editor.
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| ISBN |
9781607322092 |
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1607322099 |
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9781457174025 |
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1457174022 |
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1457174049 |
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9781457174049 |
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