I am Merten, entering the VIEWS project as a doctoral student preoccupied with the Bronze Age writing of Crete, which in its paucity and yet great variability continues to defy understanding. I previously studied comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands and completed a Master’s thesis in Mycenaean Greek philology. While the study of … Continue reading Introducing our PhD Student, Merten Wiltshire
Hannibal… in (Lego) Duplo!
Happy International Lego Classics Day! I am on maternity leave at the moment, so I haven't been able to do my usual build for the big day. However, my son Ben has kindly lent me a couple of pieces of Duplo so that I can do something small! Taking a Duplo elephant as my starting … Continue reading Hannibal… in (Lego) Duplo!
Ancient Writing in Lego
Today is International Lego Classics Day, #ILCD24, when the internet celebrates the classical world through the timeless medium of Lego. Perhaps surprisingly, Lego has never really done a proper ancient world theme, but even so, more than a little ancient and historical writing has found its way into official sets over the years, to say … Continue reading Ancient Writing in Lego
Announcing the first VIEWS Conference: Writing as Visual Experience
We're excited to announce the first VIEWS conference - Writing as Visual Experience - will be taking place in Cambridge on 20-22 September 2024. We would like to invite scholars and practitioners working in any field and with any chronological or geographical focus to submit proposals for 30-minute papers looking at methodologies and ways of … Continue reading Announcing the first VIEWS Conference: Writing as Visual Experience
Why do Ancient Scripts Die Out?
Today is World Endangered Writing Day, a new initiative by the Endangered Alphabets project aimed at highlighting and celebrating minority and Indigenous writing practices in the modern world, and the communities that practise them. Endangered writing is something we’re very interested in here at VIEWS, as you’ll know if you’ve been following our Endangered Writing … Continue reading Why do Ancient Scripts Die Out?
World Endangered Writing Day, 23rd January
Next Tuesday, 23rd January, is the inaugural World Endangered Writing Day, organised by our colleague Tim Brookes of Endangered Alphabets. This is a day for everyone and an important opportunity to hear about threatened writing systems around the world and ongoing efforts to identify and preserve them. You can find out all about the day's … Continue reading World Endangered Writing Day, 23rd January
Tocapus: history and perceptions of an endangered Andean graphical communication system
We're really excited to share a post from a new guest contributor, PD Dr. Christiane Clados who is based at the Universität Marburg in Germany. Christiane is an expert on Amerindian graphic communication systems, and she has kindly offered an introduction to systems of Tocapus that were employed prior to the Spanish arrival in Peru, … Continue reading Tocapus: history and perceptions of an endangered Andean graphical communication system
Pippa’s new book on writing in the Bronze Age Aegean
The last of the CREWS monographs has finally appeared in print: Pippa’s book, Exploring Writing Systems and Practices in the Bronze Age Aegean. You can read it free online with open access – follow the link below.Pippa’s new book on writing in the Bronze Age Aegean
Introducing our third new VIEWS researcher
Hello! I’m Philip Boyes and at the beginning of October I joined the VIEWS Project as the third Research Associate. Those of you who followed VIEWS’ predecessor, the CREWS Project, may remember me from there. After several years working on the social context of writing practices in the Late Bronze Age Syrian city of Ugarit, … Continue reading Introducing our third new VIEWS researcher
Introducing our second new VIEWS researcher
Hello, my name is Colton, and I am excited to join VIEWS Project as a Research Associate working on the cuneiform script. I specialize in studying complex matters concerning the grammar of Sumerian, an agglutinative linguistic isolate that was spoken in southern Mesopotamia from at least the fourth millennium BCE to sometime early in the … Continue reading Introducing our second new VIEWS researcher
The VIEWS project 