Establishes an innovative interdisciplinary theoretical framework that enables a new outlook for writing studies and the development of more convincing explanations for a number of unusual features of the early Aegean scripts.

Writing does not begin and end with the encoding of an idea into a group of symbols. It is practised by people who have learnt its principles and acquired the tools and skills for doing it, in a particular context that affects what they do and how they do it. The people, the inscribed objects and the implements and materials are all agents that affect and are affected by each act of writing – as can be observed by studying not only the material features and contextual associations of surviving inscriptions, but also the development of the writing systems and their sets of features.

With a focus on the syllabic systems of Bronze Age Greece, this book brings together different perspectives to create an innovative interdisciplinary outlook on what is involved in writing: from structuralist views of writing as systems of signs with their linguistic values, to archaeological and anthropological approaches to writing as a socially grounded practice.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of tables and figures
• Introduction
• Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B (and their Cypriot cousins)
• Chronology
• Theoretical perspectives and terminology
• 1. Exploring script adoption
  • How do we know that Linear B adopted Linear A syllabographic sign values with little change?
  • Can we use Linear B sign values or structural features to reconstruct Minoan phonology or other linguistic features?
  • How should we understand the nature of the transition from Linear A to Linear B?
• 2. Exploring logography
  • Classifying signs in writing systems
  • Linear B
  • Linear A
  • Cretan Hieroglyphic
  • Understanding logography in the Bronze Age Aegean
• 3. Exploring vitality
  • Cretan Hieroglyphic
  • Linear A
  • Linear B
  • Syllabic writing in Cyprus
  • Relationships between writing and language vitality
  • The vitality of writing traditions
  • Epilogue: writing for the future
• Bibliography