The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process

ISBN 10: 0521728266 / ISBN 13: 9780521728263

Published by Cambridge University Press March 2008, 2008

About this Item

Fine. A square, tight and unmarked copy, except for year penned in ink on FFE.

Seller Inventory # 76623

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press March 2008
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521728266
• ISBN 13: 9780521728263
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Condition: Used
• Seller catalogs:
  • Anthropology

About this title

Synopsis

Although ancient writing offers our first glimpse of history, people and institutions, its origins remain mysterious. This book presents the most up-to-date analysis of the origins of ancient writing. Studying often neglected writing systems, such as those of Mesoamerica, leading scholars collectively discuss how these scripts came into existence and developed during their first centuries of use. Egypt, Mesopotamia, Elamite, Mesoamerica and the Maya, Shang and Runic are represented.

About the Author

Stephen Houston is Professor of Anthropology at Brown University, Rhode Island. A scholar of the ancient Maya in Mexico and Central America, he is the author of many books on the Maya, most recently The Memory of Bones: Body, Being and Experience among the Classic Maya (with David Stuart and Taube, 2010).