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Band 82

Duisburger Arbeiten zur Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft

Band 82:: Haarmann, Harald: Writing as Technology and Cultural Ecology. Explorations of the Human Mind at the Dawn of History. 373 S. - Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / Bruxelles / New York / Oxford / Wien: Lang, 2011.
ISBN: 978-3-631-61736-6

Dieser Band ist im IDS verfügbar:

IDS-Bibliothek: Sig. QF 1499

Writing is unanimously regarded as a marker of civilization in the sense of 'civilization as high culture'. This insight has never been seriously questioned. What makes writing a marker of civilization is more than its mere function as an information technology. Those who possess writing have always been aware that, beyond the practical use of rendering ideas and words in the written code, it constitutes the realm of symbolic values that make writing an ingredient of cultural ecology. In order to perceive the magnitude of the art of writing as a communicational tool designed by the inventive mind, it is necessary to shed light on the cultural conditions in human communities that further the motivation of early writing. The present outline therefore does not only focus on a formal description of the ancient scripts as an information technology but also on the evolution of human symbol-making and on an inspection of the sociocultural conditions which made the elaboration of a system of visual communication – of first writing – possible.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Elementary parameters in the study of ancient writing systems		S. 13
1.	The intentionality of symbol-making and the working of cultural memory	S. 33
2.	Sign systems as constructs of the abstract mind – Communication systems in processes of higher-order knowledge-construction	S. 55
3.	Models of ancient civilizations – Oecumene versus state	S. 83
4.	Conditions for the transition to literacy – Deconstructing a Euro-American myth	S. 125
5.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in societies without statehood (1): First writing in communities of the oecumene model	S. 137
6.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in societies without statehood (2): First writing and the transition to social hierarchy	S. 199
7.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in communities of the state model	S. 219
8.	Ancient scripts and their principles of writing	S. 249
9.	The composition and systematic structuring of sign inventories	S. 279
10.	The cultural ecology of writing materials and writing techniques	S. 301
11.	The dissemination and proliferation of ancient scripts	S. 315
Epilogue: First writing and the differential fabric of ancient civilizations		S. 341

Bibliography		S. 343
Figures		S. 369
Maps		S. 373

Introduction: Elementary parameters in the study of ancient writing systems		S. 13
	Writing research: The orphanage of a non-established discipline of scholarly research	S. 14
	scholarly research The bias of the conditioned mind: Ex oriente lux and the Mesopotamian "prototype" model of civilization	S. 17
	Ex oriente lux – Ex meridie lux – Ex occidente lux: Reassessing cultural chronology	S. 22
	Writing as technology and cultural ecology	S. 27
1.	The intentionality of symbol-making and the working of cultural memory	S. 33
	Symbol-making as a tool of intentionality	S. 34
	Identification through language as non-written code	S. 36
	Knowledge-construction and the role of visual signifiers in illiterate cultures	S. 43
2.	Sign systems as constructs of the abstract mind – Communication systems in processes of higher-order knowledge-construction	S. 55
	Specialized sign use (1): Numerical and calendrical notation	S. 55
	Specialized sign use (2): Symbolism of identification	S. 60
	Specialized sign use (3): Writing in a web of communication systems	S. 61
	Specialized sign use (4): The interplay of communication systems – A typology	S. 69
3.	Models of ancient civilizations – Oecumene versus state	S. 83
	The oecumene model of ancient civilization – The archeological record	S. 88
	Human ecology and the rise of the oecumene model: The formation of the Danube civilization (Old Europe)	S. 91
	Conditions for the shift toward the state model	S. 114
	Human ecology and the rise of the state model: The emergence of city-states in Mesopotamia	S. 117
4.	Conditions for the transition to literacy – Deconstructing a Euro-American myth	S. 125
	The traditional canon of imagined needs for introducing writing technology	S. 125
	The fallibility of the Euro-American canon (1): The puzzle of Catalhöyük – A technologically advanced Neolithic community without writing technology	S. 129
	The fallibility of the Euro-American canon (2): The civilization of Sicân in the Lambayeque valley (Peru) – The functioning of institutions of an advanced culture without the use of writing	S. 132
	The fallibility of the Euro-American canon (3): Fluctuations of systemic sign use – Community life at Troy, a civilization oscillating between illiteracy and literacy	S. 133
5.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in societies without statehood (1): First writing in communities of the oecumene model	S. 137
	First writing without the pressing needs of state bureaucracy: Writing as a ritual means to sustain community life	S. 138
	The ecology of writing in the Danube oecumene	S. 139
	The Danube script and its legacy – Pre-alphabetic literacy as a leitmotiv in the Balkanic-Aegean convergence zone	S. 165
	Trade relations and writing in the communities of the ancient Indus civilization	S. 195
6.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in societies without statehood (2): First writing and the transition to social hierarchy	S. 199
	The ecology of writing and shamanistic rituals in ancient China	S. 199
	Divinities, ritual calendar and writing in Olmec culture	S. 207
7.	Writing technology and cultural ecology in communities of the state model	S. 219
	Communicational challenges for early statehood in Egypt and in the ancient Orient	S. 219
	Idea diffusion and early culture contacts in the Fertile Crescent	S. 232
	Urbanism, statehood and symbolic communication in the City of the Gods: Teotihuacân (pre-Columbian Mesoamerica)	S. 240
8.	Ancient scripts and their principles of writing	S. 249
	Intentionality as an arbiter of logographic and phonographic writing	S. 251
	Writing with and without language	S. 255
	The applied principle of nuclear writing	S. 259
	Combinatory techniques of writing principles and their manifestation in historical scripts	S. 262
9.	The composition and systematic structuring of sign inventories	S. 279
	Cultural relativity as an arbiter in the composition of sign inventories of ancient scripts	S. 279
	The multiple-choice composition of sign inventories	S. 283
	Groupings and enchainment of signs in sequences	S. 293
	Non-practical domains of writing: Calligraphy and esthetic functions of sign use	S. 295
10.	The cultural ecology of writing materials and writing techniques	S. 301
	The choice of materials: Availability versus function	S. 302
	Culturally specific modes of selection of writing surfaces	S. 304
	Chronological sequences of materials for writing in the ancient civilizations	S. 306
	Writing instruments	S. 310
11.	The dissemination and proliferation of ancient scripts	S. 315
	The spread of ancient scripts as technological innovations	S. 315
	Local traditions of cuneiform	S. 316
	Local traditions of Chinese characters	S. 318
Epilogue: First writing and the differential fabric of ancient civilizations		S. 341

Bibliography		S. 343
Figures		S. 369
Maps		S. 373

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