A workshop on the materiality of writing in Mesopotamia in the third millennium Heidelberg, 17-18 May 2013

Organized as part of the C01 project ''Materialität und Präsenz des Geschriebenen im Herrschaftsdiskurs des antiken Mesopotamien zwischen 2500 und 1800 v. Chr.'' (UP1 and UP2 subprojects, philology and archaeology respectively) within the Collaborative Research Centre ''Materiale Textkulturen'' (SFB 933), which is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Scientific programme

The planned workshop entitled ''Materiality of writing in 3rd Millennium Mesopotamia'' aims to bring together scholars of distinct fields of research, primarily working on the archaeological and philological material foundation of third millennium Mesopotamia. Particular focus is on inscribed objects and the relationship between the inscribed text and the object's type (vessels, tablets, cones, plaques, seals, statues, stelae, etc), function, material (stone, clay) and archaeological context when known.

The chosen timeframe of the workshop ranges from the epigraphic sources of the Fara period (ca. 2500 BC), though older sources as those from Archaic Ur (ED I) can also be taken into account till the royal inscriptions of the Isin-Larsa period (ca. 1800 BC). The textual sources of the early periods that comprise nearly 110000 texts on clay tablets and artifacts contain a lot of information about the ideology and legitimation of kingship but an investigation of its special relation to the inscribed medium has not yet been undertaken. Moreover the further reception of certain written sources and both the re-utilization and contextual self-reference of certain kinds of objects should be taken in consideration.

All invited scholars will be asked to give a brief paper dealing in detail with one aspect of the chosen topic no longer than 30 min. with discussion that is supposed to be intensified during a final summarizing round-table discussion. Contributions to all aspects of current archaeological and philological research such as the typology of inscription, e.g. commemorative votive inscription vs. economic or legal text vs. year formula, or the objects' nature and visual elements are likewise generally welcome. As a whole it is expected that the workshop with its accompanying discussions will afford a stimulus and new impetus for the project C01 as regarding the research on the materiality and functional presence of writing in this early period of the Ancient Near East.

Confirmed Speakers

• J. Andersson (Uppsala)
• J. Hänsel (Heidelberg)
• M. Hilgert (Heidelberg)
• D. Lau (Münster)
• C. Lecomte (Paris)
• A. McMahon (Cambridge)
• G. Marchesi (Bologna)
• P. Miglus (Heidelberg)
• P. Paoletti (Munich)
• S. Pollock (Berlin)
• W. Sallaberger (Munich)
• A. Schmitt (Mainz)
• G. Selz (Vienna)
• Franciszek Stępniowski (Warsaw)
• D. Sürenhagen (Heidelberg)
• F. Weiershäuser (Heidelberg)

Program of the workshop as PDF

Venue and Accommodation

The workshop will be held at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg (IWH). Accommodation for invited speakers will be provided at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg (IWH) as well.

Organisers

Thomas E. Balke, Markus Hilgert, Peter Miglus, Christina Tsouparopoulou

Workshop Homepage