14 Apr 2012 - 11:00
London WC1N 2PG
London Seminar: Inside the Mind of the Scribe: writing surfaces in ancient Egypt
Event Info
Host: EES
Type: Education – Workshop
Time and Place
Start Time: Saturday, 14th April 2012, 11:00 am
End Time: Saturday, 14th April 2012, 4:00 pm
Location: The Egypt Exploration Society
Street: 3 Doughty Mews
City/Town: London WC1N 2PG
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Contact Details
Email: contact@ees.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 1880
Link: http://www.ees.ac.uk/events/index/116.html
Description
Close examination of the surfaces on which ancient scribes wrote causes us to consider more carefully the various aspects of their work and allows us, to a certain extent, to think as they did. Recent technological advances have revealed details of surface structure, fibres, stains, watermarks, fingerprints and alterations on artefacts of all kinds. This new information can lead to great advances in our understanding of the processes of preparing, inscribing and otherwise transforming the material surfaces of wood, bone, ivory, flint, metals, papyrus and so on. Furthermore, many ancient documents that were previously unreadable can now be digitised and read for the first time. This seminar will consider inscribed objects of a wide variety of types from the earliest period of state-formation to the Graeco-Roman period. The cutting-edge technologies used to document and study these surfaces, including Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), 3D laser scanning, and multi-spectral Imaging, and the successes resulting from their application will be highlighted. Special emphasis will be placed on examples illustrating the agency of writers: the exploration of scribal intentions, choices, and decision-making. All may help to explain changes in the appearance and use of scripts across time and from one place to another. The seminar will be led by:
Dr Kathryn E. Piquette, Project Manager, 3D Encounters, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Professor John Tait, Emeritus Professor of Egyptology, UCL Institute of Archaeology, and Dr Dirk Obbink, University Lecturer in Papyrology/Greek Literature, Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford and Director of the Imaging Papyri Project.
All proceeds from ticket sales go towards the continuation of the Society’s work in Egypt and the UK.