Writing as material culture in Early Italy

The study of early writingThe purpose of writing, how it was transmitted from one culture to another, and its impact on society have been a highly contested field of study for many decades.The adoption of writing and the development of literacy had profound effects on ancient societies, but these are still imperfectly understood.This topic also poses many methodological problems, not least because structures of modern scholarship cut across the areas of study which are necessary to explore it fully.In this volume, Ruth Whitehouse (W.) aims to explore this from the standpoint of material culture.Although the title refers to writing throughout first millennium BC Italy, this volume is closely based on data gathered during two interconnected research projects which were limited to the development of writing in selected areas of Italy, 1 specifically northeast Italy, Puglia, the Lepontic areas of northwest Italy and the orientalising and archaic inscriptions from Etruria.In most previous studies of the subject, archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and historians have all addressed the problem of the emergence of literacy and its implications for social and cultural development, but for the most part, they have worked in isolation from each other.The development of writing as a system, for instance, has tended to be studied in isolation from the social implications of literacy.2 There are also lively debates over the nature of writing between those who regard early writing, especially as preserved on durable materials, as essentially a visual and graphic medium and those who emphasise its role in storing and codifying information, 3 and on the interface between literacy and orality.4 A fundamental division persists between those who propose a structural model of writing, with an emphasis on transcription of sounds, rules of script development and transmission or see it as a primarily graphic form, the creation of systems of signs and symbols, and those who see it as a cultural practice embedded within specific societies, which can only be understood in terms of the needs, culture and practices of these societies.5