World writing and semasiographic systems. A theoretical approach. Part 2. 3305-SSP2-OG

The main aim of the course is to present the worldwide diversity of writing systems and the possibilities offered by graphic forms of communication. Student will learn the principles of writing systems from different cultures, i.e. cuneiform, Egyptian, Eagean, Greek and Latine, Chinese, Japanese, Corean, Mesoamerican (Maya and Aztec). Nevertheless, also systems which not fulfill the classic definition of writing system will be analysed (i.e. Andean kipu, Aztec divinatory system and one of the African systems). After this panoramic overview of different forms of graphic communications systems, the terms of ‘writing” and “semasiography” will be discussed, as well as the generally assumed tendency for writing systems to ultimately develop into alphabetic scripts. Also, the implications of using the alphabetic scripts will be analysed adn compared with the implications of using semasiographic systems. The final discussion will undertake the position of writing systems versus visual art.

The 1st and the 2nd part of the course (1st and 2nd semester) are one whole, because only in the 2nd semester more theoretical discussion is possible, after studying different writing systems of the world during the 1st and part of the 2nd semester.

1. Introduction. Program and organization of the work.
2. Phonographic writing systems in the Middle East.
3. Egyptian writing system.
4. Chinese writing system and its art.
5. Writing systems of the Far East (Japanese and Korean)
6. Linear B and other Egeian writing systems.
7. Consonantic writing system (Arabic or Hebrew)
8. Alphabetic writing systems (Greek, runic, latin system vs. English and French language).
9. Writing systems in the Americas.
10. Maya writing system.
11. Aztec writing system.
12. Ancietn stories and art of divination in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican books.
14. Non-graphic systems? Andean khipu and Braille’s system.
15. Semasiografia.
16. What is writing?
17. Alphabet and evolutionist model of writing: useful or not?
18. Writing and visual arts.

Type of course

elective courses
optional courses
general courses

Mode

Classroom

Prerequisites (description)

To participate in the class, it is necessary to know English fluently (most of the literature is in English) or/and Spanish (come bibliography is in Spanish) It is useful (but not imprescindible) if the participants know any writing system from outside Europe (Cuneiforme, Egyptian, Chinese, Arabic, Mayan, etc.). The idea is that students of different specialities participate in the class, so that they can exchange their knowledge.

Learning outcomes

-The Student differentiates between basic operating mechanisms used in the logographic, syllabic, consonantic and phonetic writing systems
- knows how to use the categories of the phonogram, logogram, sylabogram, phonetic determinative, semantic determinative, homophone, homograph
- has a basic knowledge of the Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and other consonant writing systems, linear B and other Aegean writing systems, Mayan writing, the Aztec graphic communication system and other Mesoamerican systems, and know what runes are
-distinguishes the category of semasiography
- has basic knowledge on non-graphic systems, like Andean khipu and Braille system
- has a critical approach to the traditional definition and the dogma about evolutionary development of writing systems
- knows the social role of the writign
- indicates the consequences and implications of the use of glottographic and semasiographic writing systems
- has a well-established knowledge on how the information was transfered in a graphic way in the Mesoamerican historic and divinatory books
- realizes in the richness of contemporary forms of graphic communication
- knows the position of the glottographic and semasiographic systems against other visual arts

Assessment criteria

To approve it is necessary:
- to participate actively in the classes, in discussions regarding the writing systems being analysed (30% of the final note in both semesters)
- to approve a test based on the bibliography read during the course (30% of the final note in both semesters)
- to prepare a presentation about one chosen writing system (40 % of the final note of the 1. semester)
- to write an essay about an undeciphered writing system or a critical analysis of one of the writing systems previously studied (40 % of the final note of the 2. semester)

Attention: the course is divided in two part because of the formal reasons, but both semesters are planned as a conceptual whole.
The course is demanding regarding the preparation foor the class and reading the theoretical test (ca. 4 hours per week). Most of the biblliography is in Englosh or Spanish.

Bibliography

Adéẹ̀kọ́, Adélékè (2010) “«Writing» and «Reference» in Ifá Divination Chants”. Oral Tradition. 25 (2): 283-303. http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/25ii/03_25.2.pdf
Bagley, Robert W. (2004) “Anyang writing and the origin of the Chinese writing system”. In Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 190-200, 226-236.
Boone, Elizabeth Hill (2008) “Beyond writing”. En: Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing. Script Invention as History and Process. New York, Cambridge University Press: 313-348.
Chadwick, John (1987) Pismo linearne B i pisma pokrewne. RTW, Warszawa: 24-34.
Chrisomalis, Stephen (2014) “Six Unresolved Questions in the Early History of Numeration”. Signs of Writing: The Cultural, Social, and Linguistic Contexts of the World’s First Writing Systems Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society (Chicago, IL). November 8, 2014: https://www.academia.edu/9441323/Six_Unresolved_Questions_in_the_Early_History_of_Numeration
Cook, B. F. (2003) Inscripciones griegas. AKAL, Madrid: 283-351.
Cooper, Jerrold S. (2004) “Babylonian beginnings: the origin of the cuneiform writing system in comparative perspective”. In Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 71-80.
Coulmas, Florian (1993 [1989]) (2003 [1997]) Writing Systems. An Introduction to their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge, University Press: 69-74., http://www.eki.ee/knab/lat/kblchr2.pdf
Cummings, Thomas (2011) „What Is It, What Does It Do, and Why Is It Not a Knot?”. W: Elizabeth Hill Boone y Gary Urton (eds.) Their Way of Writing. Scripts, Signs, and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America. Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: 277-317. http://histomesoamericana.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/cummins-tocapu.pdf
Davies, W.V. (2003) Jeroglifico egipcio. Madrid, AKAL, rozdz.: “Los principios” (str. 114-127).
Denise Schmandt-Besserat (1991), Two Precursors of Writing: Plain and Complex Tokens, [w:] The Origins of Writing, ed. Wayne M. Senner, str. 27-41, http://en.finaly.org/index.php/Two_precursors_of_writing:_plain_and_complex_tokens
Dixon, Judith (1990) World Braille Usage. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. UNESCO, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000872/087242eb.pdf
Elkins, James (1999) The Domain of Images. Ithaca – Londyn, Cornell University Press (fragmenty)
Englund, Robert K., Recenzja How writing came about, Denise Schmandt-Besserat, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/wll.1.2.08eng
Fossa, Lydia (2000) “Two Khipu, One narrative: Answering Urton’s Questions”. Ethnohistory. 47 (2): 453-468. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/11651/summary
Gelb, Ignace (1963 [1952]) A Study of Writing. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Rozdz. II (“Forerunners of Writing”), str. 24-36. https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/study_writng.pdf
Griffen, Toby D. “Deciphering the Vinca Script”, http://www.fanad.net/vincascript.pdf , pre-print.
Harald Haarmann (2001) “El área de influencia de la cultura escrita cirílica”. W [tegoż]: Historia universal de la escritura. Str. 514-529.
Harris, Roy (1995) Signs of Writing. Routledge, London (fragmenty) https://books.google.pl/books?id=Zf6WBlT2mBYC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl#v=onepage&q&f=false
Healey, John (2003) El alfabeto primitivo. AKAL, Madrid: 225-274.
Houston, Stephen (2004b) “Writing in Early Mesoamerica”. In Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 274-309.
Jackson, Margaret A. (2011) “Moche as Visual Notation: Semasiographic Elements in Moche Ceramic Imagery”. W: Elizabeth Hill Boone y Gary Urton (eds.) Their Way of Writing. Scripts, Signs, and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America. Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: 227-249.
Jackson, Margaret A. (2012) “The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the Ancient Americas”. In: Joshua Englehardt (ed.) Agency and Epigraphy. University Press of Colorado: 21-43. https://books.google.pl/books?id=Q8y9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT45&lpg=PT45&dq=Jackson,+Margaret+A.+%22The+Mediated+Image:+Reflections+on+Semasiographic+Notation+in+the+Ancient+Americas%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=oJ1-7Bu3DP&sig=pGI8iYb3WmndaakBggHQ39fE8eU&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKgpXlzpzSAhWGVywKHSUqBeAQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=Jackson%2C%20Margaret%20A.%20%22The%20Mediated%20Image%3A%20Reflections%20on%20Semasiographic%20Notation%20in%20the%20Ancient%20Americas%E2%80%9D&f=false
Kettunen, Harri & Christophe Helmke (2004) Introducción a los jeroglíficos mayas. Manual para el Taller de Escritura. Traducción al español de Juan Ignacio Cases Martín. Segunda Edición, 2004: 7-21, 45-50. http://www.mesoweb.com/resources/handbook/WH2010.pdf
Leroi-Gourham, Andre (1993) Gesture and Speech. Trans. by Anna Bostcok Berger. Cambridge (Massachusetts) – London, The MIT Press. Rozdz. “Language Symbols” (do “Writing and Linearization of Symbols”). https://daughtersofchaos.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/leroi-gourhan-andre-gesture-and-speech.pdf
Mikulska, Katarzyna (2010) “«Secret Language» in Oral and Graphic Form. Religious-magic Discourse in Aztec Speeches and Manuscripts”. Oral Tradition, 25 (2): 325-363. http://journal.oraltradition.org/
Moore, Oliver, (2000) Reading the Past: Chinese. Londres, British Museum Press, 2000: 11-17, 54-72.
OUDIJK, Michel R. (2011) “Elaboration and Abbreviation in Mexican Pictorial Manuscripts: Their Use in Literary Themes”. En: Elizabeth Hill Boone y Gary Urton (eds.) Their Way of Writing. Scripts, Signs, and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America. Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: 149-174. https://www.academia.edu/8066243/Elaboration_and_Abbreviation_in_Mexican_Pictorial_Manuscripts_Their_Use_in_Literary_Themes
Salomon, Frank (2001) “How an Andean «Writing Without Words» Works”. Current Anthropology. 42 (1): 1-27 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249179290_How_an_Andean_Writing_Without_Words_Works
Sampson, Geoffrey (1997 [1985]) Sistemas de escritura. Análisis lingüístico. Barcelona, Gedisa. Rozdz. 10, “La ortografía inglesa” , str. 281-309. https://books.google.pl/books?id=tVcdNRvwoDkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sampson, Geoffrey (1997) Sistemas de escritura. Análisis lingüístico. Barcelona, Gedisa: rozdz. 8: 249-280. https://books.google.pl/books?id=tVcdNRvwoDkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sampson, Geoffrey (1997) Sistemas de escritura. Análisis lingüístico. Barcelona, Gedisa: rozdz. 7: 173-208. https://books.google.pl/books?id=tVcdNRvwoDkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl#v=onepage&q&f=false
Severi, Carlo (1997) “The kuna picture-writing. A study in Iconography and Memory”. En: Mari Lyn Salvador (ed.) The Art of Being Kuna, Layers of meaning Among the Kuna of Panama, Exhibition Catalogue, Fowler Museum de la University of California. Los Angeles: 245-273. https://www.academia.edu/3027726/_The_kuna_picture-writing._A_study_in_Iconography_and_Memory_1997_in_M.Salvador_ed._The_Art_of_Being_Kuna_Layers_of_meaning_Among_the_Kuna_of_Panama_Catalogue_de_lExposition_Fowler_Museum_of_the_University_of_California_at_Los_Angeles_Los_Angeles_245-273
Urton, Gary (2003) Signs of the Inka Khipu. Binary Coding in teh Andean Knotted-String Records. Austin, University of Texas Press: 101-121.
Urton, Gary i Carrie J. Brezine (2011) “Khipu Typologies”. W: Elizabeth Hill Boone y Gary Urton (eds.) Their Way of Writing. Scripts, Signs, and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America. Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: 319-349 (do przeczytania str. 319-344).
Walker, C.B.F. (1998) Pismo klinowe. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo RTW. Rodz. 1 (“Początek i rozwój”), rozdz. 4 („Rozprzestrzenienie geograficzne”).
Whittaker, Gordon (2009) “The principles of Nahuatl Writing”. Göttinger Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft. 16: 47-81. https://www.academia.edu/1026927/The_Principles_of_Nahuatl_Writing
Williams, Henrik (2008) “Reason for Runes”. En: Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing. Script Invention as History and Process. New York, Cambridge University Press: 262-273.

Additional bibliography (accesible on-line or to be borrowed from the professor):
Boone, H. Elizabeth &Walter D. Mignolo (1994) “Writing and Recording Knowledge”. In: Elizabeth H. Boone & Walter D. Mignolo (eds.) Writing Without Words: Alternative Literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Duke University Press, Durham: 3-26.
Chadwick, John (1985) Linear B and Related Scripts. Londres, British Museum Publications, 1987.
Chadwick, John (19859) El enigma micénico. Barcelona, Taurus.
Coe, Michael (1976) “Early Steps in the Evolution of Maya Writing”. In: Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica. UCLA Latin American Studies Series 31. California.
Dibble, Charles E. (1971) “Writing in Central Mexico”. Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press, Austin. 10: 322-332.
Helmke, Christophe & Jesper Nielsen (2011) “The Writing System of Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico”. Boundary End Archaeology Research Center. Ancient America No 2.
Jansen, Marteen (1988) “The Art of Writing in Ancient Mexico: An Ethno-iconological Perspective”. Visible Religion. 6: 86-113.
Justeson, John (1986) “The origin of writing systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica”. World Archaeology. 17 (3): 437-458.
Kettunen, Harri & Christophe Helmke (2004) Introducción a los jeroglíficos mayas. Manual para el Taller de Escritura. Traducción al español de Juan Ignacio Cases Martín. Segunda Edición, 2004; http://www.mesoweb.com.
Marcus, Joyce (1976) “The Origins of Mesoamerican Writing”. Annual Review of Anthropology. 5: 35-67.
Nicholson, Henry (1973) “Phoneticism in the Late Pre-Hispanic Central Mexican Writing System”. In: Elizabeth P. Benson (ed.) Mesoamerican Writing Systems. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D. C.: pp. 1-46.
Nielsen, Jesper y Helmke, Christophe (2011) “Reinterpreting the Plaza de Los Glifos, La Ventilla, Teotihuacan”. Ancient Mesoamerica. 22 (2): 345-370.
Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006) “Oldest Writing in the Old World”. Science. 313: 1610-1614.
Taube, Karl (1999) “The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan”. In: Ancient American Art and Writing, Washington DC.
Urton, Gary (1998) From Knots to Narratives: Reconstructing the Art of Historical Record Keeping in the Andes from Spanish Transcriptions of Inka Khipus.

Bibliography for further reading:
- Anawalt. R. Patricia & Frances F. Berdan (1992) The Codex Mendoza. Scientific American,
- Boone, H. Elizabeth &Walter D. Mignolo (1994) “Writing and Recording Knowledge”. In: Elizabeth H. Boone & Walter D. Mignolo (eds.) Writing Without Words: Alternative Literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Duke University Press, Durham: 3-26.
- Boone, H. Elizabeth (1996) “Manuscript Painting in Service of Imperial Ideology”. In: Emily Umberger, Michael E. Smith, Mary G. Hodge, Elizabeth Hill Boone, Richard E. Blanton, Frances F. Berdan (eds.) Aztec Imperial Strategies. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.: 181-206.
- Chadwick, John (1958) The Decipherment of Linear B. Random House, New York.
- Coe, Michael (1976) “Early Steps in the Evolution of Maya Writing”. In: Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica. UCLA Latin American Studies Series 31. California.
- Coe, Michael (1991) “A Triumph of Spirit. How Yuri Knorosov cracked the Maya hieroglyphic code from far-off Leningrad”. Archaeology. 44 (5): 39-44.
- Coulmas, Florian (1989) “Units of Speech and Units of Writing”. In: The Writing Systems of the World. Blackwell, Oxford: 37-54.
- Dalby, David (1970) “The Historical Problem of the Indigenous Scripts of West Africa and Surinam”. In: David Dalby (ed.) Language and History in Africa: 109-119.
- De Francis, John (1989) Visible Speech. The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
- Dibble, Charles E. (1971) “Writing in Central Mexico”. Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press, Austin. 10: 322-332.
- Dixon, Judith (1990) World Braille Usage. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. UNESCO, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
- Donnan, Christopher B. (1976) Moche art and iconography. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, University of California.
- Elkins, James (1999) The Domain of Images. Ithaca – Londyn, Cornell University Press.
- Elliott, Ralph W. V. (1989) Runes: An Introduction. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
- Fossa, Lydia (2000) “Two Khipu, One narrative: Answering Urton’s Questions”. Ethnohistory. 47 (2): 453-468.
- Gelb, Ignace (1963 [1952]) A Study of Writing. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Goody, Jack (1987) The interface between the written and the oral. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Goody, Jack (1999) The Power of the Written Tradition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.
- Harris, Roy (1995) Signs of Writing. Routledge, London.
- Helmke, Christophe & Jesper Nielsen (2011) “The Writing System of Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico”. Boundary End Archaeology Research Center. Ancient America No 2.
- Hill, Archibald A. (1967) “The Typology of Writing Systems”. In: William M. Austin (ed.). Papers in Linguistics in Honor of Leon Dostert. The Hague, Mouton: 92-99.
- Holenstein, Elmar (1983) Double Articulation in Writing. In Writing in Focus. Coulmas, Florian and Konrad Ehlich, eds., pp. 45-62. Mouton Publishers, New York.
- Houston, Stephen & David Stuart (1996) “Of gods, glyphs and kings: divinity and rulership among the Classic Maya”. Antiquity. 70 (268): 289-312.
- Houston, Stephen & Michael Coe (2003) “Has Isthmian Writing Been Deciphered?”. Mexicon. XXV (6): 151-161.
- Houston, Stephen (2000) “Into the Mind of Ancients: Advances in Maya Glyph Studies”. Journal of World Prehistory. 14 (2): 121-2001.
- Houston, Stephen (2004a) “The Archaeology of Communication Technologies”. Annual Review of Anthropology. 33: 223-250.
- Houston, Stephen (2004b) “Writing in Early Mesoamerica”. In Stephen Houston (ed.) The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 274-309.
- Jackson, Margaret A. (2012) “The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the Ancient Americas”. In: Joshua Englehardt (ed.) Agency and Epigraphy. University Press of Colorado: 21-43.
- Jansen, Marteen (1988) “The Art of Writing in Ancient Mexico: An Ethno-iconological Perspective”. Visible Religion. 6: 86-113.
- Justeson, John & L.D. Stephens (1993) “The evolution of syllabaries from alphabets”. Die Sprache. (35) 1: 2-46.
- Justeson, John & Terrence Kaufman (1993) “A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing”. Science 259: 1703-1711.
- Justeson, John (1986) “The origin of writing systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica”. World Archaeology. 17 (3): 437-458.
- León-Portilla, Miguel (1992) “Have We Really Translated the Mesoamerican «Ancient Word»?”. In: Brian Swann (ed.) On the Translation of Native American Literatures. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.: 313-338.
- Leroi-Gourham, Andre (1993) Gesture and Speech. Trans. by Anna Bostcok Berger. Camridge (Massachusetts) – London, The MIT Press.
- Marcus, Joyce (1976) “The Origins of Mesoamerican Writing”. Annual Review of Anthropology. 5: 35-67.
- Marcus, Joyce (1980) “Zapotec Writing”. Scientific American. 242 (2): 50-64.
- Marcus, Joyce (1983) “Teotihuacan Visitors on Monte Alban Monuments and Murals”. In: Kent V. Flannery & Joyce Marcus (eds.) The Cloud People. Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. Academic Press, New York: 175-181.
- Moore, Oliver, (2000) Reading the Past: Chinese. Londres, British Museum Press, 2000.
- Nicholson, Henry (1973) “Phoneticism in the Late Pre-Hispanic Central Mexican Writing System”. In: Elizabeth P. Benson (ed.) Mesoamerican Writing Systems. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D. C.: pp. 1-46.
- Nielsen, Jesper y Helmke, Christophe (2011) “Reinterpreting the Plaza de Los Glifos, La Ventilla, Teotihuacan”. Ancient Mesoamerica. 22 (2): 345-370.
- Ong, J. Walter (1986) “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought”. In: Gerd Baumann (ed.) The Written Word. Literacy in Transition. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 23-50.
- Pasztory, Esther (1989) Texts, Archaeology, Art, and History in the Templo Mayor: Reflections. In: Elizabeth Boone (ed.) The Aztec Templo Mayor: 451-462.
- Pohl, John & Bruce Byland (1990) “Mixtec Landscape: Perception and Archaeological Settlement Patterns”. Ancient Mesoamerica (Cambridge University Press, London). 1: 113-31.
- Postgate, Nicholas, Tao Wang & Toby Wilkinson (1995) “The Evidence for Early Writing: Utilitarian or Ceremonial?”. Antiquity. 69: 459-480.
- Quirke, S. & C. Andrews (1988) The Rosetta Stone. Facsimile drawing. Trustees of the British Museum, Great Britain.
- Robinson, Andrew (1995) The Story of Writing. Thames and Hudson, London.
- Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006) “Oldest Writing in the Old World”. Science. 313: 1610-1614.
- Salomon, Frank (2001) “How an Andean «Writing Without Words» Works”. Current Anthropology. 42 (1): 1-27.
- Sampson, Geoffrey (1985) Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Stanford University Press, California.
- Scancarelli, Janine (1996) “Cherokee Writing”. In: Peter Daniels and William Bright (eds.) The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 587-592.
- Schmandt-Besserat, Denise (1992) Before Writing: From Counting to Cuneiform. University of Texas Press, Austin.
- Shlain, Leonard (1998) The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. Penguin Putnam.
- Smalley, William A., Chia Koa Vang & Gnia Yee Yang (1990) Mother of Writing: The Origin and development of a Hmong Messianic Script. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Stuart, David & Stephen Houston (1989) “Maya Writing”. Scientific American. 261 (2): 82-89.
- Stuart, David (1984) “Royal auto-scarifice among the Maya”. Res 7/8: 7-20. Lounsbury, Floyd.
- Stuart, David (1991) Recent Work in the Decipherment of Palenque's Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Distinguished Lecture at the 89th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association en New Orleans, Louisiana. American Anthropologist. 93(4):809-825.
- Taube, Karl (1999) “The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan”. In: Ancient American Art and Writing, Washington DC.
- Troike, Nancy (1990) “Pre-hispanic Pictorial Communication: the codex system of the Mixtec of Oaxaca, Mexico”. In: Visible Language: 75-87.
- Urcid, Javier (2001) “Problems in Reconstructing the Ancient Zapotec Calendar”. In: Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing, chapter 3. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.
- Urton, Gary (1990) “Andean Social organization and the Maintenance of the Nazca Lines”. In: Anthony Aveni (ed.) The lines of Nazca. The American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia: 175-206.
- Urton, Gary (1998) From Knots to Narratives: Reconstructing the Art of Historical Record Keeping in the Andes from Spanish Transcriptions of Inka Khipus.
- Walker, C.B.F. (1987) Cuneiform. University of California Press, Berkeley
- Winfield, Capitaine, Fernando (1988) “La Estela 1 de la Mojarra, Veracruz, México”. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing. No. 16. Center for Maya Research, Washington, D.C.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3305-SSP2-OG in USOSweb