About the series

This Elements series aims to reflect the diversity of forms and practices of Writing in the Ancient World, challenging schematic views on the nature and history of writing. Written by specialists in accessible language, it will offer a global, detailed, and contextualized perspective on the many facets of writing in the ancient world, extending from the ancient Near East to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

The study of ancient writing, though not an institutionalised field itself, has developed over the past two decades into a dynamic domain of inquiry across specialisms. This series aims to reflect and contribute to this ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue, while challenging schematic views on writing in the ancient world. Written by an international team of scholars in accessible language, volumes in the series will collectively offer a perspective on ancient writing that is:

• Global, presenting the full diversity of forms and practices of writing in the ancient world-from the Near East to China, to northern Africa and the broader Mediterranean world, to the Americas; 
• Detailed, presenting these traditions in their full temporal depth and internal diversity, rather than en bloc; and making available the rich datasets and internal discussions that all too often remain confined to individual fields and specialisms; 
• Contextualised, presenting writing systems and practices of writing as meaningful expressions of societies and human ingenuity in their relevant social, cultural, and linguistic contexts.