**Decipherment of the Indus script: new angles and approaches**
Part one: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=68508
Part two: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=68648
Part three: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=68723
#Indus #Language #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Writing #History #Culture #Epigraphy @archaeodons
Archaeoethnologica: KO-RO-NO-WE-SA - Book / KO-RO-NO-WE-SA - Livro
+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2025/03/ko-ro-no-we-sa.html
Archaeoethnologica: KO-RO-NO-WE-SA - Book / KO-RO-NO-WE-SA - Livro
+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2025/03/ko-ro-no-we-sa.html
I suggested that the decline in Gaulish writing in the 1st c CE cannot necessarily be seen as a decline in language vibrancy, comparing the status of other nonliterate indigenous languages in the Roman empire.
But I left the question open on what the ‘psychological shift’ may have been for those literate Gaulish speakers who stopped seeing a purpose in writing the language during the early Roman principate.
Anyone here have any suggestions?
Despite what I post on this platform, my life is not all Basset Hounds and gardening. (Well, the Basset Hound does often manage to make my life entirely about him.)
I still occasionally carry out some academic research, and I spoke yesterday to the Changelings linguistics group here at Ohio State on the subject of ‘Gaulish literacy’.
In looking at the decline in surviving writing in Gaulish during the 1st c CE, I worked from Roman historian Ramsay MacMullen’s famous 1982 essay on ‘The epigraphic habit in the Roman empire’, where Ramsay attempted to explain the decline in Latin epigraphy from the mid 3rd c CE as being connected to ‘some very broad psychological shift’.
(toot continues: 1/2)
**Inscribed sandstone fragments of Hole, Norway: radiocarbon dates provide insight into rune-stone traditions**
_“An unusual mixture of runes and other markings are revealed as the fragments are reconstructed into a single standing stone, suggesting multiple episodes of inscription and providing insight into early runic writing practices in Iron Age Scandinavia.”_
Solheim, S. et al. (2025) ‘Inscribed sandstone fragments of Hole, Norway: radiocarbon dates provide insight into rune-stone traditions’, Antiquity, pp. 1–18. doi: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.225.
#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Scandinavia #IronAge #Epigraphy #Academia #Academics @archaeodons
¡ New Roman boundary marker claxon!
Ecker, Avner, and Uzi Leibner. “‘Diocletian Oppressed the Inhabitants of Paneas’ (ySheb. 9:2): A New Tetrarchic Boundary Stone from Abel Beth Maacah.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 0, no. 0 (n.d.): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2024.2435218.
"Excavators of tell Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel uncovered a Tetrarchic boundary stone reused as a cover for a Mamluk-period grave. The inscription mentions a hitherto unknown imperial surveyor (censitor). It is suggested that this individual may have been a colleague of Aelius Statutus, the censitor recorded on the boundary stones of the province of Syria Phoenice. Additionally, the inscription reveals two new toponyms: ‘Tirthas’ and ..."
Found by way of “A New Chapter in Roman Administration: Insights from a Late Roman Inscription.” Phys.org News, sec. Archaeology. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-chapter-roman-administration-insights-late.html
which was posted on Bluesky by @rogueclassicist
21 Roman curse tablets discovered in #France, including one written in Gaulish. 
@histodons @archaeodons @historikerinnen @antiquidons @linguistics #history #histoire #archaeology #heritage #Archaeologie #archaeodons #ReligiousStudies @anthropology
#antiquity #antike #epigraphy
Inscription dedicated to Roman Emperor Hadrian found near the city of Uşak (ancient Blaundus) in western #Turkiye 
#epigraphy #epigraphytuesday
@histodons #turkey @archaeodons @historikerinnen @antiquidons #geschichte #histodons #history #histoire #archaeology #heritage #Archaeologie #archaeodons #RomanArchaeology #RomanEmpire
ah! I'm on the trail now. A search in duck-duck-go for "roman running drill sculpture" (without the quotes) turned up a link to W. Wootton, B. Russell, and P. Rockwell. “Stoneworking Tools and Toolmarks.” In The Art of Making in Antiquity: Stoneworking in the Roman World. King’s College London, Departments of Classics and of Digital Humanities, 2013. https://artofmaking.ac.uk/content/essays/2-stoneworking-tools-and-toolmarks-w-wootton-b-russell-p-rockwell/
wherein we read (in the section on "the drill"):
> On his grave plaque from Rome which is now in Urbino, the Roman carver Eutropos depicted himself and his assistant using a cord drill in this way to finish the detailing on a sarcophagus.[87] This is the only visual representation of this tool in use to have survived from the Roman period."
Note 87 points us to: Strong and Claridge 1976: 200, fig. 327.
"Strong and Claridge 1976" = 'Marble sculpture', in D. Strong and D. Brown (eds). Roman crafts. London: 195–207
So, now I'm on the hunt for that.
I really wanted to figure out the publication info for the inscribed and decorated sarcophagus(?) of which @Rome_and_stuff posted a couple of cropped detail photos, but I've had no luck so far: https://mastodon.social/@Rome_and_stuff/112570271931607177
I think the two photos probably progress left-to-right and include the center of the final(?) line in the inscription, plus two illustrations, one depicting the use of the running drill to decorate a sarcophagus and the other illustrating a decorated sarcophagus. The included text seems to be:
... ΥΙΟϹ·ΕΠΟΙΗΣΕΝ·Κ...
likely with good surviving text on both sides, and a line above.
I've searched the Packard Greek inscriptions and cannot find that exact text on any inscription from Rome.
υἱὸς ἐποίησεν is attested in https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/178478?hs=73-84
for the rest we could have a proper name beginning with Κ, or a phrase like ἐποίησεν καὶ ἑαυτῇ καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις in https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/188415?hs=90-97
Anybody have any ideas? Boosts appreciated.
An inscribed Roman altar with game board scratched into the back, posted (nice photos, both front and back, but no alt text ... see my thread below) by @Rome_and_stuff:
https://mastodon.social/@Rome_and_stuff/112286601165379610
It has been published as follows:
EDCS-17200267 = EDR029435 = TM 69126 = CIL 06, 00182 (p 3004, 3755, 4130) = CIL 06, 30708 = CEACelio 00321 = D 03720 = AE 2001, +00219.
http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/res_complex_comune.php?do=book&id_nr=EDR029435
Alt text:
First photo shows the rough-cut rear face of a rectangular stone altar into which an apparent game board has been cut. The board consists of three concentric squares, with straight lines connecting the center of each side of the outermost square to the corresponding center of each side of the innermost square.
Second photo shows the front of a rectangular, inscribed altar, bearing a five-line Latin text in early imperial characters with common abbreviations ... 1/2
ok to boost
Archaeoethnologica: Digitalization & Epigraphic Reading - Book / Digitalização e Leitura Epigráfica - Livro
+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2024/03/digitalizacao-e-leitura-epigrafica.html
Archaeoethnologica: Digitalization & Epigraphic Reading - Book / Digitalização e Leitura Epigráfica - Livro
+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2024/03/digitalizacao-e-leitura-epigrafica.html
Archaeoethnologica: Digitalization & Epigraphic Reading - Book / Digitalização e Leitura Epigráfica - Livro
+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2024/03/digitalizacao-e-leitura-epigrafica.html
Jobs in Digital Humanities/Medieval Inscriptions (via Peter Orth, Köln):
Niedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen is hiring two positions, to be configured as one at 100% and one at 50%, or two 75% positions, to photograph, collect and edit medieval and early modern Latin and German inscriptions from collections in Lower Saxony.
More info (auf Deutsch): https://adw-goe.de/ueber-uns/stellenausschreibungen/
#DH #DigitalHumanities #epigraphy #Inschriften #Goettingen #medieval #Mittelalter
"Two well-known texts on altars from Delos (RES 3952; M 349) dating to the period after 167 BC attest to contacts between the Aegean and Ancient Yemen."
Sørensen, S.L. and Geus, K. (2023) 'Minaeans in the Mediterranean. Reevaluating two Old South Arabian inscriptions from Delos,' Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 34(1), pp. 128–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12229. #OpenAccess #OA #Article #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Ancient #Yemen #Arabia #Epigraphy #Mediterranean #Greece #Europe @archaeodons
"The early alphabet developed in association with Western Asiatic (Canaanite) miners in Sinai (or, at least, was taken up by them) during the Middle Kingdom in the eighteenth century BC. We suggest that early alphabetic writing spread to the Southern Levant during the late Middle Bronze Age (with the Lachish Dagger probably being the earliest attested example), and was in use by at least the mid fifteenth century BC at Tel Lachish."
Höflmayer, F., Misgav, H., Webster, L., & Streit, K. (2021). Early alphabetic writing in the ancient Near East: The ‘missing link’ from Tel Lachish. Antiquity, 95(381), 705-719. doi: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.157 #OpenAccess #OA #Journal #Article #BronzeAge #Writing #Archaeology #Antiquity #Epigraphy #History #Histodon #Histodons @archaeodons @histodon @histodons
Anybody yet have a readable photo or link to preliminary edition of the new inscription from Diocletianopolis (Hisarya, Bulgaria) mentioned in this Greek Reporter piece?
https://greekreporter.com/2023/10/24/ancient-greek-inscription-bulgaria/
h/t @rogueclassicist https://scholar.social/@rogueclassicist/111289868581698464
By way of @rogueclassicist and @serviliusahala I see that there are some new electoral inscriptions (painted) from #Pompeii:
Scappaticcio, Maria Chiara, and Gabriel Zuchtriegel. “Passione elettorale nelle mura domestiche: un larario, una macina, un candidato. Nuove scoperte nella casa IX 10, 1, e il dialogo possibile tra teoria e prassi della campagna elettorale.” E-Journal degli scavi di Pompei, no. 28.09.2023 (September 28, 2023): 2–9.
️ 