VIEWS project

📯 Job claxon: Assistant Professor in Celtic, University of Cambridge (ending soon)

@department-asnc.bsky.social wishes to appoint an Assistant Professor in Celtic from 1 Sept 2026. Details for the post can be found at www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista....

Closing date for applications: Wed 11 Feb 2026.

Oh I have just worked out what I'm going to do for International Lego Classics Day this year! It may involve these little dudes but that's all I'm saying 😁

Sinai Before Sinai A 5,000-year-old Sinai inscription links violence and state power with divine sanction—a combination later biblical authors critique in their Sinai narratives.

Early Alphabetic writing in the news: www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

The video from this seminar is now online here: youtu.be/vJfhL_5-w-U?...

Wow, 小篆 seal script (based on Shuō wén jiě zì 說文解字) is going to be separately encoded for inclusion in Unicode 18.0!

Proposal document here: www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n53...

new substack article combining my special interests of typography and the middle ages!!! open.substack.com/pub/weirdmed...

The main ones I see are Dutch, French, Irish and te reo Maori.

@timbrookes.bsky.social!

"There is virtually no other script that works for Scrabble other than the Latin alphabet, because virtually every other script is more complex"

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: VIEWS Lent Term Seminars. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. VIEWS Lent Term Seminars (Times GMT/UTC+0) Friday 30th January, 4.30pm ONLINE ONLY Reading, Riting, Rithmetic and 1+2=??? The varied roots of quirky sign ordering in Indic orthographies (Christopher ...

Tomorrow, Friday 30th January, Chris Miller is giving an online seminar for VIEWS and the Endangered Writing Network: "The varied roots of quirky sign ordering in Indic orthographies" - especially in Sumatra, South Sulawesi and the Philippines.

Register here:
cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Two days to World Endangered Writing Day. We have something for everyone, with scripts from around the world, theoretical aspects of writing research, discussions of community identity and minority script typography, a Script Keepers panel, a contest and so much more!

“Bruits de couloir”: Shedding New Light on Ancient Graffiti - Pompeii Sites The “Bruits de couloir” project offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the graffiti in the theatre corridor in Pompeii through a multidisciplinary approach combining epigraphy, archaeology, philol...

In the new »E-Journal degli Scavi di Pompei», new Pompeii graffiti come to light. pompeiisites.org/e-journal-de... I am stoked to see how far RTI has come + the discovery of the new ‘Erato amat [---‘ graffito is so cool. Also? Do not forget the Ancient Graffiti Project: ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/

I love this!

It seems odd that the diagonals are columnar not linear, if you see what I mean. The author's typesetter must have been rolling his eyes 🙂

"The twenty-four modes of writing"

(Diagonal βουστροφηδόν for the win! 🤓)

< Hugo 1617 De prima scribendi origine @ www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb1...

You can find more information on the dedicated website here: endangeredwriting.com/index.html

Image of the WEWD programme (text version available online).

The programme for World Endangered Writing Day next Friday (23rd Jan). Explore and celebrate global writing diversity, and find out what is being done to support minority script communities, with this day of presentations and discussions. #wewd2026

Register here: tinyurl.com/wewd2026

VIEWS events, January-April 2026 We are excited to announce our programme of VIEWS project and Endangered Writing Research Network events for the coming months. Find out about our one-day events, register for our seminars and brow…

So excited to announce all our VIEWS project events!

Seminars on Indic orthographies, Archaic Cretan law codes and Bété and Chinese scripts!

World Endangered Writing Day!

A Jamigraphy workshop!

Our conference WAVE 2: Writing As Visual Engagement!

viewsproject.wordpress.com/2026/01/15/v...

February 1 is the deadline to nominate books for the AIA's Felicia A. Holton Award. If you know any books published in the past three years that make bring the excitement of archaeology to a general audience, please nominate them here:
www.archaeological.org/grant/holton...

Photo of a blue lapis lazuli cylinder seal that is broken, shown from two sides. On the left it looks almost complete, like a cylinder that has a chip at the bottom left. Part of a cuneiform inscription is visible on the left side. On the right of the image is the other side which is more broken, just a fragment. Part of the image of a person is visible.

You may have heard of Enheduanna, the princess, priestess, and poet who is also the earliest named author in history.

Well, a tiny broken artefact made of lapis lazuli preserves the name of Ilum-pālil, her hairdresser. It is a fragmentary cylinder seal, excavated from a tomb in the city of Ur.

😯😯😯

ELEVENTH-HOUR CALL FOR BRILLIANT RESCUE PLANS Pangea, my largest sculpture (at 7'x7') was due to be donated to a university, but that has fallen through. I leave for the UK on Wednesday. How can it be rescued from the dump?

The festive epigraphist – with books and crafts I didn’t manage to write a post before taking a break for Christmas (sorry), but after having a particularly writing-themed festive season, I thought some of my experiences might be of intere…

A sort of apology blog post, with books and activities, since I didn't manage a post before my Christmas break. Featuring books by @majnouna.com @dannybate.bsky.social @timbrookes.bsky.social among other things.

viewsproject.wordpress.com/2026/01/04/t...

Made in Egypt exhibition at the @fitzmuseum.bsky.social is very much recommended! Every object has a story to tell and it's all displayed beautifully - well lit, interactive, spacious. Wonderful showcase of Egyptian craftsmanship.

Well, isn't that a pretty sight! The Japanese edition of my Atlas of Endangered Alphabets is now out and about!

Indeed!

Probably should have tagged #AncientBluesky and #ClassicsBluesky on this.

Children's book, The Trojan Horse

Page of the Trojan Horse book showing Iphigenia with a suitcase and Agamemnon and Clytemnestra waving to her

I would not have included this episode in a toddler Trojan Horse book 😳 I can't lie to my son!

It only has four pages: Paris sailing off with Helen, Iphigeneia, Achilles knocking Hector over and the wooden horse.

An Aegean archaeologist might have better ideas on exchange systems though!

We don't have any mentions of amber that I'm aware of in Linear B - I'm pretty sure there isn't any. But the archives are related to centralised storage and distribution, with only indirect hints at international trade (e.g. substances that must be imports), so that's not surprising.

It was my colleague @philipjboyes.bsky.social who put it online (he's on leave for a while now) and I confess I haven't watched the whole thing through. We had some difficulties with the soundtrack on this one if I remember correctly.