Writing on Ostraca in the Inner and Outer Mediterranean (A09 (ehem. A07))

• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178035969

Subproject A09 focusses on the widely spread use of ceramic sherds (ostraca) as a writing material for inscribing primarily in Greek in the ancient Mediterranean and connected regions. The practice was neither uniform nor consistent, but flourished or waned depending on cultural, linguistic, administrative, and political circumstances. By analysing material aspects and comparing several large ostraca finds within their historical-geographical and/or cultural-political space, the project aims to achieve a more nuanced understanding of the circumstances surrounding the practice.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 933: Material Text Cultures. Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Project Head: Dr. Julia Lougovaya-Ast