Was the function of the earliest writing in Egypt utilitarian or ceremonial?
Does the surviving evidence reflect the reality?
by Marsia Sfakianou
The author, currently (January 2005) a M.A. student of archaeology at
the University of Birmingham and a long-distance student of Egyptology
at the University of Exeter, surveys theories about the scope (goal and
purpose) of the earliest ancient Egyptian writing and illustrates them
with examples of early writing from the Predynastic and the Old Kingdom.
The author wishes to thank Francesco Raffaele who provided photographic
material for this report.
Text (2.07MB, PDF)