Material Choices in Written Artefacts

21 March 2025

Photo: Alan Davey

Liturgical book displayed on a book cradle by an Ethiopian orthodox priest. The unsupported sewing structure of the manuscript allows it to be opened at a wide angle. Lalibela, Monastery of Naʾakkʷǝto Laʾab.

The production of each written artefact is connected to a series of decisions about which materials to choose and which techniques to use to craft them. A new Occasional Paper provides an overview of a dynamic new research field at the UWA Cluster of Excellence that investigates material choices.

In 2022, the number of research fields at the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts (UWA) expanded from six to eleven. The restructuring was a response to dynamics that had developed in the original research fields during the first three years of the cluster’s existence. In many cases, certain aspects had emerged that proved to be particularly fruitful and that could also be connected to research being conducted by colleagues in other fields within the cluster. One of these aspects concerned the ‘material choices’ facing the producers of written artefacts. Which material was chosen as the writing support, with which device were the signs applied to this material, in which form was the written artefact ultimately produced? What was the relationship between these decisions and the technical and cultural standards at a particular place in a particular time? These are just some of the questions that arise in this context.

It is obvious that the material choices made by the producers of written artefacts on the basis of the material options available to them play a decisive role in determining how written artefacts are used, transmitted, and preserved. They are a key factor in the biography of every written artefact, regardless of the writing culture in which it was produced. When we consider examples from different cultures and different eras, what is immediately apparent is the wide range of ‘material choices’ – but there are also recurring patterns that transcend the boundaries of times and places.

For the cross-disciplinary study of written artefacts, the concept of ‘material choices’ is therefore particularly fruitful. Manuscriptologists from all areas of the humanities, but also and in particular experts in the physical and chemical properties of the materials under consideration, can interact with each other in this context and contribute their respective specialist knowledge. At UWA, the new research field quickly gained traction. Eight individual research projects were brought together under its umbrella, two of which have already been completed.

‘Towards the Investigation of Material Choices in Written Artefacts: Methodological Reflections’, the tenth publication in the cluster’s Occasional Papers series, now provides a programmatic overview of the work in this research field for the first time. It summarises the current state of discussions, recent insights, and new questions that have arisen in the joint examination of this topic, and looks at future research directions. Like all publications in this series, it is available open access.