Digital Lunch Seminar Series
Spring 2022
Convenor: Markus Fischer
Written artefacts are material objects that bear writing in the broadest sense – from notation systems for language, music and other performative arts, to pictures, diagrams, maps or simply scribbles. Since the turn of the millennium, the study of written artefacts, such as manuscripts or inscriptions, has taken a quantum leap in terms of theory, methodology and the diversity of research materials. Traditionally, the study of written artefacts in the humanities has focused mostly on textual contents. In contrast, newer approaches take a holistic perspective and begin with the material object as such, thus integrating material analyses. This allows for novel insights into the history of writing cultures from the production of the first manuscripts and inscriptions approximately 5,500 years ago to handwriting in the digital age, as well as for elaborating cross-cultural, cross-regional and cross-epochal patterns through combining the expertise of various disciplines. On the one hand, the close cooperation between the natural sciences, computer science and the humanities allows us to reconstruct the cultural techniques involved in the production and use of written artefacts; on the other hand, this cooperation enables us to obtain information about the appropriate handling of such artefacts, which represent valuable cultural assets.
The Digital Lunch Seminars Series covers a broad spectrum of topics in the research of written artefacts. At CSMC and the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’, this research brings together over 40 disciplines from the humanities, natural sciences and computer science. The seminars are presented by pairs of researchers, each with their own methods and research questions about the objects they are dealing with. The seminars provide in-depth scientific knowledge on the respective topics and address all researchers within and outside the respective field of expertise.
After a short introduction to the topic by the chairperson, there will be two lectures of 20 minutes each. At the end of each session there will be time for discussion, questions and answers. If you are unable to attend one of the events, it is possible to obtain a video of the lecture from the respective speakers.
Schedule: Mondays, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Date | Titel | Contributors |
11 April | Clay Tablets – What is Hidden in Clay Envelopes? | Speakers: Cécile Michel (Assyriology), Christian Schroer (Physics); chair: Michael Friedrich (Sinology) |
9 May | Palm Leaf Manuscripts – Cultural and Material Insights | Speakers: Giovanni Ciotti (Tamil Studies), Patrick Huber (Physics); chair: Eva Wilden (Tamil Studies) |
13 June | Making Maps of Tibet – Uncovering the Knowledge of their Production |
Speakers: Diana Lange (Tibetology), Oliver Hahn (Chemistry, Archaeometry); chair: Jörg B. Quenzer (Japanology) |
11 July | DNA – The Preserved Memory of Biological Materials | Speakers: Anna Schulz (Chemistry, Paleogenetics), Stephan Seifert (Chemistry, Bioinformatics); chairs: Markus Fischer (Food Chemistry), Ralf Möller (Computer Science) |