Fakes And Forgeries Of Written Artefacts From Ancient Mesopotamia To Modern China

Fakes and forgeries are objects of fascination. This volume contains a series of thirteen articles devoted to fakes and forgeries of written artefacts from the beginnings of writing in Mesopotamia to modern China. The studies emphasise the subtle distinctions conveyed by an established vocabulary relating to the reproduction of ancient artefacts and production of artefacts claiming to be ancient: from copies, replicas and imitations to fakes and forgeries. Fakes are often a response to a demand from the public or scholarly milieu, or even both. The motives behind their production may be economic, political, religious or personal – aspiring to fame or simply playing a joke. Fakes may be revealed by combining the study of their contents, codicological, epigraphic and palaeographic analyses, and scientific investigations. However, certain famous unsolved cases still continue to defy technology today, no matter how advanced it is. Nowadays, one can find fakes in museums and private collections alike; they abound on the antique market, mixed with real artefacts that have often been looted. The scientific community’s attitude to such objects calls for ethical reflection.

Fakes and forgeries are objects of fascination. This volume contains a series of thirteen articles devoted to fakes and forgeries of written artefacts from the beginnings of writing in Mesopotamia to modern China. The studies emphasise the subtle distinctions conveyed by an established vocabulary relating to the reproduction of ancient artefacts and production of artefacts claiming to be ancient: from copies, replicas and imitations to fakes and forgeries. Fakes are often a response to a demand from the public or scholarly milieu, or even both. The motives behind their production may be economic, political, religious or personal – aspiring to fame or simply playing a joke. Fakes may be revealed by combining the study of their contents, codicological, epigraphic and palaeographic analyses, and scientific investigations. However, certain famous unsolved cases still continue to defy technology today, no matter how advanced it is. Nowadays, one can find fakes in museums and private collections alike; they abound on the antique market, mixed with real artefacts that have often been looted. The scientific community’s attitude to such objects calls for ethical reflection.

This collection, presented to Michael Friedrich in honour of his academic career at of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, traces key concepts that scholars associated with the Centre have developed and refined for the systematic study of manuscript cultures. At the same time, the contributions showcase the possibilities of expanding the traditional subject of ‘manuscripts’ to the larger perspective of ‘written artefacts’.

A comprehensive discussion of the methodological and ethical issues inherent to researching unprovenienced artifacts.

As the first study of manuscript collections, this book asks what changes when sayings, stories, songs, and spells are brought together on the same carrier. Covering a plethora of manuscripts from the Warring States and early empires, and spanning sources from philosophy, historiography, poetry, and technical literature, this study describes the whole life-cycle of multiple texts collected on a single manuscript. Drawing on comparative and interdisciplinary advances and based on careful study of manuscript materiality and textuality, this book shows the importance of collections in the development of and access to text and knowledge in early China.

The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and the Media in the 21st Century presents diverse international perspectives on what it means to be an archaeologist and to conduct archaeological research in the age of digital and mobile media. This volume analyses the present‐day use of new and old media by professional and academic archaeology for leisure, academic study and/or public engagement, and attempts to provide a broad survey of the use of media in a wider global archaeological context. It features work on traditional paper media, radio, podcasting, film, television, contemporary art, photography, video games, mobile technology, 3D image capture, digitization and social media. Themes explored include archaeology and traditional media, archaeology in a digital age, archaeology in a post‐truth era and the future of archaeology. Such comprehensive coverage has not been seen before, and the focus on 21st‐century concerns and media consumption practices provides an innovative and original approach. The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and the Media in the 21st Century updates the interdisciplinary field of media studies in archaeology and will appeal to students and researchers in multiple fields including contemporary, public, digital, and media archaeology, and heritage studies and management. Television and film producers, writers and presenters of cultural heritage will also benefit from the many entanglements shared here between archaeology and the contemporary media landscape.

By consequence of the Karabakh War in 2020 and due to Azerbaijanian revisionism concerning the history, culture and cultural monuments of the region, the discussion on Caucasian "Albania", which is little known in the West in both academic and public circles, has been reignited. The handbook provides an overview of the current state of research on the Caucasian "Albanians" in an objective, scientifically sound manner. The contributions are not necessarily intended to reveal new scientific findings but rather to summarise approved knowledge. The volume brings together internationally renowned scholars, researchers and practitioners from various fields of studies reporting on and reviewing the state of research concerning the Caucasian "Albanians", their history and archaeology, their language and written monuments, their religion, church history and their art, including their relation to the Udi people of today. The companion is intended to neutrally introduce the readership to the subject of Caucasian Albania from various perspectives.

This volume chronicles Jesuit efforts to engage with Muslim populations in Christian Europe, such as the Moriscos, as well as the work of Jesuit missionaries in Muslim territory, such as Constantinople. It provides insights into the activities of the Society of Jesus along the eastern frontier of the Ottoman Empire, and tracks the careers of individual Jesuits such as Tomás de León and Antonio Possevino. These influential Jesuits devoted much of their lives to addressing the claims of Islam and the pressures applied on Christian Europe by Muslim polities. Some lesser-known Jesuits, such as the translator Ignazio Lomellini, are also profiled.