Graffiti - A Global Graphic Discipline

Ancient Graffiti
• Perhaps the most famous graffito of the ancient world, The Alexamenos Graffito.

The History of Graffiti
• New York Magazine's article on the history of graffiti, with a nice annotated timeline.

• Wikipedia offers a nice synopsis of the history of modern graffiti art.

• A UC Berkeley synopsis on the history of graffit.

• Seenworld - the website of one of the great/notorious pioneers of early graffiti, "Seen."

Modern Graffiti and Related Disciplines
• Graffiti Archaeology - a famous new study of the process of graffiti layering over time.

• PureGraffiti.com has an immense archive/gallery of user-submitted photos of graffiti from around the world. You will need to sign-up (make an account) to access this gallery, but signing-up is free and they don't (seem) to send you junkmail/spam.

• Graffiti Taxonomy is a nascent project to collect and generate a taxonomy of graffiti "tag" fonts.

• Graffiti Creator - a web-based graffiti generator (it's fun).

Downloadable (free!) Graffiti 'Tag' Fonts
• From 1001Fonts.com: Turntablz BB, TagsXtreme v2, TagsXtreme2 v2, Grand Stylus, Bring Tha Noize v2, Degrassi (a 'piece' wildstyle font), Some's Style


Stencil and Sticker Graffiti - The New Trends
• Here are some good photo galleries of stencil graffiti from around the world: Schhh Stencil Gallery, Stencil Revolution, Stencil Pirates.

• Shepard Fairey's Obey Giant website.

Kabbalah - The Relationship Between Writing and the Divine

• Hoffman, Edward The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey. Chronicle Books, 1998.

• A nice Wikipedia overview of the Kabbalah.

(Recommendations from Dr. Mira Amiras):
•Kaplan, Aryeh, (transl & commentary, bilingual) Sefer Bahir [The Book of Illumination]. Weiser Books, 1989. Amazon.com link

•Kaplan, Aryeh, (transl & commentary, bilingual) Sefer Yetzirah [The Book of Formation] (transl as "The Book of Creation" which is a big problem and a long story). Weiser Books, 1997. Amazon.com link

•Matt, Daniel. (transl & commentary with the help of a committee of kabbalistic scholars) Zohar: The Pritzger Edition.. Stanford University Press, 2003. Amazon.com link.

Any books by the following authors:

Gershom Scholem

Aryeh Kaplan

Moshe Idel

The Early History of the Alphabet and The Semitic Writing System (Super)Family

General Overviews
• Wikipedia has what is probably the best online overview of the history of the Semitic (proto-Sinaitic) Writing System Family - for the majority of writing systems we covered (in class) in this family, this page can direct you to Wikipedia entires on each of the separate writing systems.

• The sites Omniglot.com and AncientScripts.com provide good examples and descriptions of the majority of the writing systems in this superfamily - any of the writing systems I have not included below can be found on these sites and on the Wikipedia 'family tree' of this writing system superfamily.

• Diringer, David The Alphabet: The Key to the History of Mankind. South Asia Books, 1968, 1996. Amazon.com link

• Diringer, David History of the Alphabet. Newbury Books, 1983. Amazon.com link

• An analysis of how phoneticism has shaped culture: Logan, Robert The Alphabet Effect: A Media Ecology Understanding of the Making of Western Civilization. Hampton Press, 1994. Amazon.com link

• Ouaknin, Marc-Alain Mysteries of the Alphabet: The Origins of Writing. Abbeville Press, 1999. *An interesting anaysis/proposal by Ouaknin - he attempts to relate the evolution of Semitic scripts to contextual/historical events; interesting, but not all scholars agree with some of his proposals. Amazon.com link

• Sacks, David Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet From A to Z. Broadway Books, 2004. Amazon.com link


Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing
• An Archaeology.org article on the earliest Egyptian (proto-)writing fround at Abydos (3,400 - 3,200 BC).

• Collier, Mark and Bill Manley How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself. Univ of California Press, 2003. Amazon.com link

• Gardiner, Sir Alan Henderson Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Griffith Institue of Egyptology, 1957. Amazon.com link

• Kamrin, Janice Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide. Harry N. Abrams Publ, 2004. Amazon.com link


Wadi el-Hol and Sinaitic Scripts - the Earliest Alphabets (Abjads).
• Kuijt, Ian, Charlotte Whiting, et al. "Results of the 2001 Kerak Plateau Early Bronze Age Survey II: Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi El-Hol" in The American Schools of Oriental Research Annual 59, 2006. Amazon.com link

• A New York Times online article about the discovery of the Wadi el-Hol script.

• A nice online overview of proto-Siniatic script from AncientScripts.com.

• Wikipedia offers a good overview of the proto-Canaanite alphabet (abjad).


Ancient Semitic Scripts
• A nice online gallery of ancient Semitic inscriptions.

The Brahmi Script Family (from Aramaic to South and Central Asian Scripts)
• An impressive online resource for the Brahmic Family of scripts (South and Central Asia).

• A good online resource/overview of the writing systems and languages of India.

Family Tree (download)
Here's a downloadable 'family tree' of this writing system superfamily - this tree only represents a small fraction of the writing systems that constitute this superfamily. Click on the image to enlarge, then right-click to download.

General Reference

• A great tome/encyclopedia (968 pages) of the world's writing systems, The World's Writing Systems (Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds.) is currently on sale [promo code #25961] at Oxford University Press (originally $175.00, now only $49.95) - a must-have for any epigrapher. Recommended by classmate Kenneth Lum (thanks Kenneth!)

• Another great writing systems resource Writing Systems of the World (Language Library) by Florian Coulmas. Blackwell Publishers, 1991. Amazon.com link. Also recommended by Kenneth Lum (thanks again).

• A linguistic approach to writing systems: Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis by Florian Coulmas. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Amazon.com link

• Houston, Stephen The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Amazon.com link

• Robinson, Andrew The Story of Writing: Alphabets, Hieroglyphs, and Pictograms. Thames and Hudson, 2007. Amazon.com link


Online Resources
• One of the great encyclopedic sites for writing systems (I've utilized many of their graphics): Omniglot.com.

• Another one of the great sites for writing systems (I've utilized many of their graphics also): AncientScripts.com

East Asian Writing Systems

General History of Chinese Scripts
• A good overview of the history of Chinese (and related) scripts on Wikipedia.

• A nice webpage that displays the different types of Chinese scripts.

• Gallery examples of the different types of Chinese scripts.

• A webpage with some references and materials about early Chinese bamboo books (pre-paper / pre-AD 100).

• Wieger, Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification and Significance. Dover Publications, 1927, 1965. Amazon.com link (recommended by David Djerum - thanks David!)

• A nice Chinese translation page. (submitted by David Djerum - thanks again David!).


The "Jiahu Script" (written on tortoise shell) found in China, dated to ca. 6,600 - 6,200 BC
• BBC News overview of the discovery


Chinese "Oracle Bone Script" - 1,200 - 1,050BC
• A nice website that describes the orthography and history of Chinese Oracle Bone Script and Modern Chinese Script. A quote from the author regarding the independent innovation of writing in China:
"There is involved here a sort of chauvinistic scholarship that seeks to prove an independent invention for Chinese writing by methodologically suspect means."

• Keightley, David N. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Univ of California Press, 1999. Amazon.com link


Japanese Scripts
Katakana - a syllabary often used for spelling (foreign words)
• An interesting Wikipedia list of Japanese Katakana transcriptions of foreign words and names.

Kanji - logograms borrowed from Chinese scripts; representing word stems
• A small introductory list of Japanese Kanji stems
• An immense Wikipedia inventory of Kanji (ordered by the number of 'strokes').
Note: The root "mirror/reflect" has 23 strokes!

Family Tree (download)
Here's a downloadable 'family tree' I generated of this writing system family - this tree only represents a small number of the writing systems that constitute this family. Click on the image to enlarge, then right-click to download.

Writing In Ancient Mesoamerica

The Controversial Claim (by Han Ping Chen) of a Relationship Between Mesoamerican and Chinese Writing Systems
• Article by U.S. News

• Academic bulletinboard discussion about Han Ping Chen's claims


Decipherment of the Recently Discovered Writing System at Teotihuacán, Mexico
• King, Timothy and Sergio Gómez-Chávez "Avances en el Desciframiento de la Escritura Jeroglífica de Teotihuacan" (pp. 201-244) in La costa del Golfo en tiempos teotihuacanos: propuestas y perspectivas - Memoria de la Segunda Mesa redonda de Teotihuacan, María Elena Ruiz Gallut and Arturo Pascual Soto eds. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, 2004.

• Taube, Karl "The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan" in Ancient America1. Center for Ancient American Studies, 2000. Amazon.com link Publisher link


The Writing System of the Early Zapotecs
• Joyce Marcus. Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton University Press, 1992. Amazon.com link


The Recently Discovered Olmec "Cascajal Block" Text
• A nice downloadable (PDF) overview of the Cascajal Block on Mesoweb.com

• The Wikipedia article on the Cascajal Block Text (includes illustration of the glyphic text).


The Earliest (Securely) Dated Writing in Mesoamerica - Materials from the Olmec Site of San Andrés
• Mary Pohl, Kevin Pope, and Christopher von Nagy. "Olmec Origins of Mesoamerican Writing" in Science vol. 289: 1984-1987, 2002.


The Decipherment of Epi-Olmec (late Olmec) Writing at the Site of La Mojarra
• John S. Justeson and Terrence Kaufman. "A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing" in Science vol. 259: 1703-1711, 1993.


Maya Hieroglyphic Writing
A good history of the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing
• Michael Coe. Breaking the Maya Code. Thames and Hudson, NY, 1992. Amazon.com link

A few great books on how to read Maya hieroglyphic writing
• John F. Harris and Stephen K. Stearns. Understanding Maya Inscriptions: A Hieroglyph Handbook. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 1997. Amazon.com link

• Michael Coe and Mark van Stone. Reading The Maya Glyphs. Thames and Hudson, NY, 2001. Amazon.com link

• John Montgomery. How to Read Maya Hieroglyphs. Hippocrene Books Inc, NY, 2004. Amazon.com link

Catalogs and dictionaries of Maya hieroglyphs
• J. Eric S. Thompson. A Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1962. Amazon.com link

• John Montgomery. Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs. Hippocrene Books Inc., NY, 2002. Amazon.com link

• John F. Harris. New and Recent Maya Hieroglyph Readings: A Supplement to Understanding Maya Inscriptions. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 1993. Amazon.com link


Great Online Resources
• An amazing online photo database of Maya illustrated ceramics by Justin Kerr - Link

• An amazing online photo database of Mesoamerican artifacts by Justin Kerr - Link

Tattooing and Early Symbol Systems on the Human Body

Materials on the Tattoos of the Mummified Man 'Ötzi', Found in the Tyrolean Alps
• K. Spindler The Man in the Ice : The Preserved Body of a Neolithic Man Reveals the Secrets of the Stone Age. Phoenix Books, London. Amazon.com link

• An article abstract on the possible medical purpose of the tattoos of Ötzi (translated from French).

• An acupuncturist's analysis of the tattoos of Ötzi.


Materials on the History of Tattooing / Tattooing Across Cultures
• Steve Gilbert. The Tattoo History Sourcebook. Powerhouse Books, 2001. Amazon.com link

• Maarten Hesselt van Dinter. The World of Tattoo: An Illustrated History. KIT Publishers, 2005. Amazon.com link

Non-Linguistic Communication

Efforts at Universal (Human and Beyond Human) Communication:
• The Pioneer 10 and 11 Plaques

• The Arecibo Broadcast

• The 'Arecibo Broadcast' - SETI Website

• 'Cosmic Call 2003' Interstellar Radio Message

• The 'Encounter 2001 Broadcast' (perhaps the most scientific and reasonable interstellar broadcast to date; would make a great term paper subject).

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository
• The Official Government Site

• Markers For the Nuclear Waste Repository

• The Desert Space Foundation's "Universal Warning Sign" Exhibition and Gallery

Science Fiction
• An image of 'Hieroglyphics' designed for the 1979 science fiction thriller 'Alien' by Swiss artist H. R. Giger [WARNING: much of Giger's artwork is quite graphic, some may find it offensive]

The Eye, Color Vision, and Color and Culture

Here is a working list of articles and resources for understanding vision, color perception, and cultural relationships with both:

The Evolution and History of the Eye and Color Vision:
• R. D. Russell, "Evoltuion of Eyes" Current Opinion in Neurobiology 10: 444-450, 2000.

• J. Neitz et al., "Color Vision: Almost Reason Enough for Having Eyes," Optics and Photonics News Jan: 26-33, 2001.

• J. Nathans et al., "Molecular Genetics of Human Color Vision: The Genes Encoding Blue, Green, and Red Pigments," Science 232: 193-202, 1986.

• C.W. Oyster, The Human Eye: Structure and Function. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, MA, 1999. Amazon.com link

• G.H. Jacobs, "The Distribution and Nature of Colour Vision Among the Mammals," Biological Reviews 68: 413-71, 1993.

• Y. Gilad et al., "Loss of Olfactory Receptor Genes Coincides With Acquisition of Full Trichromatic Vision in Primates," PLoS Biology 2(1): 0120-0125, 2004.

• B.B. Boycott et al., Color Vision: From Genes to Perception, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 1999. Amazon.com link

• P. Summer and J.D. Mollon "Chromaticity as Signal of Ripeness of Fruits Taken by Primates," Journal of Experimental Biology 203: 1987-2000, 2000.


Studies on Food-Color Associations:
• H.R. Moskowitz, "Taste and Food Technology: Acceptability, Aesthetics, and Preference," Handbook of Perception, Via: 158-193, 1978.

• L.L. Garber et al., "Placing Food Color Experimentation Into a Valid Consumer Context," Food Quality & Preference 14(1): 41-43, 2003.

• T. Hine, The Total Package. Little, Brown, and Company, New York, NY, 1996. Amazon.com link


Color and Communication Among Animals (and Plants)
• M.Rodríguez-Gironés and L. Santamaria "Why Are So Many Bird Flowers Red?," PLoS Biology 2(10): 1515-1519, 2004.

• Amotz Zahavi and A. Zahavi, The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin's Puzzle. Oxford University Press, 1997. Amazon.com link

•Link: Zahavi's 'Handicap Principle' of costly signalling


Color, Human Communication and Color Perception:
•G. Hewes, "The Current Status of the Gestural Theory of Language Origin," Origins and Evolution of Language and Speech 280: 482-504, 1976.

• R.G. Klein and B. Edgar, The Dawn of Human Culture. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 2002. Amazon.com link

The Foundation Text of Human Color Perception and Terminology:
• B. Berlin and P. Kay, Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1969. Amazon.com link

• E. Hering, Outlines of a Theory of the Light Sense. Harvard University Press, MA, 1878, 1964. Amazon.com link

• T. King, "Human Color Perception, Cognition, and Culture: Why 'Red' is Always Red," The Society for Imaging Science and Technology (The Reporter) 20(1): 1-7, Feb 2005.

A New and Definitive Text on Human Skin Color
• N. Jablonski, Skin: A Natural History. University of California Press, 2006. Amazon.com link