This volume gathers papers from the first conference ever to be held on the disappearance of writing systems, in Oxford in March 2004. Case studies from the Old and New Worlds are presented, ranging over periods from the second millennium B.C. to the present.

This novel work uses case studies of both familiar and unfamiliar materials, expanding consideration of ancient Egyptian elite culture to encompass lived experience and exploitation of the natural environment. The opening chapter sets out the conceptual ground for the analyses that follow, arguing that the relatively ephemeral activities under investigation were centrally important to the actors. The first and largest study treats human organization of the landscape and its use to create and transmit elite meanings, especially through pictorial and encyclopaedic forms, and to mobilize...