Das Ostrakon aus Qubur al-Walaydah

Script and Society: The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit

“…In her view, Egyptian presence did not always bring with it people (or enough people) competent in Egyptian writing practices, especially in 'peripheral' areas; in such cases sheer practicality may have prompted local writers to employ the linear script they were familiar with for the administrative activities required by Egyptian officials. 56 And yet, by the end of the second millennium, linear alphabetic writing must have been well on its way to developing into the standardised regional scripts we know from the first millennium, such as Phoenician, and was on the cusp of official 55 Starkey 1935, 202;Cross 1980, 1-4;Berlejung 2010. The status of Qubur el-Walaida in the Late Bronze Age is somewhat unclear.…”