3-Week SASA Reading Group: Deciphering Community Identities Through Paleographical Studies: A Case Study on the Serabit

This masterclass centers on a paleographical study, examining changes in handwriting styles across time and space, as a means to explore ancient community identities. Our case study is Serabit el-Khadim, an ancient Egyptian site in southwest Sinai, notable for its large temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor. As the largest temple outside the Nile Valley, it served as a central hub for expeditions extracting copper and turquoise.

Approximately 500 inscriptions from the Middle and New Kingdoms (ca.1985–1773 BC) have been documented at the site. These inscriptions appear in five scripts: hieroglyphic, cursive hieroglyphic, hieratic, a hybrid script (between hieroglyphic and hieratic), and proto-Sinaitic, considered the earliest form of alphabetic writing. Serabit el-Khadim offers a unique opportunity to study the evolution of writing and its transformation through intercultural contact. It represents a key site for understanding the development of both ancient and modern scripts.

This masterclass proposes to investigate the writing…