📢 Vacancy! We are hiring a postdoctoral researcher for a three-year project on the Jewish Cemetery of Altona as a repository of written artefacts and source for Jewish Studies. Apply by 22 November 2026!

Ausschreibung

uni-hamburg.de

We’re happy to announce the first open project call of our Mobile Artefact Lab: Libraries, archives, museums, and other collection holders can propose written artefacts for advanced material analysis, on-site or in Hamburg. Register by 30 Nov, submit by 18 Dec. 👉 More info: uhh.de/csmc-lab-call

What did the early Bangkok princes read? Join Peera Panarut this Thursday as he delves into the intellectual tastes and private book collections of Prince Rak Ronnaret and Prince Paramanuchit in mid-19th-century Bangkok. Hybrid event, all welcome!

Here is a reminder that if you’re into manuscripts and book history there is a starter pack for it! go.bsky.app/AN9pLVo

Istanbul as an open-air auditorium: In the Summer Academy ‘Reading the City’, our doctoral researchers explored Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman inscriptions in their urban settings. Read their report here 👇

Reading Inscribed History

uhh.de

Measuring 33 metres in length and lavishly illustrated on both sides, the ‘Berlin Traiphum’, an 18th-century leporello, is spectacular by any standard. But was it just a subsidiary royal manuscript? Our Artefact of the Month traces the work of King Taksin’s scribes and painters 👉 uhh.de/csmc-aom-39

Tracing the material memory of palm-leaf manuscripts: Using synchrotron X-ray analysis, researchers from the CSMC and #DESY identified botanical genus, leaf processing, and possible geographical provenance. The study just came out in ‘npj heritage science’. 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s40...

A warm welcome to our new MA cohort! The 2026/27 winter semester marks the first intake since autumn 2024, following the transition to a two-year programme. The refreshed curriculum includes modules on cultural heritage and ethics, as well as computer-assisted manuscript analysis uhh.de/csmc-ma-2026

How were ornate letters composed in the early modern Ottoman world? What can marginal notes reveal about the reading of texts? And how did manuscripts move through the networks of the modern Arabic book trade? The new Gotha Manuscript Talks @fbgotha.bsky.social address these questions and much more!

The Gotha Manuscript Talks Are Back

csmc.uni-hamburg.de

We're very excited that Brent Nongbri will join us next year to lead the ‘Papyrus Provenance Project’! As part of the ‘Global Minds’ programme @dfg.de, he and his team will investigate the transmission history of papyri, make provenance data accessible, and develop new material analysis methods

‘Global Minds’ Funding: Brent Nongbri Joins UWA

csmc.uni-hamburg.de

Diese Woche in der Abendblatt-Kolumne „Forschen und verstehen“: Die Historikerin Kaja Harter-Uibopuu, Co-Sprecherin unseres Exzellenzclusters Understanding Written Artefacts, über ihre Arbeit in Milet, dessen Inschriften Auskunft über Recht und Macht in der Antike liefern

Universität Hamburg: Exzellenzcluster entschlüsselt alte Inschriften

Prof. Dr. Kaja Harter-Uibopuu ist Co-Sprecherin des Exzellenzclusters „Understanding Written Artefacts“ an der Universität Hamburg.

abendblatt.de

Seal impressions can reveal ownership, reading practices, and the journeys of manuscripts across collections. A new DFG-funded project is creating a database of seals from manuscripts in the Islamic world. It will link images and descriptions and develop tools for automated recognition

New DFG Project for Exploring Seal Impressions

uhh.de

Some methods used to document inscriptions in ancient Miletus date back to the 19th century. Others are so advanced that the early excavators could not have imagined them. In her field report, Kaja Harter-Uibopuu talks about old and new techniques and surprising finds: uhh.de/csmc-miletus

Starting Grant für @sophiademue.bsky.social: Die Expertin für äthiopische Handschriften erhält vom @erc.europa.eu 2,5 Millionen Euro – eine Million Euro mehr als bisherige Preisträgerinnen und Preisträger. Sie erforscht Schriftstücke äthiopischer Juden, die Ende des 20. Jh. nach Israel emigrierten.

Was definiert eine religiöse Handschrift?

uni-hamburg.de

Did a ‘secret agreement’ entitle the Germans to half of the objects from the 1911 Samarra excavations? A new open-access article by Vincent Engelhardt and Jakob Wigand shows how the German archaeologists deceived the local authorities to bring the artefacts to Berlin uhh.de/csmc-samarra

Handlesen galt im Mittelalter als probates Mittel der Zukunftsprognostik. Ab dem 12. Jh. entstand dazu eine umfangreiche Literatur, die Marco Heiles erforscht. Jetzt liegt der 1. Band seines „Katalogs der magischen Literatur des Spätmittelalters“ vor. Open Access! doi.org/10.1515/9783...

Graffiti is not just a modern phenomenon. It is as old as writing itself, and always multifaceted: ancient graffiti makers were as likely to praise a king as to mock a colleague. ‘Graffiti Quest’, a new volume co-edited by our colleague Marina Sartori, sheds new light on ancient graffiti in Egypt.

Graffiti Quest

"Graffiti Quest" published on 20 Jul 2026 by Brill.

brill.com

📢 Job alert: We are currently offering a permanent position as a research associate with exclusively teaching duties in Assyriology. Apply by 3 September! More info on the job and how to apply:

Ausschreibung

uni-hamburg.de

Don’t miss the upcoming #ICESCO Open Research Day on ‘Textual and Material Evidence in the Dating of Islamic Manuscripts’! CSMC researchers Konrad Hirschler and Said Aljoumani will present on the role of sama’-audition certificates and scribes’ fingerprints in the dating of manuscripts

What happens to written artefacts after their initial production? Steffen Döll, head of our new ‘Phased Transmission’ unit, on material and invisible transformations, provenance, archives, and the challenge of developing concepts that work across cultural contexts: uhh.de/csmc-cmu-3

Moving Through the Life Phases of Written Artefacts

uhh.de

🧬📜A team of CSMC researchers has published the first study of microbiota on damaged parchments from Kairouan’s historic library, the oldest near-intact Islamicate manuscript collection. Some objects show a distinctive deterioration even experienced conservators find hard to explain Open access!

Microbial Clues to the Deterioration of Kairouan’s Parchment Manuscripts

csmc.uni-hamburg.de

When their lives on earth were over, the ancient Egyptians believed, the virtuous entered the realm of the dead. But if someone intruded into their tomb, their peaceful afterlife could be disturbed. Our Artefact of the Month shows how people protected themselves even in death uhh.de/csmc-aom-38

How do libraries uncover the hidden layers of their collections? Kyle Ann Huskin and Ivan Shevchuk spent four intensive weeks @labnf.bsky.social in Paris. They led an in-depth professional workshop for the BnF’s photographers on the application of multispectral imaging (MSI). uhh.de/csmc-bnf-msi

We have another job opening at our Cluster: a full-time, fixed-term postdoctoral position for three years, dedicated to an independent research project on written artefacts in the history of science. More info on the position and how to apply here 👇

Ausschreibung

uni-hamburg.de

Our individual research projects are the backbone of the CSMC. Once a semester, we bring everyone together for Research Day: a hub for manuscript research, exchange, and new collaborations. This one is especially exciting: the first since our new funding phase began in January 2026!

Come and do your PhD with us! 🎓📚 We are inviting applications for five doctoral researcher positions in the fields of African Studies, Arabic Studies, Art History, Early Medieval Studies, and Ottoman or Turkish Studies. More info on the positions and how to apply here: 🔗 uhh.de/csmc-vacancies

Written artefacts can be ‘in crisis’ in many ways: through armed conflict, fire, natural disaster, political instrumentalisation, long-term material decay, or blocked access. At the CSMC, Dmitry Bondarev heads a new unit that aims to address these complex realities with terminological clarity.

What Does It Mean for Written Artefacts to be ‘In Crisis’?

uhh.de

How can ‘computational visual catalogues’ help us to understand Rainer Maria Rilke’s notebooks? In today’s Digital Lunch Seminar, @hussein-mohammed.bsky.social and @sandrarichterdla.bsky.social present their work combining computer science and literary studies. All welcome! uhh.de/csmc-dlss-2026

This week, @nytimes.com published a great piece on ENCI, our mobile CT scanner for cultural heritage objects. It gives a concise overview of how the device allows researchers to read sealed cuneiform tablets without damaging them

X-Ray Specs for the World’s Oldest, Sealed Letters

nytimes.com

The ink may be invisible to the naked eye – but not to modern imaging! At MANN in Naples, CSMC and TabulaRasa researchers used hyperspectral imaging and XRF to reveal ink on carbonised Roman wax tablets – with promising results. tabularasa.hypotheses.org/4957