Dr Philip Boyes

The East Mediterranean and especially the Levant in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age; trade and cultural interaction; the archaeology of writing systems.

As a member of the CREWS Project led by Dr Philippa Steele, my postdoctoral work explores the context of writing at Ugarit, and especially the creation and use of the Ugaritic alphabetic cuneiform script in the Late Bronze Age. It will combine archaeological, epigraphic and linguistic approaches to situate Ugaritic writing within its social and cultural context and explore its relationship to other Levantine writing systems.

My doctoral research, ‘Social Change in “Phoenicia” in the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition’ assessed the area corresponding roughly to modern Lebanon from around the 13^th to 10^th centuries BC and examined social change; in particular the region’s relationship to the wider picture of ‘collapse’ and instability in the East Mediterranean at this time. Theoretical issues considered included the nature and definitions of social change, methodologies for exploring poorly-attested archaeological periods, and the use of textual sources in early historical periods.