ArtFire

I used an example of Etruscan script as the design of this weathered looking bronze pendant, which is approximately 1 1/2 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches long. It is hung from three strands of leather cord, a light red brown, a darker brown, and a metallic bronze, which reflect the colors in the patina. The cords are 18 inches long, including the bronze clasp.

The Etruscan alphabet, which originated in what is now northern Italy around 700 BC, was derived from a form of the ancient Greek alphabet and eventually developed through Latin into the English alphabet we use today. Despite the fact that Etruscan can be "read" since the alphabet and pronunciations are known, only a few hundred words can be understood. Most of the surviving examples are in the form of inscriptions, such as tombstones, and consist largely of names of people and places.

I-148

As I reached the pictures in the "New Scientist" article I knew I had stumbled on what I had been looking for. Bronze has a feeling of antiquity about it that seems suited to fragments of text, and I wanted to incorporate script into the pieces I was making, but in all the texts I was looking at the meaning had to be considered. Here were "Eight Scripts That Still Can't Be Read", and they were both enormously varied and visually intriguing. From the organic feel of Linear A to the impossible precision of Rongo-rongo, from the almost familiar pictures of Olmec, Proto-Elamite, and the Phaistos Disc to the abstract lines and squiggles of Meroitic, all were visually and intellectually engaging in a different way than known text could be. They say something, but they are more cultural artifact than simple text. Even if one turns out to be a warehouse inventory I won't be disappointed because their meaning goes beyond their translation. So here is my "Undeciphered Texts" collection.

bronze, leather