Denise Schmandt-Besserat

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Denise Schmandt-Besserat

Denise Schmandt-Besserat is Professor Emerita of Art and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her field is the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. She was trained at the École du Louvre, Paris, France.

Schmandt-Besserat has worked on the origin of writing and counting. Her publications on these subjects include: How Writing Came About, University of Texas Press 1996; Before Writing (2 vols), University of Texas Press 1992; The History of Counting, Morrow Jr. 1999 and numerous articles in major scholarly and popular journals (among which Science, Scientific American, Archaeology, American Journal of Archaeology, and Archaeology Odyssey. Her work has been widely reported in the public media (Scientific American, Time, Life, New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor.) She was featured in several television programs such as Out of the Past (Discovery Channel), Discover (Disney Channel); The Nature of Things (CBC), Search for Solutions (PBS), and Tell the Truth (NBC).

Schmandt-Besserat present interest is the relation between writing and art. Her forthcoming book, When Writing Met Art, will be published by the University of Texas Press in 2007. She also continues her research on Neolithic symbols at the site of 'Ain Ghazal, near Amman, Jordan.

Schmandt-Besserat has received the Walter J. Ong Award for Career Achievement; the Holloway teaching award; the Eugene Kayden Press Book Award and the Hamilton book Award. She been cited Outstanding Woman in the Humanities by the American Association of University Women. Her book, How Writing Came About, was listed as one of the 100 books that shaped science in the 20th century. She is listed in Who's Who in America.

For more information see her Home Page hosted at the University of Texas at Austin.

[edit] External links

• Denise Schmandt-Besserat  HomePage hosted at the University of Texas at Austin
• 'Ain Ghazal Excavation Reports. Hosted by MENIC - The Middle East Network Information Center, a public service of The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of texas at Austin.
• Research Impact, 1, 2, 3 leads to A, B, C Link
• The Case of the Missing Vase Link
• The origins of writing and numbers: uncovered Link
• Two UT Austin professors listed among writers of the 100 top science books of the century
• The Numerals Project - hosted by Linguistics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.