Blog

A Recent Publication: the Proceedings of Image and Text in the Ancient Western Epigraphic Cultures, in memory of J. Untermann (Acta Palaeohispanica XII)

The New Year is full of news for the AELAW network, from the publication of the new booklets to the next conference on Italic languages. And what a better way to start 2018 than the publication of the proceedings of the XII Conference of Paleohispanic Languages and Cultures. The meeting took place in April 2016 in Giessen, Germany, bringing together dozens of specialists from all over Europe; an event in which the AELAW network collaborated and was well represented.

Now, the proceedings have been published as a special issue of the journal Palaeohispanica, edited by the Institución Fernando el Católico, the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung and AELAW itself. From 2005 onwards this journal has assumed the publication of the colloquia about Paleohispanic languages and cultures (Barcelona 2004, Lisbon 2009 and Valencia 2012). Palaeohispanica, which already has 17 issues annually published (the proceedings is the last one), has become the journal of reference on studies of indigenous languages and writings in the Iberian Peninsula. Its quality criteria have recently been worthy of a seal of quality by the Science and Technology Foundation of the Spanish government (FECYT) and of a high valuation by the MIAR index of scientific journals managed by the University of Barcelona: 9'7 ICDS (http://miar.ub.edu/issn/1578-5386). All contributions published in the proceedings have been subjected to a rigorous peer-review process.

The issue is divided into three thematic sections. The first one, referred to the Iberian and Meridional areas, includes a dozen of studies, covering diverse and interesting topics, from the genealogy of the Palaeohispanic writings to the latest epigraphic novelties. The second section deals with the Northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, demonstrating the vitality of the Celtic studies in Spain. Finally, a third section includes studies about the Roman provinces in northern Europe. In total, the proceedings include around twenty of the contributions presented in the colloquium, written in English, French, Portuguese, German and Spanish. As is usual in this type of studies, we must highlight the multidisciplinary approach of the works, including subjects such as linguistics, epigraphy or social and cultural history.

Publication in Palaeohispanica not only guarantees high quality standards. Thanks to the support of the Institución Fernando el Católico the proceedings are freely available to the public from the institution’s website: https://ifc.dpz.es/publicaciones/ebooks/id/3649. In this sense, this is an example of how collaboration between different institutions helps scientific development and the dissemination of information among the general public, a point that is in the foundational spirit of the AELAW network itself. In the coming days the volume will be available in printed format for sale.