CSMC Newsletter

On 22 May, the Excellence Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced which Clusters of Excellence will receive funding in the upcoming phase of the Excellence Strategy, running from January 2026 to December 2032. Out of 200 applicants, 70 have been granted Cluster of Excellence status. Among the successful clusters is Understanding Written Artefacts (UWA) at the University of Hamburg, which will now enter its second funding phase. Notably, UWA is one of the few clusters nationwide led by the humanities. The significance of this achievement for written artefact research in Hamburg cannot be overstated. Since 2019, the majority of CSMC research projects have operated under the UWA umbrella. With this renewed funding, the way is now paved for a host of new projects to begin in January of next year.

The funding approval is there, the job advertisements are out: For our second funding phase, we are now looking for several doctoral students, postdocs, and advanced postdocs to fill the UWA II research programme with life from January 2026. The job advertisements are already online and applications can be submitted until 22 June. Please help us to spread the word of these vacancies in your relevant professional circles. 

The new volume of the Studies in Manuscript Cultures book series explores the complex web of spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional interactions that influenced the production and reception of manuscripts in the Mediterranean world from late Antiquity to the 15th century. Edited by Jacopo Gnisci, Sophia Dege-Müller, Jonas Karlsson, and Vitagrazia Pisani in cooperation with Alessandro Bausi, Manuscript Treasures from Afro-Eurasia provides a multifaceted view of the relationship between manuscripts and their scribes, collectors, patrons, and readers, thus offering a glimpse of the dynamics affecting book production and circulation across the wider Mediterranean region and destabilising notions of cultural uniformity and national or religious identity. The volume is available open access.

The winner of this year’s J.P. Gumbert Dissertation Award is Isaac (Yitz) Landes, who receives the prize for his outstanding thesis on The Transmission of the Mishnah and the Spread of Rabbinic Judaism, 200 CE–1200 CE. Yitz Landes completed his PhD at Princeton University and is now an Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures at the Jewish Theological Seminary. His dissertation looks at the history of the transmission, reception, and study of the Mishnah, the central text of the Rabbinic corpus, from its inception in third-century Galilee until the publication of Maimonides’ commentary to the Mishnah in 12th-century Egypt. The J.P. Gumbert Dissertation Award includes a prize money of 5,000 Euro and a fellowship for a research stay at CSMC.

Why are the palm-leaf manuscripts of Southeast India so valuable, and what happens inside the Container Lab where CSMC researchers examine them on site? An exhibition at the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) provides insights into the cultural and technical aspects of the project. The exhibition was created by MA student Theresa Alappat as her final thesis project. Parts of it can be seen on the premises of the IFP, while others are located directly at the Container Lab, which has been set up in an old warehouse near the IFP. As part of the Palm-Leaf Manuscript Profiling Initiative (PLMPI), the Container Lab will remain at this location until October 2025, after which it will be returned to Hamburg after a year and a half in India.

It is an important piece of local Hamburg history: The Red City Book from the late 13th century is one of the primary sources for tracing the city’s legal and commercial development during the Middle Ages. Despite its undeniable importance, until recently, the manuscript had not undergone a thorough material-scientific examination—an essential step for uncovering crucial details about its production and historical use. To address this gap, the valuable manuscript was transferred to the CSMC, where a team of specialists at the Artefact Lab studied it intensively over several weeks. A recent blog post now offers an in-depth look at both the Red City Book and the analyses conducted in the lab.