This paper reviews archaeological research on the transmission of writing knowledge between literate and pre-literate societies. It proposes the use of productive approaches, such as cultural epidemiology and cultural attraction theory (CAT). The case study focuses on East-Central Europe and discusses the role of writing in the construction of social group identity and the transition from local communities with a prehistoric mindset to a historically acting society during the first millennium AD. The study collects relevant archaeological records of Early Mediaeval writing and explains them using reflective archaeology. It is shown that interactions between literate and pre-literate societies are highly complex social processes that function not only at the cultural and cognitive levels of individuals but also among larger groups of people. By combining cultural attraction theory with empirical archaeological data, this study formulates a conclusive explanation for the introduction of writing among Europe’s Slavic-speaking population.

本文回顾了有关有文字和前文字社会之间书写知识传播的考古研究。它建议使用富有成效的方法，例如文化流行病学和文化吸引力理论（CAT）。该案例研究重点关注东中欧，讨论了书写在社会群体身份构建中的作用，以及公元第一个千年期间从具有史前思维的当地社区向历史性社会的转变。该研究收集了中世纪早期文字的相关考古记录，并利用反思考古学对其进行了解释。研究表明，有文字社会和前文字社会之间的互动是高度复杂的社会过程，不仅在个人的文化和认知层面上发挥作用，而且在更大的人群中也发挥作用。通过将文化吸引力理论与实证考古数据相结合，本研究对欧洲斯拉夫语人群中文字的传入提出了结论性的解释。