Slides on the origin of writing, tokens, clay envelopes, cuneiform, pictographs, logograms, and other matters related to early forms of writing and inscription.
3. Before 2700 B.C.E.…writing is only accounting. To
recall what comes in the temple or the palace, and
what comes out. So-and-so much gold, so-and-so
many sheep, so-and-so many bushels of grain. It’s
only numbers and the thing counted. And then, at
some point, the name of who it belongs to. That’s it.
- Interview with Denise Schmandt-Besserat
“
4. Prewriting: Clay Tokens
• Clay Tokens: the
first bookkeeping
system, 3400 B.C.
• Plain tokens vs.
complex tokens
• Tokens begin to
decline, decrease,
disappear around
3100 to 3000 B.C.
11. What is Cuneiform Writing?
At first, images were
drawn with the pointed
end of a reed or wood
stylus
Cuneiform images are
created by impressing
the edge of the stylus
into the clay
Cuneiform, after the Latin term for wedge, cuneus
12. Cuneiform
Not a language
Used by Akkadian, Hittite, Semitic,
and Old Persian languages
Used by Scribes:
Professional class of writers
Developed for accounting,
legal, and administrative
proposes
13. Cuneiform
• No headings or marks
to indicate paragraphs,
direct speech,
questions, or emphasis
• Occasional line across
a column to indicate a
change of speaker or
episode
• Looks as though a
chicken had walked
across clay
18. Categories of Signs in Early Writing
• Pictographs: signs
convey meaning
through pictorial
resemblance
• Logograms: signs
represent words
• Phonograms or
syllabograms: signs
represent syllables
