Ancient Mesopotamian clay seals offer clues to the origin of writing

The world’s oldest known writing system may have its origins in images on decorated cylinders used to denote ownership or record transactions. Some of the symbols on these cylinder seals match those used in proto-cuneiform, a form of proto-writing used in Mesopotamia.

The discovery represents the invention to write In Mesopotamia it was a decentralized process where many people from a wide area contributed to the set of symbols used.

“There’s been this long-standing reconstruction of how writing appeared in Mesopotamia, which is arguably the earliest invention of writing in the world,” he says. Silvia Ferrara at the University of Bologna in Italy. “We are redoing the route, more colorful, I would say, not less kamikaze.”

The oldest known truth writing system It is cuneiform, invented in Mesopotamia around 3200 BC. Before that there was a simpler system called proto-cuneiform, which was used from 3350 to 3000 Ka.

Proto-writing such as Proto-Cuneiform is characterized by a lack of grammatical rules, meaning that it cannot convey complex meaning, he says. Amy Richardson at the University of Reading in the UK, who was not involved in the research. For example, protocuneiform can be used to label something as “seven bushels of wheat,” but the true script can only say “seven bushels of wheat will be delivered to you.”

The origin of protocuneiform has often been in clay tokens. These had various shapes, such as discs and spheres, and were often engraved with patterns. Tokens could be pressed into wet clay, creating a symbol. Some of the symbols on the tokens are similar to those found in protocuneiform, as documented Denise Schmandt-Besserat in his two volumes at the University of Texas at Austin Before you write in 1992

There is some evidence for the role of tokens in the origins of protocuneiform, says Ferrara. “But you can’t explain all the signs.”

Ferrara and his colleagues Kathryn Kelley and Mattia CartolanoAlso at the University of Bologna, another source of symbols has been studied: cylinder seals. These cylindrical objects are embossed with patterns and images, leaving a rectangular collection of symbols when rolled on clay sheets. The symbols often refer to the goods being transported or the administrators involved in the transactions, Cartolano says.

The team studied cylinder seals from a wide area of ​​southwest Asia, including Mesopotamia, dating from 4400 to 3400 BC. They found several symbols corresponding to protocuneiform symbols.

“One of the clearest examples we’ve found is using images of fabric and packaging in a grid,” says Cartolano. These have well-understood meanings: they refer to the transportation of goods. And they are found in both cylinder seals and protocuneiform tablets.

He had earlier suggested the idea that the symbols on the cylinder seals led to some of the protocuneiform symbols. Holly Pittman at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia 1994 book chapter and developed in later publications. “I am delighted that, 30 years after I proposed the central role of seal imagery in the origin of proto-cuneiform writing, a new generation of scholars has taken up my idea and, with their experience in cuneiform writing, added details to my argument,” says Pittman. In the 1990s, his he added that the idea was rejected, “without serious consideration”.

“I find it very compelling,” says Richardson. “There appears to be an excellent correlation in the particular examples illustrated in this article.” His research has found that cylinder seals were also used to record interactions between cities.

This is not to say that tokens did not play a role. “I think there are still some strong arguments to make that those tokens are actually part of the foundation of abstraction,” Richardson says. Above all, they seem to have been important for the development of counting systems.

If proto-cuneiform originated in this confused way, drawn from tokens, cylinder seals and perhaps other sources, it might tell us something about who invented it, Ferrara says. “There is evidence to suggest that the invention of writing in Mesopotamia was much more decentralized than previously thought,” he says. As powerful people enter The main city of Uruk no doubt they played a role, perhaps also other administrators and merchants scattered around the region. “I think there’s evidence for a more widespread … and more distributed prompt for writing,” he says.

to write it was first used for administration, not for storytelling. “Those early written records are usually about trying to organize materials, possessions, people and things,” says Richardson. “It’s very much about trying to find ways to create a social system.”