Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1979 - 31

Scholars during the nineteenth century referred
to these remarkably abstract signs as
"pictographs," reasoning that all systems of writing
had to evolve from an initial stage when signs
were first pictures of specific items. In this case,
however, the signs are not actual pictures or
representations of the objects themselves, as one
might expect, but of the clay tokens previously
used. In this way the newly developed writing
system was able to draw upon a pool of the
already widely used symbols of the token
recording system - only adding a second step of
abstraction. In time the markings became more
simplified and conventionalized. The use of
special styluses with triangular ends is responsible
for the characters of the Sumerian script and its
naine - cuneiform - which means wedge-shaped.
The early stages of Sumerian writing are still
enigmatic and the "pictographs" are still mostly
undeciphered, but cuneiform writing is now well
understood by epigraphists. One of the methods
used to identify the meaning of pictographs is to
try to trace the evolution of particular signs from
the known cuneiform signs to the original
pictograph through various intermediary stages.
By this method we can, with a reasonable degree
of confidence, assume that an ovoid with an
incised line along the broad end meant "oil"; the
disc with an incised cross stood for "sheep"; a
cone represented the numeral "one"; á sphere
meant "ten" and large cone "60." The token
system and writing must have coexisted for a time,
but each developed to its own destiny. Around
4700 B.p. the token system, relieved from all
pressures imposed by urban demands, reverted to
its former use in household and market

computations. Later it continued to be used as a
corollary of writing and was simplified into tokens
of à single shape as in the modern abacus. Writing
modeled itself more closely to language and
became phonetic. The cuneiform system of
writing impressed on clay tablets continued
unchallenged in most parts of the ancient Middle
East until 25Ö0 b.p. when the Persians adopted
Aramaic as the official language of their empire.
Aramaic used a cursive script that allowed more
rapid recording because letters were connected.
Eventually, the use of clay tablets and stylus were
replaced by papyri or parchment and pen and
ink.
In most cultures the invention of writing is
considered to be an event of the greatest
significance artd its origin is often surrounded by
fabulous legends. The ancient Egyptians believed
that writing had been taught to them by the God
Thoth, the dog-headed baboon who was also the
god of Wisdom, Science and Medicine. In Sumer,
it was known as the revelation of the Goddess
Ni s aba, the wife of the lord wind Enlil. In our
own society writing is viewed as the landmark for
civilization and history. Until today its invention
has been fancied as the intellectual achievement of
à group of wise men in Sumer who systematically
decided upon a number of pictographs to
represent desired concepts. My research
demonstrates that, like all other human
achievements, the origins of writing are humble
and fortuitous. Writing did not come ex nihüo, but
rather was a step in the evolution of a previous
recording system based on small clay tokens which
had been in use for millennia in the ancient
Middle East.

For Further Reading on the theory of clay
tokens as the precursor of writing: Denise
Schmandt-Besserat, "The Earliest Precursor of
Writing," Scientific American 238(1978):50-59; "An
Archaic Recording System and the Origin of
Writing," Syro-MesopotamianStudies 1(1977): 1-32;
"An Archaic Recording System in the UrukJemdet Nasr Period," American Journal
of Archaeology 83(1979): 19-48; "The Earliest
Uses of Clay in Anatolia," Anatolian Studies
27(1977): 133-150; "The Earliest Uses of Clay in
Syria ," Expedition 19(1977):28-42; "The Beginnings
of the Use of 'Clay in the Zagros," Expedition
16(1974): 11-17.
On the history of writing: Robert Claiborne,
The Birth of Writing (Time-Life Books, New York
1974), the most recent book on the topic which
still includes the old theory of writing deriving
from pictures; Alexander Marschack, The Roots of

Civilimtion (New York 1972), presents his bold
interpretation of incised Palaeolithic artifacts as
sophisticated lunar calendars; J.M. Pulían, The
History of the Abacus (Praeger, New York 1970),
documents the major role played by the abacus
for computation dating from classical times to the
French revolution.
On related excavations: Pierre Amiet,
"Glyptique Susienne," Mémoires de la Delegation
Archaeologique en Iran, Vol XLÍII (Paul Geuthner,
Paris 1972): Vol. 1, 60ff and Vol. II, PL. 61ff;
R.J. Braidwood, Bruce Howe and Charles Reed,
"The Iranian Prehistoric Project," Science
133(1961):2008-2010; H.J. Lenzen, "New
Discoveries at Warka in Southern Iraq,"
Archaeology 17(1964): 122-131; Ernest MacKay,
Report on Excavations at jemdet Nasr, Iraq (Field
Museum of Natural History, Anthropology
Memoirs 1 [1931]:278).

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Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1979

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