OT... invention of writing
- From: "Chapstick" <chapstick@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:31:58 -0400
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/numerals/dsb/dsb1.html
This is great work... this Denise Schmandt-Besserat is becoming my hero...
-chap
"Small clay tokens of multiple shapes found in Near Eastern sites of
8000-3000 B.C. constitute the earliest evidence for accounting. 1 (Slide 1)
The tokens had two main functions: they served as counters to calculate
quantities of goods; they were mnemonic devices used to store data. In this
paper I will discuss this latter function: 1. How accounting was practiced
with tokens, and 2. how accounting was related to sociopolitical changes.
I. Accounting Before Writing
The study of tokens may give an insight into several aspects of
accounting before the invention of writing and, in particular, what
information was kept, where, how, by whom, and for how long.
1. What Information Was Kept
The hypothesis that there was an evolution, from tokens to the
Sumerian pictographic writing, allows the meaning of a number of counters to
be established. The tokens matching Sumerian pictographs stood for units of
merchandise, suggesting that each counter stood for a specific unit of a
commodity such as, for example, a particular measure of grain, a jar of oil
or a fleece of wool. Consequently, it appears that the token system was
restricted to the recording of exclusively economic data....."
.
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