Historic Mesopotamian clay seals provide clues to the origin of writing

The world’s oldest recognized writing system might have had its origins within the imagery on adorned cylinders used to indicate possession. A number of the symbols on these cylinder seals correspond to these utilized in proto-cuneiform, a type of proto-writing utilized in Mesopotamia.

The discovering signifies that the invention of writing in Mesopotamia was a decentralised course of, wherein many individuals throughout a large space contributed to the set of symbols used.

“There’s been this longstanding reconstruction of how writing appeared in Mesopotamia, which is arguably the earliest invention of writing on the planet,” says Silvia Ferrara on the College of Bologna in Italy. “We’re retracing the trajectory in a approach that’s extra, I might say, vibrant, much less straitjacketed.”

The oldest recognized true writing system is cuneiform, invented round 3200 BC in Mesopotamia. It was preceded by an easier system referred to as proto-cuneiform, which was in use from 3350 to 3000 BC.

Proto-writing like proto-cuneiform is distinguished by an absence of grammatical guidelines, which implies it can’t convey complicated meanings, says Amy Richardson on the College of Studying within the UK, who wasn’t concerned within the analysis. As an example, proto-cuneiform can be utilized to label one thing as “seven bushels of wheat”, however solely true writing like cuneiform can say “seven bushels of wheat shall be delivered to you”.

The origins of proto-cuneiform have typically been traced to clay tokens. These got here in a wide range of shapes, similar to discs and spheres, and have been typically engraved with patterns. The tokens could possibly be pressed into moist clay, creating a logo. A number of the symbols on the tokens are much like these present in proto-cuneiform, as documented by Denise Schmandt-Besserat on the College of Texas at Austin in her two-volume ebook Earlier than Writing in 1992.

There may be some proof for a task of tokens within the origin of proto-cuneiform, says Ferrara. “However you can not clarify all of the indicators.”

Ferrara and her colleagues Kathryn Kelley and Mattia Cartolano, additionally on the College of Bologna, have as a substitute explored one other supply of symbols: cylinder seals. These cylindrical objects have patterns and pictures embossed on them, and go away an oblong assortment of symbols when rolled over sheets of moist clay. The symbols typically referred to items being transported, or to directors concerned in transactions, says Cartolano.

The group examined cylinder seals from a large space of south-west Asia, together with Mesopotamia, that dated to 4400 to 3400 BC. They discovered a number of symbols that corresponded to proto-cuneiform symbols.

“One of many clearest examples that we discovered is the usage of the pictures of fringed material and vessel in a internet,” says Cartolano. These have well-understood meanings: they seek advice from the transport of products. And they’re discovered each on cylinder seals and proto-cuneiform tablets.

The concept the symbols on cylinder seals led to a few of the symbols in proto-cuneiform was beforehand prompt by Holly Pittman on the College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in a 1994 ebook chapter and developed in later publications. “I’m gratified that, 30 years after I first proposed the elemental function of seal imagery within the origins of proto-cuneiform script, {that a} new era of students have taken up my thought and, with their experience in cuneiform script, have put particulars to my argument,” says Pittman. She provides that within the Nineties her thought was dismissed “with out critical consideration”.

“I discover it to be very convincing,” says Richardson. “There does appear to be a extremely neat correlation within the specific examples that they’re illustrating on this article.” Her personal analysis has discovered that cylinder seals have been additionally used to report interactions between cities.

This doesn’t imply that tokens didn’t play a task. “I feel there’s nonetheless some robust arguments to make that these tokens actually are a part of the inspiration of abstraction,” says Richardson. Particularly, they appear to have been essential for the event of counting methods.

If proto-cuneiform actually did come up on this hodge-podge approach, drawn from tokens, cylinder seals and presumably different sources, it might inform us one thing about who was inventing it, says Ferrara. “There may be proof for making a declare that the invention of writing in Mesopotamia was, the truth is, far more decentralised than we expect,” she says. Whereas highly effective individuals within the main metropolis of Uruk little question performed a task, maybe so did different directors and tradespeople scattered over the area. “I feel there’s proof for having a extra widespread… and extra distributed immediate to writing,” she says.

Writing was first used for administration, not for storytelling. “These first written data are typically about attempting to organise supplies, items, individuals, issues,” says Richardson. “It’s very a lot about looking for methods of making a social system.”