Before Writing gives a new perspective on the evolution of
communication. It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia
it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous
invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of
years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols.
In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise
Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with
the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared
in the Near East. These tokens--small, geometrically shaped objects
made of clay--represented various units of goods and were used to
count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in
data processing and communication that ultimately led to the
invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of
archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces
how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system,
emerged from a counting device.
In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens,
Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her
theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued
by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The
information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum
ownership, accession or field number, references to previous
publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings
and photographs illustrate the various token types.
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