The evolution from tokens to script also documents a steady progression in abstracting data, from one-to-one correspondence with three-dimensional tangible tokens, to two-dimensional pictures, the invention of abstract numbers and phonetic syllabic signs and finally, in the second millennium BC, the ultimate abstraction of sound and meaning with the representation of phonemes by the letters of the alphabet.
Writing may have been invented independently three times in different parts of the world: in the Near East, China and Mesoamerica. In what concerns this last script, it is still obscure how symbols and glyphs used by the Olmecs, whose culture flourished along the Gulf of Mexico ca to BC, reappeared in the classical Maya art and writing of AD as well as in other Mesoamerican cultures Marcus The earliest Chinese inscriptions, dated to the Shang Dynasty, c.
The highly abstract and standardized signs suggest prior developments, which are presently undocumented. Of these three writing systems, therefore, only the earliest, the Mesopotamian cuneiform script, invented in Sumer, present-day Iraq, c.
Its evolution is divided into four phases: a clay tokens representing units of goods were used for accounting — BC ; b the three dimensional tokens were transformed into two-dimensional pictographic signs, and like the former tokens, the pictographic script served exclusively for accounting — BC ; c phonetic signs, introduced to transcribe the name of individuals, marked the turning point when writing started emulating spoken language and, as a result, became applicable to all fields of human experience — BC ; d with two dozen letters, each standing for a single sound of voice, the alphabet perfected the rendition of speech.
After ideography, logography and syllabaries, the alphabet represents a further segmentation of meaning. The direct antecedent of the Mesopotamian script was a recording device consisting of clay tokens of multiple shapes Schmandt-Besserat The artifacts, mostly of geometric forms such as cones, spheres, disks, cylinders and ovoids, are recovered in archaeological sites dating — BC Fig.
The tokens, used as counters to keep track of goods, were the earliest code—a system of signs for transmitting information. Each token shape was semantic, referring to a particular unit of merchandise. For example, a cone and a sphere stood respectively for a small and a large measure of grain, and ovoids represented jars of oil.
The repertory of some three hundred types of counters made it feasible to manipulate and store information on multiple categories of goods Schmandt-Besserat The token system had little in common with spoken language except that, like a word, a token stood for one concept. Unlike speech, tokens were restricted to one type of information only, namely, real goods.
Unlike spoken language, the token system made no use of syntax. That is to say, their meaning was independent of their placement order. Therefore, the goods they represented were expressed in multiple languages.
The token system showed the number of units of merchandize in one-to-one correspondence, in other words, the number of tokens matched the number of units counted: x jars of oil were represented by x ovoids.
After four millennia, the token system led to writing. The transition from counters to script took place simultaneously in Sumer and Elam, present-day western Iran when, around BC, Elam was under Sumerian domination.
It occurred when tokens, probably representing a debt, were stored in envelopes until payment. These envelopes made of clay in the shape of a hollow ball had the disadvantage of hiding the tokens held inside. Some accountants, therefore, impressed the tokens on the surface of the envelope before enclosing them inside, so that the shape and number of counters held inside could be verified at all times Fig.
These markings were the first signs of writing. The metamorphosis from three-dimensional artifacts to two-dimensional markings did not affect the semantic principle of the system. The significance of the markings on the outside of the envelopes was identical to that of the tokens held inside. About BC, once the system of impressed signs was understood, clay tablets—solid cushion-shaped clay artifacts bearing the impressions of tokens—replaced the envelopes filled with tokens.
The impression of a cone and a sphere token, representing measures of grain, resulted respectively in a wedge and a circular marking which bore the same meaning as the tokens they signified Fig. They were ideograms—signs representing one concept.
The impressed tablets continued to be used exclusively to record quantities of goods received or disbursed. They still expressed plurality in one-to-one correspondence. Pictographs—signs representing tokens traced with a stylus rather than impressed—appeared about BC. These pictographs referring to goods mark an important step in the evolution of writing because they were never repeated in one-to-one correspondence to express numerosity.
Besides them, numerals—signs representing plurality—indicated the quantity of units recorded. The symbols for numerals were not new. They were the impressions of cones and spheres formerly representing measures of grain, which then had acquired a second, abstract, numerical meaning.
The invention of numerals meant a considerable economy of signs since 33 jars of oil could be written with 7 rather then 33 markings. In sum, in its first phase, writing remained mostly a mere extension of the former token system. Although the tokens underwent formal transformations from three- to two-dimensional and from impressed markings to signs traced with a stylus, the symbolism remained fundamentally the same. Like the archaic counters, the tablets were used exclusively for accounting Nissen and Heine In all these instances, the medium changed in form but not in content.
The only major departure from the token system consisted in the creation of two distinct types of signs: incised pictographs and impressed numerals. Uruk culture also spread into Syria and southern Turkey, where Uruk-style buildings were constructed in urban settlements. Recent archaeological research indicates that the origin and spread of writing may be more complex than previously thought.
Complex state systems with proto-cuneiform writing on clay and wood may have existed in Syria and Turkey as early as the mid-fourth millennium B. If further excavations in these areas confirm this assumption, then writing on clay tablets found at Uruk would constitute only a single phase of the early development of writing.
Clay became the preferred medium for recording bureaucratic items as it was abundant, cheap, and durable in comparison to other mediums. Initially, a reed or stick was used to draw pictographs and abstract signs into moistened clay. Some of the earliest pictographs are easily recognizable and decipherable, but most are of an abstract nature and cannot be identified with any known object.
Over time, pictographic representation was replaced with wedge-shaped signs, formed by impressing the tip of a reed or wood stylus into the surface of a clay tablet. Modern nineteenth-century scholars called this type of writing cuneiform after the Latin term for wedge, cuneus.
Today, about 6, proto-cuneiform tablets, with more than 38, lines of text, are now known from areas associated with the Uruk culture, while only a few earlier examples are extant. The most popular but not universally accepted theory identifies the Uruk tablets with the Sumerians, a population group that spoke an agglutinative language related to no known linguistic group.
Some of the earliest signs inscribed on the tablets picture rations that needed to be counted, such as grain, fish, and various types of animals.
These pictographs could be read in any number of languages much as international road signs can easily be interpreted by drivers from many nations. Egyptian writing — the famous hieroglyphics — developed independently not long thereafter, under similar circumstances, historians think.
A few thousand years later, as variations on the two systems spread throughout the region, the entire ancient world had writing schemes that vastly improved the efficiency of economies, the accountability of governments and, maybe most importantly to us, our understanding of the past. Reading and writing in ancient times wasn't for the masses, however. Daily life in Mesopotamia and Egypt was time-consuming, and so writing became a specialized profession, usually for members of the elite class.
The highly-regarded scribes of ancient Mesopotamia were even depicted in art wearing cuneiform writing implements a bit like a set of chopsticks in their belts as a mark of their importance. To record the transaction, a receipt was carved onto a clay tag, about the size of a Post-it.
Simple geometric signs represented the livestock and purveyor. The indents of circles and semicircles denoted the quantity exchanged. Imagine how surprised these people would be to learn their receipt is now held in a museum.
But the interesting part is not what these early texts said. These early texts beg the question: How was writing invented? That question has at least four answers because writing was independently invented at least four times in human history: in ancient Mesopotamia , Egypt , China and Mesoamerica.
The scripts of these civilizations are considered pristine, or developed from scratch by societies with no exposure to other literate cultures. All other writing systems are thought to be modeled after these four, or at least after the idea of them.
With future research, the number of pristine scripts could decrease, if archaeologists find evidence that any of these cultures copied the idea of writing from one another most likely Mesopotamia and Egypt, because geography. And the number could grow , if other ancient symbol systems are deciphered and proven to represent true writing.
But as it stands, most scholars believe that just these four scripts had independent origins.
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