Ancient clay seals from Mesopotamia provide clues to the origins of writing

The world’s oldest known writing system may have had its origins in images on decorated cylinders used to denote ownership. Some of the symbols on these cylinder seals correspond to symbols used in protocuneiform writing, a form of proto-writing used in Mesopotamia.

The discovery indicates that the invention of writing in Mesopotamia was a decentralized process in which many people over a wide area contributed to the set of symbols used.

“There has been a long history of reconstruction of the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia, which is probably the earliest invention of writing in the world,” he says Sylvia Ferrara at the University of Bologna in Italy. “We are recreating the trajectory in a more, I would say, colorful and less rigid way.”

The oldest known true writing system is cuneiform, invented around 3200 BC in Mesopotamia. It was preceded by a simpler system called protocuneiform, which was in use from 3350 to 3000 BC

Protowriting, like protoklin, is distinguished by its lack of grammatical rules, which means it cannot convey complex meanings, he says Amy Richardson at the University of Reading in the UK, who was not involved in the research. For example, proto-cuneiform can be used to denote something as “seven bushels of wheat”, but only a true script such as cuneiform can say “seven bushels of wheat will be delivered to you”.

The origins of the proto-cline often lie in clay tokens. They came in various shapes, such as discs and spheres, and were often decorated with engraved designs. The tokens could be pressed into the wet clay to form a symbol. Some of the symbols on the tokens are similar to those found in protoclines, as he documented Denise Schmandt-Besserat at the University of Texas at Austin in his two-volume book Before writing in 1992

There is some evidence for the role of tokens in the origin of protoclines, Ferrara says. “But you can’t explain all the signs.”

Ferrara and her colleagues Catherine Kelley AND Mattia Cartolanoalso at the University of Bologna, they instead explored a different source of symbols: cylindrical seals. These cylindrical objects are embossed with patterns and images, and when rolled over sheets of wet clay, leave a rectangular collection of symbols. The symbols often referred to the goods being transported or the administrators involved in the transactions, Cartolano says.

The team examined cylinder seals from a large area of ​​southwest Asia, including Mesopotamia, dating from 4,400 to 3,400 BC. They found several symbols corresponding to protocuneiform symbols.

“One of the clearest examples we found is the use of images of fringed fabric and gridded vessels,” Cartolano says. They have well-understood meanings: they refer to the transport of goods. They can be found on both cylinder seals and protocuneiform tablets.

The idea that symbols on cylinder seals led to some symbols written in protocuneiform script had previously been suggested by Holly Pittman at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia chapter of a book from 1994 and developed in later publications. “I am pleased that 30 years after I first proposed the fundamental role of seal imagery in the origins of protocuneiform writing, a new generation of scholars has taken up my idea and, with their expertise in cuneiform writing, provided details that support my argument,” Pittman says. She adds that in the 1990s her idea was rejected “without serious consideration.”

“I find it very compelling,” Richardson says. “There seems to be a really clear correlation between the specific examples illustrated in this article.” My own research shows that cylinder seals were also used to record interactions between cities.

This does not mean that tokens did not play a role. “I think there’s still a strong case that these tokens really are part of the foundation of the abstraction,” Richardson says. In particular, they appear to have played an important role in the development of counting systems.

If protocuneiform was indeed created in this elaborate way, taken from tokens, cylinder seals and perhaps other sources, it could tell us something about who invented it, Ferrara says. “There is evidence that the invention of writing in Mesopotamia was actually much more decentralized than we think,” he says. While powerful people in the main city of Uruk undoubtedly played a role, other administrators and traders scattered throughout the region may have also played a role. “I think there is evidence of a more widespread… and more diffuse penchant for writing,” he says.

Writing was first used for administrative purposes rather than for storytelling. “These first written records typically involved attempts to organize materials, goods, people and things,” Richardson says. “It’s very much about finding ways to create a social system.”