How Writing Came About

Häftad, Engelska, 1997

429 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar

Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Top 100 Books on Science, American Scientist, 2001In 1992, the University of Texas Press published Before Writing, Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform and Before Writing, Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. In these two volumes, Denise Schmandt-Besserat set forth her groundbreaking theory that the cuneiform script invented in the Near East in the late fourth millennium B.C.-the world's oldest known system of writing-derived from an archaic counting device.How Writing Came About draws material from both volumes to present Schmandt-Besserat's theory for a wide public and classroom audience. Based on the analysis and interpretation of a selection of 8,000 tokens or counters from 116 sites in Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey, it documents the immediate precursor of the cuneiform script.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum1997-02-01
Mått178 x 254 x 13 mm
Vikt399 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor207
FörlagUniversity of Texas Press
ISBN9780292777040

Tillhör följande kategorier

PrefaceIntroduction: Tokens, a New Theory The MythsThe Pictographic TheoryTokensPart One: The Evidence 1. What Are Tokens? Types and SubtypesEvolution from Plain to Complex MaterialsManufactureThe Token Collection under Study2. Where Tokens Were Handled and Who Used Them Types of SettlementsDistribution within SettlementsStructuresToken ClustersContainers Holding TokensAssociated AssemblagesTokens as Funerary Offerings3.Strings of Tokens and Envelopes Strings of TokensEnvelopes4. Impressed Tablets NumberContextChronologyDescriptionThe SignsBeyond the Impressed Tablets: PictographyThe Meaning of Signs and Their Corresponding TokensThe Place of Impressed Tablets in the Evolution of WritingPart Two: The Interpretation 5. The Evolution of Symbols in Prehistory Symbols and SignsLower and Middle Paleolithic SymbolsUpper Paleolithic and Mesolithic SymbolsNeolithic SymbolsA Turning Point in Communication and Data Storage6. Tokens: The Socioeconomic Implications Reckoning Technology and EconomyReckoning Technology and Social Organization7. Counting and the Emergence of Writing The Various Modes of CountingThe Sumerian Philological EvidenceThe Near Eastern Archaeological Data8. Conclusions: Tokens, Their Role in Prehistory and Their Contribution to Archaeology EconomyPolitical StructureMathematicsCommunicationPart Three: The Artifacts ConesSpheresDisksCylindersTetrahedronsOvoidsQuadranglesTrianglesBiconoidsParaboloidsBent CoilsOvals/RhomboidsVesselsToolsAnimalsMiscellaneousNotesGlossaryIndex

Discoveries in the history of writing are rare, but Denise Schmandt-Besserat made one in realizing that phonetic writing in the West descends not from pictography, a view repeated everywhere, but from abstract, nonphonetic, mostly noniconographic accounting tokens used in Neolithic farming communities of the Near East beginning from about 8000 B.C. A condensation of volume I of Before Writing ...this book is a perfect production, utterly lucid, thoughtfully illustrated, and thoroughly convincing. (American Journal of Archaeology)