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Tokens as Pre-Writing Symbols   Term Paper ID:31648 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses the use and significance of tokens as pre-writing symbols.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses the use and significance of tokens as pre-writing symbols. Examples of various tokens and what they represented. What tokens indicate about early civilizations. Emergence of new systems of record keeping. Paper Introduction: The Significance of Tokens as Pre-Writing Symbols Abstract Numerous scholars have presented evidence indicating that tokens often made of clay and presented in various significant sizes markings andshapes were used to keep accounts of financial and other transactions oraccounts of grain jars of oil or units of land These tokens whichappeared in such cultures as that of the Sumerians and other Near Easternpeoples represented a first step toward the development of a writtenlanguage as well as a system of numerical record-keeping of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 3.[11] Duncan J. Kishlansky, P. "Who Was the First Accountant?" Texas A&M Accounting History. Available athttp://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/sumerian.html.[12] Anonymous, "Who was the First Accountant," Texas A&M AccountingHistory, 2 4, p. 32.[9] M. As time went by, the ancient Mesopotamians realized that they needed a way to keep all the clay tokens securely together (to prevent loss, theft, etc), so they started putting multiple clay tokens into a large, hollow clay container which they then sealed up. they resemble the natural object they represent."[6] These small clay tokens were made in a variety of geometric shapes,including cones, spheres, disks, cylinders, and tetrahedrons. - some 5 years after tokens themselveswere known to be in use.[5] The Sumerians were the group that is usually associated with thedevelopment of tokens. "Sumerian." 2 4. These tokens, whichappeared in such cultures as that of the Sumerians and other Near Easternpeoples, represented a first step toward the development of a writtenlanguage as well as a system of numerical record-keeping of a permanent orquasi-permanent nature. Available at www.jaars.org/museum/alphabet/people/begin/htm.[5] Ibid.[6] Anonymous, "Sumerian," 2 4, p. BibliographyAncientscripts.com. As it developed, this writing also acquireda phonetic element, with the signs possessing multiple values, bothlogographic and syllabic.[15] The advent of more and more complex token coincided with theemergence of what Peterson calls "powerful central governments and theconstruction of monuments and great temples, beginning around 35 B.C.[16] The token system, extended to cover goods and services, played a key rolein managing the new massive building projects and orchestrating largepublic events that also began to be created in this era. 1. Available at www .ancientscripts.com/print.cgi?f=Sumerian.html.Anonymous. Available at www.uoc.edu/humfil /articles/eng/panosa 3 4/panosa 3 4.pdf.Peterson, Ivars. 2.[17] Ibid.[18] Ibid.[19] Ibid. Geary, and P. Available atwww.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/retrieve/1 63/Jones_ps.ps.[14] Ibid., p. They were replaced by pictographic tablets capable of presentingmuch more information than the tokens. New York: Harper Collins.Melville, Duncan J. However, once sealed, the problem of remembering how many tokens were inside the container arose. Civilization in the West. Perforations and various markings were used to future differentiateone type of token (or its specific meaning or value commentary) fromanother.[7] As Diane Schmandt-Besserat, an expert in this field, hasnoted, these token represented a major step toward the development of amore complete writing system and may have been instrumental in thedevelopment of abstract counting as well.[8] M. Analysts have noted that: "For 5 years before the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia, there were small clay objects in abstract shapes, called clay tokens, that were apparently used for counting agricultural and manufactured goods. "From Counting to Writing." Science News Online, February 22, 1997. It is thought that they may be the earliest precursor of writing." [3]There are differing opinions as to why people felt the need to write. As a necessary precursor to the development of amore complex written language tokens emerged as people turned from a lifeof hunting and gathering to a life and socio-economic system based onagriculture and, later, trade. Available at http://acct.tamu .edu/giroux/FIRST.html.JAARS Museum of the Alphabet. 1. "The Beginnings of Alphabets." 2 3. 2. 1. With the introduction of a new typeof stylus, pictographic writing developed into cuneiform notation. 2 4. Melville, "Sumerian Metrological Numeration Systems,:"October 3, 2 2, p. As tokens and their various shapes, formsand markings became standardized, and as cities were developed, thesesymbols took on added meaning and importance. 2. Also, if there were five clay tokens inside, they would impress the picture of the token five times, and so problem of what and how many inside the container was solved. The origins ofthese token may be lost in antiquity, but it is nevertheless quite clearthat there use was increasingly common over the period from 8, to 3, B.C. To solve this problem, the Mesopotamians started impressing pictures of the clay tokens on the surface of the clay container with a stylus. 1. Said Jones: "the script becamemore powerful and flexible in transcribing messages, and therefore itsscope branched out into narrative and creative uses."[14] Poetry, prose,histories, dictionaries, religious tracts, and scientific works were allproduced as the basic pictographic writing form thus developed became aregular, non-pictorial script. Available at www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/numerals/dsb/dsb.html.-----------------------[1] Duncan J. Ithas been suggested that as men moved from nomadic lives focused on huntingand gathering to settled existence in cities in tandem with agrarian andtrading pursuits, it became necessary to acquire some permanent method ofkeeping track of business and other transactions.[4] Early records werekept on clay tablets, and cuneiform evolved from these beginnings inMesopotamia as early as 31 B.C. Tokens abound in archeologicalsites throughout the Near East and offer an excellent portrait of a long-vanished people. "The Beginnings of the Written Culture in Antiquity." May 2 4. Isabel. Available atww.utexas.edu/cola/depts./lrc/numerals/dsb/dsb.html.[3] M. Basedinitially on the imprints of the plain tokens in clay tablets and wedge-shaped impressions made with a stylus to represent the complex tokens, itwas possible to broaden the vocabulary of cuneiform script from its base ofsomewhat utilitarian accounting symbolism. The system used was the Sumerian accounting token,which acted as the model for the first written logograms.[1 ] Melville pointed out that in the Sumerian system, different types ofgoods were represented by different symbols and different types of tokens.Multiple quantities were represented by repetition. For example, threeunits of grain were denoted by three grain-marks and five jars of oil weredenoted by five oil-specific marks and so forth.[11] Tokens have been found widely through the Near East archeologicalsites representing a period of 5, years to about 3, B.C. Since some of the tokens are similar to Sumerian ideographs. Available at http://it.stlawu.edu/ ~dmelvill/mesomath/tokens.html.Melville, Duncan J. 1. Isabel Panosa noted that even in the era of Cro-Magnon man, therewere measurements and pictography (symbols) that were used to recordimportant events or to account for items.[9] However, it would be manymillennia before the social and economic conditions necessary to requirethe complicated administrative register of the first writing systemsemerged. The Significance of Tokens as Pre-Writing Symbols Abstract Numerous scholars have presented evidence indicating that tokens,often made of clay and presented in various significant sizes, markings andshapes, were used to keep accounts of financial and other transactions oraccounts of grain, jars of oil, or units of land. Someappeared to be miniature models of less than one inch in size of animals ortools. 1. "Accounting with Tokens in the Ancient Near East." December 16, 2 3. The actual names of these inventors inSumerian city-states, including Uruk and Ur, are not known. Available at www.sciencenews .org/pages/sn_arc97/2_22_97/mathland.htm.Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. Available at http://it..stlawu /~dmelvill.mesomath/tokens.html.[2] Denise Schmandt-Bessarat, "Accounting With Tokens in the ancient NearEast," December 16, 2 3, p. In principle, the initial use of writing was for accounting,associated with an economy undergoing expansion that required new tools forcontrol and monitoring. Available at www.jaars.org/museum/alphabet/people /begin.htm.Jones, Bernard. AsPeterson puts it, "the resulting record-keeping system proved so efficientand convenient that it was used in the Middle East for the next 3, years."[19] This report has demonstrated the importance of tokens as a necessaryprecursor to the development of writing. 11.[4] JAARS Museum of the Alphabet, "The Beginnings of Alphabets," 2 3, p.1. Theearliest ones were plain and increasingly complexity is associated withadvances in the development of more and more complex writing systems.[12]It is likely that the token system was developed by temple priests andscribes in cities such as Jericho. These tokens came to exist not justas physical entities that could be threaded onto a string or kept in a boxas a permanent representative record, but also used to mark soft claytablets, leaving a negative image of the token behind to signify the sameas the token itself would signify.[13] Jones states that the use of tokens led directly to the developmentof the cuneiform script that would be used through Mesopotamia. "What's the Point?" 1996. Melville, "Tokens: The Origins of Mathematics," August 29,2 1, p. cit., p. Available atwww.uoc.edu/humfil/articles/eng/panosa 3 4/panosa 3 4.pdf.[1 ] Ibid., p. "An Ancient Token System: The Precursor to Numerals and Writing." Archeology, November- December 1986, pp. "Tokens: The Origin of Mathematics." August 29, 2 1. Available at www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/retrieve/1 63/Jones_ps.ps.Kishlansky, M., Geary, P., and O'Brien, P. More significantly, the same signs could be used to represent thesame quantity of any item.[17] In this way, the token system evolved into"a kind of shorthand in which signs... In addition to symbols derived from clay tokens, they also added other symbols that were more pictographic in nature, i.e. until thedevelopment of writing.[1] Based upon a qualitative review of relevantliterature, this report will demonstrate that these small pieces of clayand other materials served not only as the basis of rudimentary accountingsystems and as a precursor for the development of both linguistic andmathematical writing, but as the foundation upon which more and morecomplex systems of data storage would be built.[2] The study of tokens asevidence of the growing sophistication of ancient civilizations withrespect to writing, accounting, mathematics, and data storage illustratesman's mastery of complex communication methods. O'Brien, Civilization in the West (NewYork: Harper Collins, 1991), p. came to represent not grain or anyother specific commodity, but the concept of pure quantity."[18] Summary and Conclusion Clay tokens became obsolete or at least of minimal significance by3 B.C. Further, as social andeconomic complexity increased, token accounting and record-keeping systemsserved as the basis for the development of more complex written languageand symbols. Available at http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/FIRST.html.[13] Bernard Jones, "What's the Point?" 2 4, p. 3 -36.Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. The result of thetoken system was a practical, convenient data storage system. 12.[15] Ibid.[16] Ivars Peterson, op. Isabel Panosa, "The Beginnings of the Written Culture in Antiquity,"May 2 4, p. According to Bernard Jones, the early tokens, both complex andsimple, were used not only to denote numbers and quantities, but also toindicate also what was being measured. Available atwww.science-news.org/pages/sn_arc97/2-22-97/mathland,.htm.[8] Diane Schmandt-Besserat, "An Ancient Token System: The Precursor toNumerals and Writing," Archeology, November-December 1986, 39, p. "Sumerian Metrological Numeration Systems." October 3, 2 2. Available atwww.ancientscripts.com/print.cgi?f=sumerian.html.[7] Ivars Peterson, "From Counting to Writing,." 1996, p. Discussion As Krishlansky, Geary and O'Brien have noted: "Long before the invention of writing by the Sumerians, farmers and business people in western Asia used clay tokens of various shapes and markings to keep accounts of grain, jars of oil, or units of land. Introduction and Purpose The purpose of this report is to identify the significance of tokens,defined as small geometric clay objects (e.g., cylinders, cones, spheres,etc.) found throughout the Near East from about 8 B.C. Subsequently, the ancient Mesopotamians stopped using clay tokens altogether, and simply impressed the symbol of the clay tokens on wet clay surfaces. Available at http://it.stlawu.edu/ ~dmelvill/mesomath/sumerian.html.Panosa, M. Over time,scribes and others recognized that instead of representing 33 jars of oilby repeating the symbol for one jar of oil 33 times, it would be simpler toprecede the symbol for a jar of oil by numerals or special signs expressingnumbers. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.