How Writing Came about

Top 100 Books on Science, American Scientist, 2001

In 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.

Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 02/01/1997
Pages: 207
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9780292777040
ISBN10: 0292777043
BISAC Categories:
- Art | Sculpture & Installation
- History | Middle East | General
- Social Science | Archaeology