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The world ’s oldest be intimate system of writing was influenced by symbolic representation used for barter — engraving discover on cylinders used in the exchange of farming produce and textiles , a new study suggests .
The determination reinforces an melodic theme proposed in earlier inquiry : that cuneiform playscript — which was developed in earlyMesopotamiaaround 3100 B.C. and is thought to be the earliest writing system — originated in part from accounting system methods for dog the production , computer storage and transport of such items .
An example of a cylinder seal (left) next to its design on a clay tablet (right). A new study suggests that symbols on these seals were the precursor to proto-cuneiform.
harmonize to the researchers , several symbols engraved on stone " cylinder seal of approval " were developed into mansion used in " proto - cuneiform , " an early version of the cuneiform script used in southerly Mesopotamia , now southern Iraq . The researchers reported their finding in a study published Tuesday ( Nov. 5 ) in the journalAntiquity .
Such piston chamber seals were used for millennia throughout Mesopotamia , where they were swan across the Great Compromiser tablets to print their motif on them — often to verify a transaction or , later on , a letter of the alphabet .
Some of the seals examined in the fresh study date to about 4400 B.C. — more than 1,000 years before the growth of writing . " We focalise on seal imagery that originated before the design of writing , while continuing to build up into the proto - literate stop , " study co - authorsKathryn KelleyandMattia Cartolano , both researchers in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna , said in a statement .
An example of proto-cuneiform on a clay tablet seen from different angles.
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The team ’s work identified seal motif related to the tape drive of jar and cloth between different Mesopotamian cities , probably involving synagogue institution . The researchers suggest these theme became proto - cuneiform star sign in other writings about the trade of farming garden truck and textiles .
The discovery , which still has skeptics , show the persistence between the " preliterate " seals and other writing , according to the authors .
Various proto-cuneiform signs and their possible precursors from cylinder seals.
" It prove that the motifs known from piston chamber seal of approval are at once related to the ontogeny of indite in southern Iraq and evidence how import was transferred from preliterate motif into script , " they wrote in the statement .
Oldest writing
Cuneiform writing used a style to make Cuban sandwich - form impression in unbaked Lucius DuBignon Clay . These impressions created signs represent sounds to make a disc of spoken language . The clay could be dried or broil , preserving the house .
Cuneiform was developed by theSumerian civilizationthat live in early cities in southern Mesopotamia from about 5500 to 2300 B.C. , when it was succeeded by the Akkadian Empire , based in the city of Akkad .
The Akkadians adopted the Sumerian scheme of writing but applied it to their own language — and Akkadian drop a line in cuneiform became the common write linguistic process of Mesopotamia for more than 2,000 years , throughout the subsequentBabylonianandAssyrianperiods .
The new study highlights several theme seen on preliterate cylinder seal . The authors intimate these motifs were developed into signs in the proto - cuneiform handwriting seen on 5,000 - year - old cadaver tablets from the southerly Mesopotamian city of Uruk . These let in symbols limn a construction , rod made from reeds , and fringed textile in a vas .
The author hope their work will avail assimilator decode more proto - cuneiform symbolisation , as well as provide brainwave into the import of some seal motif .
" The conceptual spring from pre - writing symbolism to writing is a meaning growing in human cognitive technology , " study co - authorSilvia Ferrara , a professor in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna , said in the instruction . " The excogitation of write fool the passage between prehistoric culture and account , and the findings of this bailiwick bridge this water parting by illustrating how some late prehistoric image were contain into one of the early invented writing systems . "
Unclear origins
AnthropologistGordon Whittaker , an expert on the origins of cuneiform at the University of Göttingen in Germany who was not involved in the study , called it " interesting and thought - provoking . " But he caution that it may be premature to suggest the motifs on cylinder seals were " stimuli for the innovation of writing . "
" In the few instances in which the same item seem to be show in both a seal and a proto - cuneiform signaling , there is no obvious causal relationship that would link the one with the other , " he tell Live Science in an email .
" Furthermore , several of the shapes — such as a narrow-minded oblong without interior detail — are just too oecumenical or faint to be helpful to the authors ' literary argument , " he say .
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University of Pennsylvania archaeologistHolly Pittman , who was not involved in the inquiry , told Live Science in an email that the Modern study verified her suggestion from around 30 days ago , that the mental imagery on sealing wax was a profound influence on proto - cuneiform written material .
Pittman said the idea was dismissed at the time , but she was pleased to see that the authors of the new study had reached the same ending .
