Before Writing, Vol. II

Before Writing, Vol. II PDF Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292726703
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Before Writing gives a new perspective on the evolution of communication. It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols. In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device. In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

Before Writing, Vol. II

Before Writing, Vol. II PDF Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292726703
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Before Writing gives a new perspective on the evolution of communication. It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols. In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device. In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

How Writing Came About

How Writing Came About PDF Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292774869
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
An “utterly lucid, thoughtfully illustrated, and thoroughly convincing” book on the origins of the world’s oldest known system of writing (American Journal of Archaeology). One of American Scientist's Top 100 Books on Science, 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 of this scholarly work to present Schmandt-Besserat’s theory in an abridged version 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./DIV

Before Writing, Vol. I

Before Writing, Vol. I PDF Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292707832
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Before Writing gives a new perspective on the evolution of communication. It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols. In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device. In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

On Writing and Worldbuilding

On Writing and Worldbuilding PDF Author: Timothy Hickson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780473694043
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Writers on Writing, Volume II

Writers on Writing, Volume II PDF Author:
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805075885
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
"Contemporary literature's finest voices explore and illuminate the writing life" -- dust jacket.

Writing Skills

Writing Skills PDF Author: Diana Hanbury King
Publisher: Educators Pub Svc Incorporated
ISBN: 9780838825655
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description


Writing Spaces: Readings on Writings, Vol. 2

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writings, Vol. 2 PDF Author: Charles Lowe
Publisher: The Saylor Foundation
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Volumes in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing offer multiple perspec- tives on a wide-range of topics about writing. In each chapter, authors present their unique views, insights, and strategies for writing by ad- dressing the undergraduate reader directly. Drawing on their own ex- periences, these teachers-as-writers invite students to join in the larger conversation about the craft of writing. Consequently, each essay func- tions as a standalone text that can easily complement other selected readings in writing or writing-intensive courses across the disciplines at any level.

Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century

Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century PDF Author: Susie J. Tharu
Publisher: Feminist Press at CUNY
ISBN: 9781558610279
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
Includes songs by Buddhist nuns, testimonies of medieval rebel poets and court historians, and the voices of more than 60 other writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the diverse selections are a rare early essay by an untouchable woman; an account by the first feminist historian; and a selection from the first novel written in English by an Indian woman.

Women Writing Africa

Women Writing Africa PDF Author: Esi Sutherland-Addy
Publisher: Feminist Press
ISBN: 9781558615007
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
A major literary and scholarly work that transforms perceptions of West African women's history and culture.

Consciousness, Creativity, and Self at the Dawn of Settled Life

Consciousness, Creativity, and Self at the Dawn of Settled Life PDF Author: Ian Hodder
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108602150
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Over recent years, a number of scholars have argued that the human mind underwent a cognitive revolution in the Neolithic. This volume seeks to test these claims at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey and in other Neolithic contexts in the Middle East. It brings together cognitive scientists who have developed theoretical frameworks for the study of cognitive change, archaeologists who have conducted research into cognitive change in the Neolithic of the Middle East, and the excavators of the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük who have over recent years been exploring changes in consciousness, creativity and self in the context of the rich data from the site. Collectively, the authors argue that when detailed data are examined, theoretical evolutionary expectations are not found for these three characteristics. The Neolithic was a time of long, slow and diverse change in which there is little evidence for an internal cognitive revolution.