| Horizon | |
|---|---|
| Geographical range | Near East |
| Period | |
| Dates | c. 3500 – c. 2700 BCE |
| Type site | Uruk |
| Major sites | |
| Preceded by | Uruk period |
| Followed by | Jemdet Nasr period |
The protoliterate period (dated to c. 3500 – c. 2700 BCE) is a (sub)-period of the Uruk culture (dated to c. 4395, c. 4200, c. 4100, c. 4000, c. 3800, c. 3700 – c. 3100 BCE).
History of research
editProtohistory
editProtohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing. It may refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians. The term can also refer to a period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found. As with prehistory, determining when a culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for anthropologists. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters, as they can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events.
Writing was long thought to have been invented in a single civilization, a theory related to monogenesis. Scholars believed that all writing originated in Sumer and spread over the world from there via a process of cultural diffusion. According to this theory, the concept of representing language by written marks, though not necessarily the specifics of how such a system worked, was passed on by traders or merchants traveling between geographical regions. However, the discovery of the scripts of ancient Mesoamerica, far away from Middle Eastern sources, proved that writing had been invented more than once. Scholars now recognize that writing along the Fertile Crescent may have been independently developed in at least two civilizations: Sumer (between c. 3400 – c. 3100 BCE) and Egypt (around c. 3250 BCE).
The Sumerian archaic (pre-cuneiform) writing and Egyptian hieroglyphic systems are generally considered the earliest true writing systems, both evolving convergently out of their ancestral protoliterate symbol systems from c. 3500 – c. 3100 BCE, with the earliest coherent texts from c. 2600 BCE. Regarding Egypt, several scholars have argued that, "the earliest solid evidence of Egyptian writing differs in structure and style from the Mesopotamian and must therefore have developed independently. The possibility of 'stimulus diffusion' from Mesopotamia remains, but the influence cannot have gone beyond the transmission of an idea." The Proto-Elamite script is also dated to the same approximate period. Symbolic communication systems are distinguished from writing systems. With writing systems, one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. In contrast, symbolic systems, such as information signs, painting, maps, and mathematics, often do not require prior knowledge of a spoken language. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate and defining condition of humanity (see Origin of language). However the development of writing systems, and their partial supplantation of traditional oral systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven, and slow. Once established, writing systems on the whole change more slowly than their spoken counterparts and often preserve features and expressions that no longer exist in the spoken language.
There are considered to be three writing criteria for all writing systems. The first being that writing must be complete. It must have a purpose or some sort of meaning to it. A point must be made or communicated in the text. Second, all writing systems must have some sort of symbols which can be made on some sort of surface, whether physical or digital. Lastly, the symbols used in the writing system must mimic spoken word/speech, in order for communication to be possible.
Cuneiform
editStages of cuneiform development
editThe development of cuneiform may be divided into the following stages:
- Pictographic stage (c. 3500 – c. 3000 BCE)
- Archaic stage (c. 3000 – c. 2600 BCE)
- Early Dynastic stage (c. 2600 – c. 2334 BCE)
- Neo-Sumerian stage (c. 2334 – c. 2004 BCE)
- Late Sumerian stage (c. 2004 – c. 1736 BCE)
- Post-Sumerian stage (c. 1736 BCE – c. 75 CE)
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The cuneiform writing system was in use for more than three millennia (through several stages of development) from as far back as the 31st century BCE to as recent as the second century CE. It had to be deciphered as a completely unknown writing system during the 19th century CE and successfully completed in the year 1857 CE by Assyriologists.  Stages:
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Precursors to writing
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"ten goats"
Discovered in the ancient, Urukean tell of Al-Hasakah, Syria (dated to c. 3300 – c. 3100 BCE).
The origins of writing may have appeared during the Neolithic. During the period c. 9000 – c. 4500 BCE, the Mesopotamian agriculturalists needed a way to keep records of their animals and goods. Small, clay tokens were formed and shaped by the palms to represent certain animals and goods; furthermore, were used to record quantities of livestock and/or other commodities. These tokens were initially impressed on the surface of round, clay envelopes (bullae) and then stored in them.
Clay tokens allowed for agriculturalists to keep track of animals and food that had been traded, stored, and/or sold. Because grain production became such a major part of life, they needed to store their extra grain in shared facilities and account for their food. This clay token system went unchanged for about 4,000 years until the tokens started to become more elaborate in appearance. The tokens were similar in size, material, and color but the markings had more of a variety of shapes. As the growth of goods being produced grew and the exchanging of goods became more common, changes to tokens were made to keep up with the growth.
Transactions for trading needed to be accounted for efficiently, so the clay tokens were placed in clay envelopes, which helped to prevent dishonesty and kept all the tokens together. In order to account for the tokens, the clay envelopes would have to be crushed to reveal their contents. Seals were impressed into the openings of the clay envelopes to prevent tampering. Each party had its own unique seal to identify them. Seals would not only identify individuals, but it would also identify their offices. Sometimes, the tokens were impressed onto the wet, clay envelopes before they dried so that the owners could remember what exactly was in the clay envelopes without having to break them.
Proto-writing
editIn the history of how writing systems evolved among different civilizations, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing (systems of ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbols—symbols or letters that made recollection easier—to represent a limited number of ideas and concepts). True writing (in which the content of a linguistic utterance was encoded so that another reader could reconstruct—with a fair degree of accuracy—and the exact utterance written down) was a later development. Writing is distinguished from proto-writing (the latter of which typically avoided encoding grammatical words and affixes—making it extremely difficult or even impossible to reconstruct the exact meaning intended by the writer unless a great deal of context was already known in advance). Cuneiform is one of the earliest forms of written expression.
Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information. Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic. They used ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbols to represent a limited number of concepts (in contrast to true writing systems, which record the language of the writer). The transition from proto-writing to the earliest fully-developed writing system took place from the late-fourth to early-third millennia BCE.
Pictographs
editDuring the Early Bronze Age, urban economies developed due to urban settlements and the development of trade. The recording of trade became necessary because production, shipments, inventories, and wage payments had to be noted, and merchants needed to preserve records of their transactions. As clay tokens and envelopes became too cumbersome to store and handle, impressing the tokens onto flat, clay tablets became increasingly popular. Clay tablets were easier to store, neater to write on, and less likely to be lost. Impressing the tokens onto clay tablets was efficient; but, using reed styli to inscribe the impression on the clay tablet was shown to be even more efficient and faster for the scribes. Tokens were replaced by pictographic tablets that could express not only "how many" but also "where, when, and how."
The Kish tablet (dated to c. 3350 – c. 3200 BCE), reflects the stage of proto-cuneiform, when what would become the Sumerian cuneiform script was still in the proto-writing stage. This was the beginning of the first known writing system. The cuneiform script was developed from pictographic proto-writing in the late-4th millennium BCE, stemming from the Near Eastern token system used for accounting. Early tokens with pictographic shapes of animals, associated with numbers, were discovered in Nagar, and date to the mid-4th millennium BCE. It has been suggested that the token shapes were the original basis for some of the Sumerian pictographs.
Mesopotamia's proto-literate period spans c. 3500 – c. 3000 BCE. The first unequivocal written documents start in Uruk IV period (dated to c. 3300 BCE), followed by tablets found in Uruk III (dated to c. 2900 BCE). Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a sharpened reed stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic wedge shape of the strokes.
By the end of the 4th millennium BCE, this symbol system had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, using a round-shaped stylus impressed into soft clay at different angles for recording numbers. This was gradually augmented with pictographic writing using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted. Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets (in vertical columns) with a sharpened stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic wedge shape of the strokes. Certain signs to indicate names of gods, countries, cities, vessels, birds, trees, etc., are known as determinatives and were the Sumerian signs of the terms in question (added as a guide for the reader).
Archaic to post-Sumerian cuneiform
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Mesopotamia's protoliterate period spans c. 3500 – c. 3000 BCE. The first unequivocal written documents appear at Uruk's archaeological level IV (c. 3350 – c. 3200 BCE); followed by clay tablets found in the Uruk III level (c. 3200 – c. 2900 BCE). The Sumerian system of administration led to the development of ideographic writing (c. 3200 – c. 3000 BCE). Proper names continued to be usually written in a (purely) logographic fashion.
Archaic Sumerian is the earliest stage of inscriptions with linguistic content, beginning from c. 3000 BCE. This is the time when some pictographic element started to be used for their phonetical value, permitting the recording of abstract ideas or personal names. Many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have various meanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, and writing became increasingly phonological. Determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. Cuneiform writing proper thus arises from the more primitive system of pictographs at about that time.
Cuneiform was developed into logographic writing c. 2500 BCE (and a mixed form by c. 2334 BCE). Some versions of the chronology may omit the Late Sumerian phase and regard all texts written after c. 2004 BCE as post-Sumerian. Post-Sumerian is meant to refer to the time when the language was already extinct and preserved by the Babylonians and Assyrians only as a liturgical and classical language for religious, artistic, and scholarly purposes. The extinction has traditionally been dated approximately to the end of the Ur III period, the last predominantly Sumerian state in Mesopotamia, c. 2004 BCE. However, that date is very approximate, as many scholars have contended that Sumerian was already dead or dying as early as c. 2112 BCE, by the beginning of the Ur III period, and others believe that Sumerian persisted, as a spoken language, in a small part of southern Mesopotamia (Nippur and its surroundings) until as late as the Isin-Larsa (c. 2025 – c. 1763 BCE), Old Babylonian (c. 1894 – c. 1595 BCE), and/or even the first Sealand dynasty (c. 1725 – c. 1460 BCE) periods.
Whatever the status of spoken Sumerian between 2004 and 1460 BCE, it is from then that a particularly large quantity of literary texts and bilingual Sumero-Akkadian lexical lists survive, especially from the scribal school of Nippur. They and the particularly-intensive official and literary use of the language in Akkadian-speaking states during the same time call for a distinction between the Late Sumerian and the Post-Sumerian periods.
Timeline, chronology, and periodization
editTimeline
editRelative stratigraphy chronology
- Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details
A: Pictographs
B: Numerical tablets
C: Kish tablet
D: Numerical tablets with logograms
E: Cuneiform script with phonograms
F: Uruk Vase
G: Ideographic writing
H: Lexical script (archaic cuneiform)
I: Logographic writing (Early Dynastic cuneiform)
J: Mixed form (Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform)
Chronology and periodization
edit| Century BCE | Stage | Period (Santa Fe chronology) | Culture | Phase | Period (ARCANE) | Period (Palaeography) | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35th century BCE | Copper Age | Late Chalcolithic 4 (LC 4) | Uruk culture | Middle Uruk | Early Mesopotamian 1 (EM 1) | Protoliterate A | Uruk V |
| Late Chalcolithic 5 (LC 5) | Late Uruk | ||||||
| 34th century BCE | |||||||
| Protoliterate B | Uruk IV | ||||||
| 33rd century BCE | Early Bronze Age I (EBA I) | ||||||
| 32nd century BCE | Protoliterate C | Uruk III | |||||
| 31st century BCE | Jemdet Nasr culture | Final Uruk | |||||
| 30th century BCE | Early Bronze Age II (EBA II) | Protoliterate B | Uruk II | ||||
| Early Protoliterate D | Uruk I | ||||||
| 29th century BCE | Early Dynastic culture (ED) | Late Protoliterate D | |||||
| 28th century BCE | |||||||