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How Writing Came About Paperback – Abridged, January 1, 1997

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Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Author)
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Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Author)
4 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 207 pages
  • Publisher: University of Texas Press; Abridged edition (January 1, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0292777043
  • ISBN-13: 978-0292777040
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 10 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAn Important book for historians, archaeologists, ethnosemanticists, and other specialists in the development of writing.
By The Old Prof on May 21, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This excellent book is an abridgment of Schmandt-Besserat’s two volumes on the inception of writing entitled BEFORE WRITING: I FROM COUNTING TO CUNEIFORM and II A CATALOG OF NEAR EASTERN TOKENS. The professional investigator will want the full set. But this book, addressed to the general reader, is a MUST for other professionals (archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, etc.) who wish to delve into the depths of the amazing invention of writing. Note that the title of the book is “BEFORE WRITING CAME ABOUT”—it is not “Before Alphabetic Writing Came About.” That would have been a book about the origin of alphabetic writing under Egyptian influence. But this book takes us much further back to about 8000 BC (the Neolithic era) when counting (and accounting) began in the ancient Near East, specifically in the Mesopotamian area of the world.

She illustrates her book thoroughly with many photographs of the tokens discovered by excavators, with the clay envelopes that contained tokens, with drawings of token types and other useful interpretive material such as charts and lists of tokens. She draws on earlier contributors to the study of the beginning of civilization (such as Alexander Marshack’s THE ROOTS OF CIVILIZATION (1972)).

She notes (pp. 10f) that the Akkadian term “token” is ABNU (singular) or ABNATI (plural) and knowledgeable investigators will recognize these as cognate with the Hebrew word EBEN and readers educated in the fields of linguistic anthropology and ethnosemantics will be aware that “eben” (“stone”) may not always align meaningfully with the use of the cognate in another culture, i.e. “abnu” (“token”) in Akkadian. Context is all important.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn interesting scholarly book.
By Z. Martinez on January 28, 2007
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book will take you through the ruins of an ancient city in Mesopotamia and then will explain the meaning of certain tablets and clay coins found there. The author is very clear in her explanations, there are plenty of pictures and graphics which make your understanding of the text easier. This book is for those who like reading scholarly material because it is very concise and precise on the subject but it could seem dry reading to those who prefer the material to be presented in a more entertaining way.

I found it very interesting, and it helped me understand the transition from letters to numbers. I loved it!
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn expert traces language
By plinderoth@cncc.cc.co.us on September 29, 1998
Format: Paperback
Schmandt-Besserat is not only an acknowledged leader in epigraphy, she is one of the only linguists to study the slowly evolving history of the assyro-babylonian literary culture. This book, and any other by this author, is strongly reccommended for any library or archeological department.
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2.0 out of 5 starssome interesting tidbits but not realy written for the public
By Robert Shuler on January 24, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This was supposed to be a consolidated version of an earlier two-part academic work making the material accessible to the public. It simply fails. The author has no clue how to write a book and maintain interest past the introduction (which is pretty good, but you can read it in the preview). Even as a professor, well, I'd hate to try and stay awake in her class. And this subject normally fascinates me.
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