Clay tokens predate writing by thousands of years in Mesopotamia. Thousands of clay tokens found across Mesopotamia Earliest tokens may be as old as 11,000 years old At Tepe Gawra, tokens predate writing by several thousand years
Archaeologists have found thousands of clay tokens across Mesopotamia - some may be up to 10,000 years old! 🏺 Different shapes likely represented different goods: cones possibly = grain, round discs possibly = livestock. These preceded writing by millennia.
Key Facts
- Thousands of clay tokens found across Mesopotamia
- Earliest tokens may be as old as 11,000 years old
- At Tepe Gawra, tokens predate writing by several thousand years
- Different shaped tokens (spheres, discs, cones, cylinders) likely represented different goods
- Cones possibly represented grain, round discs possibly represented flocks of animals
- Tokens sometimes found enclosed in clay envelopes
- Tokens not following a consistent weight system
Related site: Tepe Gawra — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: The most important lumps of dry mud in history by Stefan Milo