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References
Numerals Project
Numerals Links
Online Numerals Papers
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Denise Schmandt-Besserat's
ACCOUNTING WITH (NEOLITHIC CLAY) TOKENS: SLIDES
SLIDE 1:
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Plain tokens, Mesopotamia, present day Iraq, ca. 4000 B.C.
The cone, spheres, and disk represented various grain measures;
the tetrahedron stood for a unit of labor.
Courtesy Denise Schmandt-Besserat, The University of Texas at Austin.
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SLIDE 2:
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Complex tokens representing (from right to left above):
(first line) 1 sheep, 1 unit of textile, 1 unit of honey, 1 unit of oil,
(second line) 1 unit of textile, ?, 1 ingot of metal,
from Susa, Iran, ca. 3300 B.C.
Courtesy Musée du Louvre, Départment des Antiquités Orientales, Paris.
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SLIDE 2a:
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Other complex token shapes.
SLIDE 3:
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Envelope and its content of tokens representing 3 flocks (10 animals each),
3 (single) animals, from Susa, present day Iran, ca. 3300 B.C.
Courtesy Musée du Louvre, Départment des Antiquités Orientales, Paris.
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SLIDE 4:
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Impressed tablet featuring an account of grain, from Godin Tepe, Iran, ca. 3100 B.C.
Courtesy Cuyler Young, Jr., Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
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