The Emergence of Writing in the Ancient Near East

Abstract

The oldest known writing stems from Babylonia, around 3100 BC, and more than 4000 clay tablets and fragments from that period have been found in Uruk during German excavations. A fresh approach has been made finding that 85% of all texts are economic records, the remainder being the lexical texts; it is postulated that writing came into existence as a means to control the economy. The course of decipherment will be described and 700 out of the 1000 signs of the Archaic texts could be identified, possibly written in the Sumerian language. Finally the contents of the tablets, as far as they are understood, will be summarised.