Kish tablet
The Kish tablet is inscribed with Proto-Cuneiform signs, that have not been fully deciphered. It has been dated to the Uruk period (ca. 3500–3200 BC). It is sometimes incorrectly considered the world's oldest known written document, but this tablet is unprovenanced and was not excavated with scientific methodology, so its deposition date is uncertain. Hayes argues, according to the use of cases, it likely dates to later than the Uruk IV period.[1] Several thousand proto-cuneiform documents dating to Uruk IV and III periods (ca. 3350–3000 BC) have been excavated at Uruk.
 Limestone tablet from Kish (Sumer) with pictographic writing, 3500 BC; may be the earliest known writing. Ashmolean Museum | |
| Geographical range | Iraq |
|---|---|
| Period | Uruk period (ca. 3500–3350 BC) |
| Dates | c. 3500 BC |
| Followed by | Narmer Palette |
The Kish tablet is a limestone tablet possibly found at the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Kish in modern-day Tell al-Uhaymir, Babil Governorate, Iraq. A plaster-cast of the artifact is today in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum. The original is in the Baghdad Museum.[2] It should not be confused with the Scheil dynastic tablet, which contains part of the Sumerian king list and is also sometimes called the Kish tablet.[3]
The writing is still purely pictographic, and represents a transitional stage between proto-writing and the emergence of the partly syllabic writing of the cuneiform script proper. The "proto-literate period" of Egypt and Mesopotamia is taken to span about 3500 to 2900 BC. The administrative texts of the Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BC), found among other places at Jemdet Nasr and Tell Uqair represent a further stage in the development from Proto-Cuneiform to cuneiform, but can still not be identified with certainty as being written in Sumerian, although it is likely.[4]
See also
References
- Hayes, John L., 1990 A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts, Undena Publications, p.266
- FIELD, HENRY. "The Field Museum-Oxford University Expedition to Kish, Mesopotamia 1923-1929." Anthropology Leaflet, no. 28, 1929, pp. 1–32
- Scheil, Vincent (1911). "Les plus anciennes dynasties connues de Sumer-Accad". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 55 (8): 606–620.
- Woods, Christopher (2010), "The earliest Mesopotamian writing" (PDF), in Woods, Christopher (ed.), Visible language. Inventions of writing in the ancient Middle East and beyond, Oriental Institute Museum Publications, vol. 32, Chicago: University of Chicago, pp. 33–50, ISBN 978-1-885923-76-9
Further reading
- A. C. Moorhouse, The Triumph of the Alphabet: A History of Writing
- Langdon, Pictographic Inscriptions from Jemdet Nasr
- Peter N. Stearns, The Encyclopedia of World History (2001), ISBN 978-0-395-65237-4.